JGL – Jutarnja gelender liga or MHL – Morning handrail league

Every first Wednesday of the month, a small, but a bit strange and definitely persistent group of people gather around at the bottom of the Medvednica Mountain near Zagreb so they could run to the top of that same mountain. Nothing special, you’re probably thinking, except that this starts at 05:30 am. Why? So that everybody could finish in time to go to work. Unfortunately, we’re still not a promised land as one Croatian rock group sings and after the morning run we need to go work, well most of us anyway.

When it started?                                                                          

The league started in 2007 and this is its 11th season.

So how does it work?

Quite simple, you get up at 04:00 or 04:30 (depending where you live), do your morning routine, sit in a car or on a bike or motorcycle, drive to Bliznec (parking lot at the bottom of the mountain), do a bit of stretching, put your head lamp, stand in the middle of the road and wait until you hear 3,2,1 UPRIIIII (of course this is one of those words that you can’t translate literally, but the meaning would be something like push it or go hard) and then off you go. Naturally, once you manage to get to the top of the mountain you still need to go back to the bottom. On foot, of course.

Sunrise at Medvednica Mountain

How does the trail look like?

As I already said you start on the middle of the asphalt road, but you run on it for about 15 m and then immediately turn on a single trail. Because it’s a single trail, everybody starts to run as crazy that first 15m so they could catch a good position, because nobody wants to get stuck behind somebody that is slower than him. It’s always fun to watch the start and I never get tired of it. The first single trail is short (approximately 250 meters) and then you have 250 m of wide dirt path on which you can pass other runners because the next 200 m is single trail again. After that you have a mix of dirt trails, wide forest trails, gravel roads and single trails that lead you to the top of Medvednica Mountain. On your way you go five times across the asphalt road that goes to the top, and the last 150 m of the trail is paved concrete cubes. The whole trail is 4600 m long.

Regarding the altitude, you start at 330 m, and go the top which is on 1033 m, so you need to climb 703 m. Two toughest climbs are in the first half of the race. First one is quite short and is just 200 m long (second single trail in the beginning of the race) in which you cover approximately 60 m of altitude. The second one is a bit longer.

Running at Medvednica Mountain

It is called Gips (plaster) because the story goes that legendary Croatian skiers Janica and Ivica Kostelić (sister and brother who won 10 Olympic medals combined) used to train walking and running on that hill. Their father coached them and his nickname is Gips so this climb today carries his nickname.

After that, the trail constantly changes with flat parts and small uphill of which some are more and some less steep. On your way to the top some parts of the trail are single, some parts are wide forest roads and some parts are macadam roads. Also, a few times you will go across asphalt mountain road. Caution is not necessary because that early in the morning nobody is driving, even the wild boars are still sleeping, probably.

In the end you arrive at the top of Medvednica where hot tea and biscuits are not waiting for you and all mountain huts are still closed. So you turn and go downhill back to your car.

Trail on Medvednica Mountain

JGL away round

JGL away round is not common. This event occurs only when all stars are in perfect order and all of the fairies and forest dwarfs agree that it is time for one more JGL away round. So what is it? It’s a normal JGL round, except that it’s not held on Medvednica Mountain, but is being run on some other mountain, in some other part of Croatia. Till today there were just four rounds of JGL away. Why? Simply, as I already said for this event everything needs to be in perfect order and that means – first Wednesday of the month and some holiday on that day. Of course Mr. Saber needs to give his blessing as well.

Records and statistic of JGL

This is the 11th season of JGL and till now there were 120 rounds.

Till now there were 463 people who ran JGL (154 women and 309 men).

Average number of people per round is 38.68 people (W: 9.05 M: 29.63).

This year’s average number of people per round till now is 50.51 (W: 14.88 M: 35.63).

Most per round: 91 (JGL 7th season – 1. round)

Least people per round: 5 (JGL 1st season – 6. round).

Most women per round: 26 (JGL 6th season – 7. round).

Least women: O (JGL 1st season – 6.round and JGL 2nd season – 4.round).

Men Record: 32:08 (Vedran).

Women Record: 38:39 (Maja).

Most attendance on JGL: Sablja – 116 rounds and Kiki – 104 rounds from 120 possible.

Underground trekking scene…

JGL maybe isn’t big or popular and most of the runners don’t know about it, but it definitely has something appealing, something that will make you wake up at 04:00 in the morning and go run into the woods.

JGL was founded by a guy who caries nickname Sablja (saber) and of course he’s got ideas for more insane and utterly fun races.

