The decision to take part in the Ciucas X3 trail running half marathon seems to have changed all our habits and concerns. In the past 2 months, all you could hear in the office was about how many kilometers did we run the previous evening, what personal records did we break, how many stairs did Vlad climb or what new equipment should we buy to improve our training.
For me, Vlad and Elena, this race was a first. Although Adi was used to an even longer and harsher effort, he joined us in the half marathon out of solidarity.
Winning was not our purpose (although we all longed for the medals from the end), but seeing how we can overcome our boundaries, where the physical barrier ends and where the mental one begins. For the “newbies” the biggest challenge was, by far, climbing those 10 kilometers until the 1400 meters altitude – the moment you started thinking that the climbing was finally over you could see another steep peak coming in sight…
But the effort was worthwhile, the weather has been perfect and the view… simply breathtaking! We all got to the Finish line, with no injuries and really proud of ourselves for being capable to finish the 21.95 Kilometers race.
While some of us are still feeling the muscle fever, the others are really eager about the races coming up this year. Apparently, the “virus” is easily spreading among the 8000 PLUS members.
