Few months ago me and my friend Mihkel we had few beers and decided to have some fun because why not. Fun to complete 100 kilometers on foot within 24 hours, within one day, from 00:00 am till 11:59 pm. (EDIT: radio interview with Mihkel in Estonian in Kuku Raadio)
Facebook event was created, a lot of people were invited only one condition. Gather your people, make your group, track your route. Easy enough, isn't it?
Months passed, 13 people attended the event and on the day of 29th of June. Saturday, 7 brave souls gathered to make a journey. Turned out that out of 300+ people only 7 of my fiends decided to take the challenge. Three of them had in mind max 50 kilometers.
We started off exactly at 00:00 on Saturday morning.
Start was simple, bags where packed, we had food, we had water, we had change of socks and lots of patches for feet. Most important stuff was needle and a thread to get rid of the blisters which where doomed to come.
First steps were quite amusing and people were in perfect mood, it was bound to change. After 20 kilometers people got more silent, only one thing in their head: "Why I am doing this". Actually it was maybe only in my head. After a while we decided to start to make breaks for 5 minutes long.
It was really cold around 4 am in the morning when the sun started to rise, actually in never went fully down and the asphalt road was killing our feet. There was just five us left and we desperately were keeping our eyes open for some road off the grounds we were currently on. We got to Saadjärve, there was some race 16 km around the lake, we managed to grab some pictures from the finish. Two girls who joined us started heading back to Tartu around 22 kilometers from the beginning.
We hoped that the road near Jääaja keskus gets us somewhere but it was dead end. Oh the pain what we had to turn back few kilometers on the road where we have already been on.
After a while we did bit bigger break at Elistvere Loomapark. Around 30 kilometers in. It was still very cold. I only had one warm shirt and then sport shirt on top of it. It has been almost 6 hours from the start of the trip - 6 am in the morning.
We headed towards to the Maarja-Madgaleena where I changed my walking shoes to running shoes. It felt amazing. We managed to stay at a Saarjärve lake for like 10 minutes, and forest road took us there. That felt so good for feet. By 9 am we crossed big road where one of our walking buddy took a bus back to Tartu on the 45th kilometer mark.
Next up we saw a sign that RMK walking route starts. thinking, yes, no more asphalt, but it was long long road of nothing else. At some point it turned to gravel road and those long straight walks you just wanted to keep your eyes low not to see the entreaty to of the walk. Imagine walking an hour on a straight road without and end and after each corner there was another one of those ahead.
At lunch 12:00 am, 60 kilometers were behind us. There was one RMK table where we had lunch, longer stop and had some sleep on the bench. Wasted a needed hour there. Starting to walk again was very difficult, took at least 10 minutes to get feet back working on those straight roads. Approximately 5 kilometers later we were out of fresh water. 10 kilometers later we saw a house where the owner happily filled up our bottles. Time was 4 pm. This water was so good. Drank one bottle empty and refilled there.
On 77th kilometer there was a shop. Took some lemonade, ice-cream, chocolate and few beers. It was not a good beer but at that moment of time it was the best beer in the world. Not particular fan of Santanos.
Also near by was another farm where we filled our water supplies once again. Then the terrible part was about to start. Big highway. Big highway for 12 kilometers. Had another stop in Olerex to go to the toilet and to get some complimentary beers before last 10 kilometers. We sat down near Tartu Vallavalitus and decided to have a go for last 10 kilometers.
When we got to Tartu we had still 6 kilometers ahead of us. Time was already 9:30 pm. Those 6 kilometers were a pain. It took 1,5 hours to finish finally at 11 pm.
There were lots of plastering, lots of blister draining, exhaustment, mood swings, tiredness, lack of water, lack of energy but we managed to pull it trough.
This trip was awesome, will do it again next year. The feeling was very very good after we sat down at Satiir and had few cold beers and awesome pins from Kiiks ja Knihv gift shop with a twist.
I've also asked few questions from the participants. (Marilis actually wrote bigger response, I quoted some parts of it, you may hear the rest from her, very exiting story!)
- What was in your mind when you decided to walk with us 100 kilometers in one day?