Blatersa

This race is held each December on one Friday evening at midnight, and the path makes a transversal of Medvednica Mountain. Why at midnight? So it would be harder, obviously. After you work all day, and then finally come home to relax after a hard week’s work, but noooooo, you decide to go run into the woods. Point of the race is to come from point A to point B in the shortest possible time. But of course there is a catch, the trail isn’t marked, so you need the map of Medvednica Mountain and you can choose your own trails. Most of the people go the same way. How long is it? Well, it depends on which trails you choose and how many times did you get lost; the quickest route is approximately 48 kilometres.

Traversa

Same thing as Blatersa, except this one is held in May and it starts on Saturday morning.

Reversa

When you finally finish Blatersa or Traversa you go back the same way. It’s an optional thing.

1M

It’s held in March. You follow the 1M trail from the beginning till the end. Harder than Blatersa or Traversa because it’s longer (approximately 54K) and you do much more ascents and descents.

24 hours S’LJeMana

Last year it was held in July. Point of the game is quite simple; you need to do as many ascents to the top of the mountain in 24 hours as possible. There are 4 possible routes that you can use and combine. The record is 13 times.

 Conclusion

If you come to Zagreb and you would like to try something fun, different and bit off the grid don’t hesitate to contact us. We will take you to the best early morning party in town.

Soča outdoor festival

Last year when Tamara and I were in Kobarid in Slovenia, we absolutely loved it there. We heard then about the Soča outdoor festival and thought how great it would be to go next year.

A few months ago Tamara thought of it again and we were excited about going to Soča again and started planning our trip. We got ecstatic when we found out that if we gather 10 people, we will get a group discount and they will print our logo on the official shirts of the race and that there is also a free camp site for tents. Although I didn’t believe that we will gather 10 people, Tamara proved me differently. I still don’t know how she managed to do that.

Looking at the river

This was also the first time that whole Run Zagreb team was going together to the same race. Well, we can talk about “together”.  Festival started on Friday and lasted till Sunday; everybody from our group said that they will come on Friday, but all of that changed when they saw the weather forecast for the weekend. Rain, rain and more lousy rain. In the end only three of us (Tamara, Pavle and I) decided to go on Friday and the rest of the group decided to come on Saturday morning directly to the race.

We arrived on Friday afternoon, collected our race numbers and T-shirts and set our tents. Btw, we were the first ones on the  campsite so we could choose the best location (yeahhh babyyy). After little shopping, diner and beer on the shore of river Soča we went inside our tents. Although rain started immediately after we entered the tents and it was pissing down the whole night, our tents didn’t get wet inside. Woohoo!

In the morning it was a beautiful sunny day and the rest of our little group came.

First in the camp

I have just one question for them “Gdje ste bilo dok je grmilo?” or where were you while the thunders were roaring? It is a Croatian joke and you can’t translate it literally, Croats will get it.

The race

Soča outdoor festival offers four trail courses 10, 15, 25 and 45 kilometers. I decided to go for the 25 K course and I didn’t regret it. The course was beautiful and very well marked with lots of refreshment points so there was no need for us to carry backpacks or bottles of water. We ran through forests, valleys, hills, along river Soča, through a part of Tolmin gorge and some parts were absolutely stunning.

Along the course

Probably the best part for almost everybody is just before the finish line when you need to run through the Tolminka River. Although the river is not deep, the current is strong and the water is cold, so there was quite a lot of surprised faces in the end, like; “well I didn’t expect that.”

As I said I decided to run 25 K course, and after quite a shaky start (I just didn’t feel like running in the first third of the race) I managed to get my “motors running” and I found my pace. I didn’t go full throttle because I was filming a lot and that was ok, because I finally had a chance to enjoy in nature’s beauty. That’s why I love trail running!

Running across Tolminka river

The festival

While race was organized immaculately, the festival itself wasn’t so much. Although the program of the festival was quite rich, some of things could be much better. The tents with equipment and the organizers tent were packed and closed already a few hours after the race, so it felt a like a wasteland. Also some of the things that were also on the program we didn’t see or they could’ve been done better. What I’m trying to say it that we didn’t get that festival’s vibe we were expecting.

Chilling after the race

Conclusion

Great and very well organized trail race. Festival not so much but it isn’t anything that couldn’t be improved till next year. Would I recommend this festival to somebody? Yes I would.

