“2X2 Race is not for everybody”, a guy who finished it 2nd in 2022, Ionut Husariu, to be more specific said. I couldn’t agree more back then, when I have started the race, but failed in a shameful manner to make at least the first cut off time: 4 hours on Moldoveanu Peak, the highest in Romania. The experience was painful, not physically, but emotionally, as I was exactly like that like that picture when an orange slice tries to fit in a garlic. I had nothing to do with this competition. I don’t go hiking, I rarely do trail runs, I mostly train on flat, I have fear of highs, I am catastrophic when it comes to running on abrupt downhill, and, to my judgement, only a couple of kilometers from the entire race can be called “runnable”. So, then, will I be able to complete this challenge during my lifetime? Probably not. Reason for which, in 2023, I’ve subscribed to the short race, X2, that only takes the contenders to Negoiu Peak – second highest in Romania – and back to Balea. A fair consolation, 5:39 finish time for 18 kilometers and 1800 meters of ascent, with a potential to improve, maybe, by maximum 15 minutes, I guess…
How I decided to give it another go to 2X2 Race
Wanted to see the improvement in 2024, so subscribed for X2 again. No thought of 2X2, of course. But as the 2024 passed, once MIUT, EcoRun, Brasov Marathon, and Lavaredo passed, I’ve realized that my form is very good, my results are decent, so I feel it is natural to try 2X2 Race once more. Now… the shy plan was to do that in 2025, but will I have the same or better form at that moment? Better, very unlikely… Same? Possible, but you cannot rely on this. Then, without too many hopes, I went for it, talked to the organizers and ask for the change. After the 2022 I didn’t know what to expect. I just knew I wanted to improve my performance. How to do that? I’ve did 0 kilometers in the race conditions, at the altitude, in the rocky high terrain. My bad, need to rely only on the gathered experience from the races mentioned above. That is not neglectable, it helps, but I still it is not enough. Then, what should I do? An accountability plan! Opening my excel, and writing down the times from 2022 and 2023 for each kilometer.
Based on this, I’ve “drew” a plan of where I should be, in order to finish the race. Based purely on my gut. There it goes:
- Moldoveanu Peak – 3:40 (20 minutes ahead of time)
- Capra Lake – 3:42 (7:22; 18 more minutes ahead of time –> 38 minutes)
- Caltun Lake – 1:35 (8:57, 25 more minutes ahead of time –> 1 hour and 3 minutes)
- Negoiu Peak – 1:20 (10:17 –> 43 minutes ahead of time)
- Balea Lake – 3:03 (13:20 –> 40 minutes ahead of time)
First cut off time, like a Swiss watch: pictures and… video!
I felt it is possible, even I was afraid I cannot achieve this. Preparation for the start, in detail. The best thing I’ve done is to put a 2 liter camelback filled with a liquid out of water, salt and magnesium. I think this helped me going. The first 13 kilometers, I’ve consulted my “cheat sheet” with the times marked by kilometer. In principle, I was in lines, and I was not surprised at all, in the end, to see I have reached Moldoveanu Peak in exactly 3 hours and 40 minutes! I am impressed, though, take a picture, and a short video. I feel strong and in good spirits. I am ahead of 24 runners who made it in the four hours cut off time. I feel now everything can change dramatically for my morale. I know, now, I can do it. I know I have the fitness to perform. The confidence goes huge! My next mission is to reach as soon as possible Capra Lake, second check point. There is a hydration point, where I refill my water bottles and drink plenty of cold spring water. I can’t eat too much during a race, but for sure I like to drink.
Water! Need water!
The only problem with me going forward is the level of energy: I have pretty good endurance, but a 14 hours race is a lot for everybody. Now, on top of this, my feet feel strange, and I realize I am developing blisters. This can become a problem. I was not nervous I can’t continue, but I felt some mental discomfort in the idea I will be slowed down. Capra Lake check point is further than I think, I miss my objective, but keep a comfortable spare time: 7 hours and 41 minutes, against 8 hours. I still feel strong and ask for the next hydration point: “20 minutes!”, the voluntary told me. It was an exaggeration, not to say… lie, because, even if I continued to progress at a good pace, I think I spent around 35 minutes until I’ve reached the final refilling point until Negoiu Peak. Now, in the next hour and a half, I need to make sure I will reach Caltun Lake. Will I do it? I must! I will. And I am encouraging another runner to stick close, because we will make it. He listened so good, that he went on and finished more than one hour ahead of me! :)))
Caltun and Negoiu Peak, reached in time – 2X2 Race (almost) done!