Gen: "I will try this trip, no particular thoughts"
Karmo: "I am already so tired, why I am not sleeping in my bed"Marilis: "It was crazy enough, extreme, nevertheless doable and exiting. A chance to test my limits, though all my friends stared at me with a stupid face when telling them the plan. I only knew Mihkel from before so I didn’t know whether I would click with the others… I knew that the dead would be left behind so making it till the end was the only alternative."
Mihkel: "Since being a small part of this crazy idea, I was mentally prepared since the day we decided to make the #100kmday a thing! I was looking forward to it with eagerness and the moment I started the track recorder on my watch, I felt light-footed and intrigued of what was ahead for us for the next 100km"
- What did you feel after 20 kilometers?
Gen: "After 20 kilometers all was still good."
Karmo: "All was bueno, awesome!"Marilis: "Hip joints got a bit sore, but it was a child’s play for the rest of the body. I did make 1.3-1.4 steps for each step guys made, so I had to ignore them and focus on my own pace and breathing. Rising sun brought some warmth and it was clear for me that these are the perfect people to walk the walk."
Mihkel: "The first 20km went by quite fast, the company was great, jokes were flying all around, the pace was decent, maybe even a tiny little ahead of schedule. A light burning feeling under the soles of the feet slowly started to show little signs of itself, but nothing serious. The 80 head didn’t look like a unconquerable distance."
- Would you participate again next year?
Gen: "Blisters made too much damage so I would skip next year."
Karmo: "Asphalt road killed my legs after 30 kilometers, so also skip."
Marilis: "Hell yeah!"
Mihkel: "Would I? What kind of question is that – of course!" - What did you feel during lunch break when we managed to finalize 60 kilometers? (now there was 4 of us left)
Gen: "Garish hunger and sleep was needed."Marilis: "It was good to eat, but I wasn’t really hungry. My shoulders, that usually annoy with pain, were like brand new, even with a backpack! Let’s be honest, I was longing for this bigger break and it did not disappoint – it was divine to rest a bit. Some slept, Taivo even snored within a second after laying on the bench. We should have had more water, though. Lack of it brought the morale down a bit. A friendly farm host, who filled our bottles, doubted in my capacity to make it till the end but that just got my trot going."
Mihkel: "Since we arrived at the 60km “checkpoint” almost exactly on schedule (12h of walking), motivation was still quite high. But at the same time it felt so good to take off the shoes and let the feet breathe for a tad longer while. And seriously eat for the first time (not counting the small energy snacks on the road). The pause was much needed, cause getting back on the road seemed like a big challenge but getting back to the needed pace was quite easy."
- What would you do different next time?Gen: "Would need to get really good shoes to make it with as less as blisters as possible."
Karmo: "I would not walk on the asphalt."Marilis: "I didn't know the route but then again I don't think any of us really did... less asphalt, plan water better, take less things with you and prepare body even better... oh, and yes - pick an alternative route, just for fun 😀" - How did you feel at the end of the trip?Gen: "Emptiness and small disappointment about the blisters. Bit jealous for Taivo and Mihkel since you didn't have so much blisters.Karmo: "I went to the bus stop, slept there, slept on the bus, slept on the city buss. Eye shut down once I sat down. Actually it was awesome, I loved it, asphalt was the bad guy and it was very uncomfortable to walk. If there would have been more softer ground, it would have been piece of a cake."Marilis: "About 30-25km before the end I understood that I should make less breaks or I would not get back to speed any longer. I was almost all worn out and had to very much force myself but then we reached Olerex, I took my last set of drugs and I could continue with ease. Pure awesomeness. Once we had finished, it was cool to hear next to a cold beer that people already knew about our trip and they asked how it was. Looking back I think I needed that challenge - I know now that I’m capable of even more."
Mihkel: "I still haven’t quite figured out why we did it and I had the same feelings in the end of the trip. But a sense of accomplishment is still lingering in me and I feel really proud about myself and my friends who walked this crazy challenge with me. So without any fear we’ll repeat it next year as well!"
Mihkel: "Even though we thought that starting blind and going wherever is a cool concept (which it certainly is for shorter distances), walking on hard surfaces was killing our legs quite fast. So looking for and preparing a track with lots of hiking trails in the woods is a must. Cause straight boring roads are mentally even more exhausting than physically."