Madeira Island Ultra Trail 2017 – or ascent, ascent and more ascent

I found out about Madeira Island Ultra Trail (MIUT) from people who ran it in 2015. and 2016. And as I heard only good things about this race and the island itself I decided to go and run MIUT. After I googled it and watched a few videos from the race on YouTube I was hooked. As soon as the registration opened in October, Tamara and I applied for the race. Tamara applied for Ultra (85km) and I applied for MIUT (115km).

Training for MIUT

As every winter I started my preparations in December after a quite exhausting autumn. The plan was that I will run two hard weeks with high mileage and then one week with lower mileage, then again two hard weeks and so on and on … you get the picture. MIUT is a quite tough race with 7000m of ascent, so I decided that during preparations I will try to do much more ascents in my runs then previously. Now when I look back, I realize that I’ve done one big mistake. Although I’ve done lots of ascents (but “gentle” ones, so I could run them), I should have ran or walked on much steeper hills. It doesn’t mean that I skipped hard ascents. No, I did them also, but I should have done much more of them.

Madeira Island

Tamara and I landed on Madeira on Tuesday morning and met with our favorite French-Brazilian couple who were also on holidays. I realize that some of you are probably thinking “What kind of holiday is that, when you need to run 115 km?” I say, a nice one.
Before Madeira, we spent 6 days in Lisbon, so we can say that Lisbon was the bottom of the cake, Madeira was the delicious custard and the race was the cherry on the top.

Ok, a bit sour cherry, but still a cherry. After settling in our apartment, the next four days we spent in discovering Madeira. Madeira is a Portuguese archipelago situated in the Atlantic Ocean, approximately 900 km southwest of Portugal. Its total population was estimated at 267.000. It includes a few islands, from which Madeira Island is the biggest one.

The capital of Madeira is Funchal, located on the main island’s south coast. Madeira Island is beautiful with amazing nature, seductive scent of herbs and trees, peaceful levada walks and breathtaking views on the Atlantic Ocean. To me Madeira Island is the perfect scenery for making a new Jurassic park movie! When we were exploring the island I was constantly expecting an attack from Velociraptor :).

MIUT – Madeira Island Ultra Trail

Tamara was running Ultra (85km, +4700m) and her start was at 7 am on Saturday morning, while I was running MIUT (115km, +7000) and my start was on Friday at midnight. MIUT route starts at Porto Moniz, goes across the whole Island and finishes at town Machico. Departure of the buses from Machico towards Porto Moniz with the athletes of MIUT was at 21:30. Inside the bus I was trying to get some more sleep, but unfortunately my stomach was growling again. On Thursday I started to have some stomach problems…it was nothing big, but definitely not good before an ultra race. Although I tooka few pills of activated charcoal on Friday which helped a bit, as the start of the race was approaching I was getting more nervous,so maybe that triggered problems with my stomach again. Anyway, as the buses came to Porto Moniz I went to the bar and drank some Coke, did my last pre-race preparations and it was time to go to the start.

I started the race in the back and as the first part of the race is a wide asphalt road I managed to get somewhere in the middle. That was important because I didn’t want to get stuck in the back once we come to the single trail part. In the beginning everything was fine, I dictated my one pace, there were lots of loud supporters on the start of the race and after the first descent I felt good and my stomach was finally ok. Unfortunately that moment of bliss didn’t last for very long time. My stomach got a little upset somewhere around 10K mark…everything will be ok, I was reassuring myself…but I was so wrong. By 15K mark everything went south and then I knew I am in trouble. I needed to go to the toilet, I wanted to throw up, but the worst was still to come. As I was going further, my stomach ache was bigger and bigger, then I started to feel week and then dizziness kicked in.

In the end I was not able to maintain straight direction; I was walking in zigzag pattern. People started to pass by me and I remember I was thinking to myself this is not good, it is too early in the race for such problems. I was thinking why now? Why me? Why after so much training? Just for illustration, in that period of time I managed to drop for more than 200 positions.
It is not that I didn’t have this type of problems before, it is that they were not so intense and they didn’t start so early in the race. Somehow I managed to drag my body to Estanquinhos at 29K mark and for that it took me six and a half hours! At that point I was thinking this is it, you will drop out and there is nothing you can do about it. I even called Tamara and told her that I am going to quit, she agreed with me, but then…

At that time something happened, maybe it was spite, maybe it was just pure will to continue, maybe it was revelation that to next refreshing point is around 10K and that it is downhill with some flat parts…anyway whatever it was, I decided to continue. I was thinking to myself I will drag myself to Rosario point and then I will decide, if I will feel better I will continue, if not I will drop out, because at the current pace I won’t be finished by Christmas.

