Night-Time 10 km Run around Lake Bled was a complete success. The organizers actually had to start turning down entries a week before the run so I was really glad we entered on time.

Lake Bled was beautiful as ever and this must be one of the most picturesque runs anywhere. So, while Olivier was picking up Svarun‘s award at the German CFA cat show, I was up at Lake Bled, which looks positively impressive at night as well, with the beautifully lit up fairytale castle guarding it from the tall rock.

Ali, Mateja, Sašo
My favourite co-runners

I’m glad Mateja and Sašo convinced me to go! I was sure I’d end up walking half way through as I’d never done a 10k before (hey I know it’s not like a marathon, but distance can be a relative thing -G-) and I hadn’t ran in 6 weeks. When we first started off, I felt exactly like that same morning on the Gorenjska road where the motorway ends. Runners had to turn blinkers on at some points to prevent chain crashes. But we soon spread out enough to be able to catch some air. Within minutes, we were enjoying a jogging pace, admiring the views. Had some problems communicating with my sister and thought the finish line was… humm… well… half way through. I was so glad to have reached the end and had actually done 6 out of 10k. Major downer.

What kept me going for the first couple of minutes afterwards were the people around the track cheering us on while having their dinners on the lake. Thanks, guys! Exchanged some energizingly fun comments. Then I started thinking I might have done better going to Belgrade like Pengovsky had done. And so time passed.

But to be perfectly honest, what really kept me going that last mile was the prize. The one and only kremšnita (Bled Cream Cake, yumm). To make a long story short, made it to the finish line without walking in a bit over 61 minutes (take 1 minute off for the slooowww start I suppose and make it a nice and round 60 minutes? -g-)

This was, without a doubt, the prettiest run I’ve ever done. Still cannot believe we ran around the lake twice. The scenery was smashing and the atmposphere matched by no other run we’ve been to. THANK YOU, Vitezi dobrega teka! We’ll be back next year!

The organizers had the original idea of giving us small forks in place of medals. Came in handy with the ever so desired cream cake…

prizes
The prize (Cake disappeared instantly so no shot, sorry)

Feeling rather good, I decided I want to take up running again and get ready for the Bohinj 12 km run on the 12th of August. Who’s game?

After having gone to bed at 2am I got up at 6.30 and dragged Ian up to Komna and Črno jezero (Black Lake) in the Alps today, which made for an 8 hour walk, but that deserves a new blog entry 🙂