As before the last blog ended with me on a coach. This time we were going to a different hotel, the Helikon in Keszthely. First impressions weren't great, bit of a concrete monolith again. However inside the hotel was much more up to date and well maintained. Absolutely no engineering ingenuity was required to have a bath - just as well as I hadn't picked up a plastic blanket this time. Some engineering figuring out was required to get on the balcony though. There was a balcony, a promising looking patio door type thing and a track for said door to run in that promised vast opening of said door. So why could I only open it about 15cm? (as I said before this blog will be conducted in metric (OK, 6 inches)). After reading the instructions on the aforementioned door I discovered a catch at the other end which, when released allowed the door to slide smoothly along the previously commented on track and open out onto the balcony. It only took me a few seconds after that to realise that the reason I was now fairly well pinned to the wall by the door was not because it was some sort of safety feature to prevent me falling from the balcony but because I had contrived to be on the wrong side as I opened it...
Anyway after finishing playing with baths and balconies I decided it was time for food. Whilst picking up some soup I met Nick, who told me he was sitting with a small contingent of Belgians, so I joined him. We had three Belgian companions, Ruth from the bus, Mieke - who was leading the ladies race and a gentleman whose name I never learned. I would like to point out I did learn the names of two other Belgian gentlemen - who I met on the last day and about more of later - so don't start thinking I only bother to find out the names of Belgian ladies.
After a good night's sleep I awoke and found that the previous day's heroic finish (or just the day in general) had taken their toll. I used the foam roller just to loosen my legs up enough to get to breakfast. What was particularly odd was that the pain was in my right leg, all through training any leg/hip type pain had always been in my left leg. However debating which leg should be hurting wasn't going to help so I had breakfast, packed up my gear and got onto the bus.
Today's start wasn't at the same point as Day Two's finish, instead it was at Badacsony. In another first for me the start appeared to be at a petrol station. As some of you may know I had heroically fought off a sniffle in the lead up to the race. This had left me with a slightly runny nose which I had dealt with using the sleeve of my top on the first two days (nice). Tissue was available at checkpoints and the hotel rooms even had tissues but for some reason I was incapable of remembering to pick any up at any point. However today Ruth was organising her running accessories one of which was a packet of tissues. I did my best hopeless, begging face and she very kindly supplied me with a tissue which would make Day Three a little more civilised than the race so far. She also took a pre-race picture for me which was significantly better than the rather random 'selfies' I had been taking.
The start procedure was the same as Day Two. This was a little embarrassing as it means there is no crowd to hide in. I don't know how many of you have had that thing where your leg 'goes to sleep' and you don't quite have full control of it when you get up and start to walk, but those that have will know how I looked starting the race. Fortunately after a couple of kilometres it eased off and I was able to run at a similar pace to Day's One and Two.
I like races that have something unusual and today would be the first time I've ever run any race of any distance that included a railway station platform as part of the course. For those of you that know my navigational skills and hence are now a bit sceptical as to whether I was going the right way I will quote from the race itinerary: '...then turn right onto the platform of railway station Balatonrendes. Turn left from the platform towards road number 71...' Its little things like this that make me really love ultra running!
Today was the shortest day, only 43.6km, with six checkpoints. It was also probably the most undulating. The weather had been superb so far and today was no exception, if anything it was slighlty warm. This was good as the Marathonfüred followed the same course, starting 1.4km in to the course and 30 minutes earlier. As a result (and possibly because it was the weekend) there was more support and its always nicer for the spectators if the weather is good.
After my slightly dodgy start I had a fairly uneventful run, checking in at both relay points in good time and recording another sub-four hour marathon. The last kilometre was a little crowded as the finish was at Balatonfüred and involved running along quite a busy street towards the finish. I also overtook one of the marathon runners whose small child was racing daddy to the finish and who provided an 'interesting' obstacle until he was persuaded to leave the course and I could concentrate on finishing and not on avoiding a small trip hazard. I finished the day in 4 hours, 3 minutes and 36 seconds which meant I had maintained a nice consistent pace throughout the first three days.
The finish area was by far the busiest of the race so far, mainly because of the marathon runners and there was a really good atmosphere going on. However I picked up my free beer and went to find a bus to the finish. Mieke and Nick were already on the bus, Ruth had told me she wasn't going to rush and would wait for the next bus. Fortunately we were on a minibus and so it was soon full and taking us to the hotel and the last night of the event. For consistency's sake I will leave Day Three there and pick up the sometimes comical, sometimes painful event that was Day Four in the final part of this series of blogs...
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