I am continuing what I need to get done, and reach Caltun Lake in 9 hours and 40 minutes. I have 20 minutes ahead of time. I am feeling good and confident, but for, some reason, most of the people I’ve seek encouragement to, suggest I have no chance of reaching Negoiu in the cut off. I don’t care too much, I will climb it anyway. How much time can I miss from the cut off? 5? 10 minutes? This is life… But, in the same time, I feel I will make it. And I put my best effort, climb, walk, run, go forward, always forward, with only one aim: reaching Negoiu Peak in the cut-off. Not only I do it in 10 hours and 52 minutes, eight minutes before the cut off, but I am passing five other runners that made it here. I am happy, I already feel like I made it. I really did, because regardless of the time back, my journey will be complete. The final check point, 14 hours at Balea Lake, the finish line. I keep my hope and faith I will do it, but in the same time, the level of my stamina is at the bottom of the barrel. I am thirsty. I have drunk 10 liters, I guess, but I need more. I still have some sips, but not as much as I want.
Long way back
The blisters are getting worse, at least in my mind. These are excuses to convince myself that I don’t need to push anymore. And I really don’t. In the same time, I believe I will make it. I really do! This is a flashback from my mind, spread live during my journey. I have the hope of the last hydration point, so this helps me to climb Laitel Peak, a huge last obstacle. A though one. My energy is so low, that the heart rate goes nothing near to the one of 198 touched when I was climbing Vistea Mare, in my journey to Moldoveanu, the first check point. The sun is on my head again, because on the return journey, I had a lot of shadow. At least this advantage, after a blistering 11 hours journey beneath a burning sun. The hydration point is further than I expect, so I make it there at 13 hours and 24 minutes. I stop and enjoy some water, but in the same time I realize, for the first time, that I cannot make it for sure in 14 hours. No issue, I will manage. In theory, I have three more kilometers, I can arrive around 14:20, but that last part was the one in which I felt no mood to push anything. I preferred to conserve my body.
Nose dive on the last two kilometers of 2X2 Race
To have a better view of my performance there, the guy I was with 2 kilometers before the end, finished 22 minutes ahead! Huge! I was just so tired and happy I am making it, that I was not upset even when the last contender, who made the first four check points, descended and passed me on the last kilometer. The last descent was brutal, because of my blisters, but I have managed a last 400 meters “sprint” and clocked 14:59:47. 13 seconds before 15 hours, but almost one hour after the final cut-off. I don’t care. I am on the 89th spot from 89 finishers, but also 50 people, at least, didn’t finish the race. The performance is not that bad as it look. I don’t care anyway. I feel accomplished, I feel that if I could do this, every runner can. How did I cope with my fear for highs? Simple: concentrated on my feet alone, calibrated my focus on getting one foot in front of another. I don’t think I can make this as hiking pace. I ask for a medal, and get one. I am tired, in slight muscle pain, but feeling good and strong. 2X2 Race is completed, even though outside the cut-off. It is not an excuse, it is just a reality.
3.5 liters of liquids
My takeaway from this is that accountability and focus can indeed replace other bad odds. If you asked me two years ago that I will ever complete this race, even in 15 hours, I would have said my odds would be 100.000 to 1. No chance, nada! Now? What can I say… it was possible, it was too much, but it worth it! Would I do it again? I don’t think so… At least not too soon. It is brutal, it is a sublime experience, but a cruel one. Especially for one like me. I would never recommend to somebody without massive training and proper preparation, like terrain recognition ahead of the race – that is mandatory! I’ve took in my back-pack 3.5 liters of liquids and that helped me. I’ve ingested only four black currant gels and four bars of almond and salt. That was it. Apparently very few intake, but for me this is how it works. The camel back supported my needs thru liquid magnesium and salt. I’ve did not used poles. Did I look strange? Well… not really.
No poles for 2X2 Race
This is a hot topic, but honestly speaking, 2X2 Race is not a place to use too much poles. From my perspective, from the total 45 kilometers, maximum five can be run. If you do want to use poles, you should know very well to maneuver them. A fact that, honestly speaking, 80% of the contenders, don’t know how. They look to take poles, just because they see it on TV. It is embarrassing, because mostly they create problems to others. From my side, I don’t want them, because I am sincere, I don’t know how to benefit from them, and, also, if I have a slippery moment, I prefer to have my hands clear, so to be able to grab some equilibrium quickly. Which I did. I didn’t fall once, but I had some dirt and dust on me, because, indeed, I’ve used my body to go down, or to climb, depending on the situation. I highly advice you to do the same, if you don’t master poles. The terrain is highly rocky, no forest, shade only when the sun goes behind the peaks, so it is a perfect landscape for you to blend in, like me. The blisters were, in the end, the main enemy from this experience, but they are neglectable comparing to what I have achieved. I will never forget 2X2 Race 2024. <3
