Bodom Night 10K

 Bodom Night 10K is such a fun trail to run. Lots of mud, ponds, rocks, roots. It's almost like an obstacle course race. And it's dark, of course.

The course is well marked. The organization is brilliant. Nuuksio National Park is awesome.

I finished with 1:20:40, a new course PR. In 2018 race I fell in a lake, which slowed me down a bit.

Normally the event would be in May, not October. 2021 Bodom Night is planned for May again. 

I'll be back!

Solvalla Trail Half-Marathon

I ran Solvalla Trail Half-Marathon in Nuuksio National Park today with my friends Mikki (who beat me) and Kirsi (who ran 10K). It was rainy, muddy and technical - just what we love!

 

Pääkaupunkijuoksu Half-Marathon

Before.

I ran Pääkaupunkijuoksu (Capital Run) 21.1K Half-Marathon together with my son Jon on the last Sunday of September. 

We set 1h45min as our goal. That's 5 min/km pace.

Three years ago in 2017, we finished in 2:06 - 6 min/km pace. So we planned to run every K a minute faster this time to set Jon's new PR.

The race day weather was perfect. Clear blue sky, but not hot, cold, or windy.

The start/finish area was at Pirkkola Sports Park 3K away. We jogged there for the 1:15pm start. There were about 500 runners, 350 for the half, and 150 for the quarter marathon.

The route was entirely on wide forest paths. The trail surface was all dirt, but not technical. There were a few little hills though. The trees were decorated with beautiful autumn colors. We love that course and know it well. It was also well marked.

BANG! We went out in the front third, but not too hard - or that's what we thought. I breathed hard in the first long uphill, and someone watching us pass shouted "Smile!"

There were signs for every kilometer, which made pacing simple. The first aid station was at 7K. We grabbed a cup of water without stopping. We were 2 minutes ahead of our schedule, but kept on with the same pace. We were feeling good. 

The second AS was at 13K. We took two cups of water, pouring the other on our heads. We started feeling the effort a bit, but decided to push on. We were constantly 2 minutes ahead.

The third AS was at 17K. "Only 4K left, let's go!", I suggested as we grabbed our final hydration, but Jon said he wasn't feeling good anymore. He suffered from a side stitch! We slowed down immediately. I told him to relax and breath deep. We maintained an easier pace. A lot people passed us, but we didn't want to take any chances. The diaphragm can fatigue and cramp just like any muscle, especially if you are a young or beginner runner stepping up your pace or distance.

Soon the finish came to our sights and we crossed the finish line in 1:45 - right on our goal! Jon sat down on the ground exhausted. I fetched our drop bag and some drinks and bananas. We put our jackets on and walked home.

Later on we learned that Jon had placed 32nd in Men (he is 18 now). I placed 15th in M50 category. Not bad at all. Our official time was 1:45:30. We are happy. Thanks for the great race once again!

After.

 

BAT 2000 km 114 days

 hello JUKKA KUKKONEN, newly minted bat!

i am just not sure if congratulations is in order or not...

look around you.
there you stand, right exactly where you started.
you are surrounded by all those 303 poor sad sacks
who never managed to log even a single mile.

even the four pitiful people who only logged one mile
have gotten further from the start than you.

it seems like there has to be something to set you apart
from all those other people hanging out at the start line,
so we have employed the finest team of certificate designers
that populate the vastness of the internet
to design for you a genuine certificate of achievement.

so when that weird looking guy next to you says;
"that entry screen was just toooo hard, right?"
and looks at you with his hopeful face
looking for validation....
you can wave your certificate right in his face and say;
"not for me, i have been to buckeye hollow and back!"

just be prepared to be surrounded by people begging to know the secret
how the hell do they get out of this parking lot in arkansas?

good work;

laz

NUTS Ylläs Pallas 100 Mile Race Report

"We simply need to believe in the power that's within us, and use it. When we do that, and stop imitating others and competing against them, things begin to work for us."

-Benjamin Hoff: The Tao of Pooh

NUTS Ylläs Pallas 160km (actually it was 165K with 4,400m elevation gain) Special Edition was one of the very few ultra trail running races this year. It is the only point-to-point one-way 100-miler in Finland. 

There has been many virtual races, but this one was the real thing. The whole event with 58K, 107K and 165 km (58+107) races was cancelled, but after the restrictions were eased in July, the organizers were able to put up a Special Edition, meaning re-designed transportations, race packet pickups, aid stations, and finish lines. 

The course would be mostly unmarked and all competitors had to bring a GPS device and a phone with the GPX-file of the course. We were also required to carry a GPS transmitter for live following on the race website.

We took the race bus in the morning from Äkäslompolo finish to Hetta start with my son, who worked with the race media staff. 

The heavy rain had fortunately stopped in the morning, only light drizzle and cold wind remained. The ground would be extremely wet during the race. Only 77 runners started at 12 noon on a wide asphalt road surface for the first 5km. 

We followed a dirt road to the first aid station at 11km. My son arrived there with the race van just on time to cheer me up and take photos.

We ran the next 20K on nice fell hiking trails to Hietajärvi Lake aid station at 32K. I had two 0.5L soft water bottles and an extra one with filter just in case I needed to drink from streams. The weather wasn't too warm, so I never needed to use the filter bottle. 

I navigated the whole course with my trusty Suunto 9 Baro, and it worked pretty well. I didn't get lost even once, which was quite an achievement for me. I never needed to use my Topo maps iPhone app or the printed race course map.

Then followed a more technical 23K trail to Pallas at 55K, where we got access to our drop bags and crews. My son was there crewing for me. We were allowed to sit inside our friend's warm crew RV, which was nice as all the aid stations were just tables outside. 

The first part took me about 9 hours, so it was 9pm. In Northern Finland it never gets dark at all in summer, so headlights were unnecessary.

The next 21K to Rauhala would be beautiful but horribly wet and very tricky technical trail. The temperature dropped as the sky cleared, and my friend told it had been -2C. No wonder there was some slippery ice. This part took me a long time at night, but it was ok as I was well ahead of all the cut-off times. 

In the morning it was sunny but still cool until Pahtavuoma 88K. Soon it got warmer as I ran across scenic Äkäskero fell to Peurakaltio 101K with another drop bag and pizza!

The last 50km over Kukas, Ylläs and Kesänki fells was my favorite part. The sun was shining, but it wasn't too hot. Mosquitos were buzzing around, but I enjoyed my run tremendously and felt really good. I passed several runners before finishing 44th in Äkäslompolo at half past 9pm. My time was 33h31min. There were 54 finishers and 23 DNFs. Tomi Mikkola won with 19h10min, which is super fast in these conditions. Piia Tikka won the women's race with 23h51min.

NUTS Ylläs Pallas Special Edition was a great success. Everyone raced happy and went home even happier.