Last year I ran the Ultrabalaton Trail 115k race for the first time. It was my first 100+ kilometer race, and it was also the first race where I felt truly fast. I finished in 11th place in 13:18:04. This year I returned with ambitions of going sub-12 hours, following a hectic summer with some good weeks of training, but not exactly an ideal leadup to the race.

But now to the race! I lined up on a beautiful autumn morning at sunrise to the start line. I stood near the front, but didn’t want to go out too fast – I figured I’d run my own race and probably finish somewhere around 5th position based on past race times. Once we started off, I settled into a good pace, hanging somewhere around 6-8th position most of the time. Who really cares what place you are at in the first 20k of a 100+ km race?

I was feeling good, munching on a ton of food and drinking a lot of isotonic drinks. The shock came at 36 kilometers, where my parents and Zsófi greeted me excitedly: “Marci, you are in 2nd place!” What the hell? I didn’t realize I was that far ahead – at first, I thought it was just an issue with the timing chips.

Fuelled by that surprise news, I pushed the pace and hit the 50km mark in under 4:42, a huge PR for me. I knew that later I would regret going this fast early in the race, but it just felt right.

By the next aid station I caught the race leader, Laci and we ran on together. I think we both felt that the previous sections caught up to us and we had some big climbs ahead, so we walked a lot and chatted. Laci had a ton of great running stories and has probably stood on more podiums than the number of races I’ve completed!

The next few sections up to about 74km were really hard. I started to struggle with the high calorie intake and became very picky about gels and foods. Laci and I mostly ran together until that point. Finally, just before the Szentantalfa aid station at 74.1km, I went ahead, gaining a few minute lead. That aid station had some hot soup, which felt like the best food ever. I started feeling more alive, so I picked up my poles and tried to pull myself together for the next few sections.

From then on, I knew it would be a solo effort for a while, with second and third place not far behind…

I knew I was being chased, which motivated me to keep up the pace. My body was deteriorating fast. Zsófi and my parents came to every aid station, bringing me ice, drinks, listening to me delusionally blabber, keeping me updated about competitors’ positions… From there I just went into autopilot. One foot in front of the other, pushing the downhills as hard as possible, but walking every uphill.

Arriving at the last aid station was the first point where I really believed I would win this – before that, I knew I had a shot, but I was always so afraid of being caught, of falling apart, having GI issues, etc. The last section was really fun, but finishing was a huge relief!

I crossed the line in 12:02:26, becoming the overall winner of the Ultrabalaton Trail 115km race. I still can’t believe it! What a crazy adventure!

Special thanks to my family for being the best crew, to the organizers for a great event and to David and Megan Roche for their epic training plan. Finally a huge congrats to Attila and Laci, who are such good competitors!