Then just 2 or 3K after I left Estanquinhos my vertigo started to yield, my stomach started to feel better, and I was even able to run a little. By the time I came to Rosario I almost didn’t have any symptoms, I took a bit of food and mineral water and continued. I realized at that point that there is no chance that I am going to finish the race in the time that I was hoping to, but on the other hand I was happy that I can continue. Finally I was able to walk up the hills without feeling any dizziness. Somewhere around 45-46 K I caught up with Mile, a guy from my running club, so to the next refreshment point we were going together, talking about this and that. At Curral das Freiras (60K), bags with spare clothes were waiting for us so I changed my shirt and socks, freshened up a bit and put some soup and crackers in my belly.

I left alone from there preparing myself mentally for the hardest part of race, ascent to Pico Ruivo and Pico do Areeiro. I got to admit, people that have finished MIUT before warned me about this part of the race and to be honest I listened to their advices, but on some level inside me I was thinking it will be an ascent like any other. Well on one hand it is true, but on the other it is an endless climb to the mountain. In the beginning the ascent is not so steep, rather long and continuous, but after that you have steep ascents, flat parts and steep descents, of course there are still parts with long boring, not so steep ascents.

Anyway I was still trudging and constantly changing with some German guy, at the moment he was in front, then it was me, then again him but every time we were passing each other we were also exchanging words of support. Believe me I needed the words of support because my stomach started to bug me again…it was nothing major, but still enough to make me feel discomfort. Good thing was that the scenery around us was beautiful, green forests, mystical peaks, scenic trails, it was just marvelous, but still Pico Ruivo and Pico do Areeiro were nowhere to be seen.

Then suddenly before I even realized, I was at Casa do Pico Ruivo (mountain hut jest below peak), took some refreshment and continued towards Pico do Areeiro. Ascents and descents became much steeper and new challenge was added: stairs. But all of this was in the shadow of beautiful narrow trails on the edge of the cliffs and mysterious tunnels that are carved in the mountains, so step by step I finally reached Pico do Areeiro. Again I had some soup and salty crackers and I was ready for the next stage of the race, from Pico do Areeiro almost everything is flat and downhill, if you don’t count one more bigger ascent. As there was still only about 2.5 hours of light I decided that I will try to go a bit faster so I could cover more ground before dark.

Symptomatically as the night started, so my problems started also and this time it was blisters. Again nothing new to me and since the problem started around 85K mark I was quite happy that I was able to run and walk for so long without my arch nemesis. I put some bandage on my feet and some anti chafing cream and continued on. Somewhere between Poiso and Larano I was on some single trail inside deep forest, I was in my own thoughts (stupid blisters and I hate running), when I heard some voices. I looked behind me and nobody was there. I stopped, looked around me, no head lamps to be seen, just some kind of handmade balls hanging from the trees and voices from the forest. I admit a few scenes from horror movies crossed my mind and let’s say that I picked up the pace until I came to some really steep descent where I needed to slow down. Luckily, the voices stoped following me. Were there really people in the forest or was it just my hallucination I still don’t know.

From Larano (103K) the trail was leading across narrow trails on the edge of the cliffs. On some part of the trail there was a fence, but on the most parts there wasn’t and since I wasn’t in the mood for a swim in the ocean a few hundred meters below me I watched my step carefully. Of course since it was dark I couldn’t see the ocean but I could hear it rumbling sinisterly below me. Last part of the race was levada walks. At that point I was tired, sleepy and blisters were annoying me, so I decided to run to the end. So for the last 6K I was running…of course it was slow, probably the snails were faster than me, but still I was running and unbelievably I was passing people.

At one point I saw the lights from Machico and soon I was able to see the finish line from distance. And then I heard a voice coming from the speaker:s COME ON, COME ON, COME ON IVAN FROM CROATIA, and I was at the finish line. Tamara jumped on me, she was probably happier than me at that point. Tamara finished the race approximately 2 hours before me, although we were hoping that we will meet somewhere on the trail, due to my stomach I was simply too slow for her that day. Of course, one of my first sentences to her was: finally I’m done.

Conclusion

Did I like Madeira? Yes
Did I like the MIUT? Yes
Did I enjoy MIUT? Due to my stomach, not so much :).
Was I happy with the organization of race? Yes, most definitely.
Would I go again? Answer to that is complicated. When Tamara asked me that question next morning I said no fu…. way, now two months later when I’m writing this article answer is maybe. Ask me about it in three months, it will probably be YESSS.