It was less than 4 years ago that my friend Attica Jacques convinced me to join her for a 10 mile mud race aka Tough Mudder that kicked off my love for running. I used to loathe running but now I run just for fun. I’m not the only one who runs for fun, on June 5, 2019 on Global Running day 2.5 million people from 177 countries pledged to run more than 9.2 million miles. Global Running Day is a worldwide celebration of running that encourages people of all ages and abilities to get moving. You can celebrate it in many ways by going to their website and pledging to run a mile or more between June 1 and June 9. You can sign up here.
I celebrated Global Running day this year at the Transylvania 100k. The race starts and finishes at Bran’s Castle made famous by and inspired Bram Stoker’s book Dracula.
The Transylvania 100k encourages runners to be self sufficient and we need to bring most of our own water and food. The organizers did a great job in informing us on what to bring and even checked our gear to make sure we had everything when we picked up our race bibs.
So I strapped on my first ever trail running shoes Brooks Running Cascadia 13 packed my Cambelbak Ultra 10 Vest, which had a 2 liter bladder and also large enough to fit my dslr camera, one wide angle fixed lens, a first aid kit, foil blanket, whistle, honey stingers and some extra iphone batteries.
This year all distances had to be re-routed due to heavy snowfall and mud issues and I was scared as the day before the race there was a torrential downpour and I knew the trail had to be muddy and slick. The race has several distances the 100k, 50k, 30k and 20k. My friend Katy May an amateur triathlete and multi time Ironman finisher and I opted for the 20K which actually turned in to a 27K due to the trails being rerouted.
The race was grueling and way harder than we both anticipated. We climbed over 4,000 feet and descended over 5,000. 17 miles moved at a snail's pace as we were constantly faced with severe inclines followed by steep muddy slopes with a few straightaways sprinkled in. I was glad that I opted for the Brooks Trail shoes because the trail had a lot of really rough terrain. There were multiple stream crossings and even snow up in the mountains. But the Brook's Cascadia 13 shoes were able to handle it all with ease. The trails shoes boast a reinforced toe box and the stronger treds that helped to navigate the rugged mountain trails. I liked these shoes so much I think they are also great for rough urban streets and probably will last longer than road sneakers.
Although the people running the 100K started in the rain, our 20K group thankfully had clear weather the entire time and all those climbs up steep slopes in deep forest were rewarded when we reached a clearing with 360 degrees of beautiful snow-covered mountain vistas.
We posed in front of the castle with silly dracula teeth and blood red lipgloss by Sara Happ. Our Global running day celebration was complete with a glass of wine, pizza, some lip scrub and Take Off My Face Mitty to wash all the mud and then we lived in our Oofos recovery shoes for the next few days after our race.
Even if you are not a runner, you can participate in Global Running Day. So where are you running on June 5? For more information on Global running day go here.
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Pickles and cheese were at the rest station at Transylvania 100K.
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Katy May wearing leggins by Anita, Brooks Cascadia 13 Trail Shoes and Camelbak Hydration Vest
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Carpathian Mountains Home of the Transylvania 100K
