Slovenia 2018: Red Bull 400, Planica

Video:

Have you ever watched a video or something and dreamed you could do that someday?

This was how I first heard of Red Bull 400 race: I watched a trailer and felt in love on the spot. It looked so fun and easy, that clearly had to be a catch.

So 3 years later, there I was: hitting the registration button, in a country I’ve never been to. And it was a great choice, Slovenia is an amazing country with glorious landscapes. Even dragons visited the country centuries ago 😀

And it seemed like centuries since I haven’t felt nervous before a race. But this time I was. Looking from all perspectives, Red Bull 400 was something different for me. I had no idea how it’s going to be like, how will I feel during and after the climb, if it’s going to be as easy as it looks, or would it be like that dragon spits fire all around me.

Excitement level was rising as I approached the location. Seeing the running slope was the highest point of my euphoria. I felt alive and kicking ass 😀

The start..

was in groups, 10 groups of males and 2 of females. Not too many lady warriors out there.. another reason to be proud of myself 🙂

My start was after 5 groups of men and the first lady group. I felt ready and glowing, like my own antheme was playing. My heart was beating so fast and I couldn’t make it slow down, not even with my best encouraging thoughts.

And then was the gun shot and then I started. I think there was music playing, people cheering, my family screaming my name… but all I could hear was a fuzzy sound far away in the background of my thoughts. The climb began to resemble to a monster made to suck my aer and my strenght. Slowly, the fuzzy sound turned into a heavy breathing. That’s all I could hear. My crazy breathing. 

The first 100-150m went great, I was in top 5 (out of 50), but my legs wouldn’t listen to go faster. I started grabing the ground and trying to pull myself up. I seriously looked like a monkey. We all did. 

Took me 10 minutes to finish but they seemed like 2 minutes. All happened so fast.

How I felt at the end you ask?

Try drinking 10 beers in 10 minutes and you will find out. I felt dizzy, unawared of what just happened and my throat was in terrible pain because of the mouth breathing. Some people dropped dead up there. I tried not to. But damn it was a hard one. A beautful hard one. Awesome 🙂

The first 15 woman of each group qualified for the finals. Which means..repeat run. My first thought when I finished was  hoping NOT to have to run it again.

Seeing the results, Denisa Surdu 16…gave birth to a smaaallll disappointment. Deep inside, I wanted to be in the finals. 

But in the end, who cares? I did great. 34 out of 97. And the best thing is I had the chance to be part of the race I once dreamed about and enjoyed each second. 

Will be back next year.