Written by Margrethe Fjetland Løvold
-ultra runner for team Salomon
There is something very special about Gran Canaria for me.
It may sound pompous and inflated, but I sort of belong there.
That's where I'm happiest and it was more or less all there the running adventure started for me.
Transgrancanaria (TGC) is organized every year with different distances. The distances has varied somewhat over time.
The first time I participated I ran 45 km. Photo of me when I cross the finish line describing how much pain I was in.
Nevertheless, it was something that was incredibly beautiful and fun. The pain is in a way one confirmation that you have done something you don't usually do, and that, that tastes good.
After this I have run both the advanced distance of 85 km (now 64 km) and classic of 128 km, the latter in 2018 and in a time of 19 h and 34 min.
It's been 4 years and a lot has happened since then, I was reasonably sure that I should be able to run a lot better than that this year.
I have trained a lot through the winter and pushed myself out in rain, snow and storm, it wasn't always as much fun, but it would prove to be more relevant for this year's race than I could imagine.
I love running races, but I hate the days leading up to the start.
It's an awful lot of nerves, no matter how well prepared I am and no matter what no matter how hard you try, they won't go away.
This year I tried to think that they were there to get me ready for the race and oh think I'm not nervous, but excited.
In addition, all the little pains appear, pains you have never felt before. God why can't I be content to lie on the sunbed like many others??
We already know the answer to that, the gain is so much greater.
I was lucky, had a crew in place to help me through the race, and crewe's task is not to drive me to the hotel when the going gets tough, but oh get me to the finish line.
This task would prove to be a bit more difficult to navigate than usual.
The start of TGC is a public celebration. Drums, loud music, lots of people, I was so clear! In general I felt fine, but I noticed that I was incredibly hot, warmer than those around me with bubble jackets on.
I stood right behind the elite and was ready to give what I had.
It is about 1 km on the sandy beach before it carries on for a few km the beach promenade. After this a shorter hill and then across a lot with dried river bed filled with small pebbles.
Already on the first hill I struggled to run, my heart rate was sky high and I got not breathing properly. I thought this was strange, but hoped it was possible to run away.
Therese, who also runs for Salomon Norway, came running past, we exchanged a few words and she asked how it went. I smiled, embellished the truth and said that this feels good before she ran away from me.
After a hill I had trouble getting back in and had to either walk or stop completely. I was dizzy and eventually one appeared ugly pain in the diaphragm.
This not only made breathing even more difficult, but now I could nor drink or eat.
At the first station Arucas 19km in, I met my crew for the first time. I had a bit of a panic because I understood that now the dream race was about to happen a little nightmare.
I am very much in favor of sticking to it, running to the finish line despite a bad one day, but this was different. My crew had been tasked with getting me to the finish line, so here there was no dear mother and I was in any case determined to run on because this could still turn around, right?
To the next station in Teror (30 km) it started to rain and the paths were nice turned into a mud bath. Imagine steep slopes consisting only of mud and men, they didn't get up, but they wouldn't let me pass either. Thank goodness for strong arms and staves, it was only this that made me were not dragged down the slide together with the men. Of course not against men, but men with too big an ego to let go of a younger woman of 160 cm past.
After going up comes going down and because it was the breath there was something wrong with and without my legs I could run past (the times I was let past) one all the way down. I felt a little better when I arrived at Teror and the crew could confirm that the color was back in the face. I was in better spirits now and despite problems, I climbed the leaderboard.
The weather got worse and worse, but I had trained for that and I was so hot, so I did not struggle, but began to see that the weather and a lot of mud were eating away at my strength among other runners.
From Teror up to Fontanales there are around 1000 hm+. Unfortunately, it was here pretty clear this wasn't something that came loose, but it got worse. I had to stop several times on the slopes to catch my breath and I still couldn't eat or drink anything and I sounded like a whale without conditioning. What could this be!?
In Fontanales, the tears rolled and I most wanted my girlfriend and crew should say that you are not allowed to run through this, but if this decision was difficult for me, it is at least difficult for those around me to decide. The there are unfortunately (fortunately, depending on how you look at it) none manual for when it is okay to continue and when to stop. What became decisive for me was the thought of whether someone I had coached had told me about these symptoms, but still, I didn't think it wasgreit.
So I sat there on a chair in Fontanales, with my head down and a body language who said more than 1000 words. Several of my female competitors came over, wondered how I was, if they could do anything and offered uplifting word. Most people have been there and know how boring and heartbreaking it can be be.
On the whole, it's not important, but for those of us who do this, it can it means a lot, but it shouldn't be at the expense of your health.
The fact that competitors cheer each other on is one of the things I like the most with this sport. We care about each other and I hope that doesn't change themselves no matter how big the sport becomes.
Thus ended my Transgrancanaria adventure in a rainy town in the mountains and not in Maspalomas as planned.
Afterwards, I have no doubt that it was the right decision. It took me for a day before I could breathe properly and for the stomach pain to subside, then came a fever and pain in the throat and head.
I did everything I could before the race not to get infected with Covid or something else, but you can only do so much. Unfortunately, I was unlucky this one the hallway.
So even though I said I wasn't going to run next year because it has cost so much to run through the winter, I may still start. Before who would have thought that it was possible to get heartbreak for a race that went in the sink.