Day 239 – EU – Croatia [Donji Miholvac to Slatina]


18/10/20

40.5km

  From Donji Miholvac (Croatia) to Slatina (Croatia)

Europe


Beautiful sunny run in the Drava valley, through villages and with the Papuk mountains in the background

How beautiful the weather was today. Blue sky, sun shining brightly and fresh crisp air. I was in my T-shirt by the 10th kilometer. The colours were vibrant, I could see far away and for once in a long time, I spotted some mountains. I have been running in valleys since my entry into Serbia on 29th September. The last true uphill I had was running to Vlasina Rid with about 850m+ elevation that day. Since then, it’s all been fairly flat. I enjoy the variety, it breaks the rhythm and makes for more interesting runs.

This week I have been in contact with two ultramarathoners, from friends’ recommendations. They both picked up on my email and replied nearly instantly to set up a phone call.

The first one is Philippe Fuchs, a French runner who has done incredible running journeys such as Paris-Pekin, Paris-Athens or Paris-Nord Cape to mention but the longest ones (www.sites.google.com/site/ppppfuchs/home).

The second one is Serge Roetheli, another French runner and mountain guide who has actually run 40,912km around the world on 5 continents, in 5 years, accompanied by his wife on a motorbike! (www.roetheli.net).

Having the opportunity to talk and exchange with such runners is quite important for me. These are the only people I communicate with (besides Tom Denniss, the Australian world runner www.tomnextstep.com who is a continuous support to me since before the start) who have experienced this type of journey-running.

There is a common understanding about how the body adjusts and adapts to the running, and how it feels totally natural and unexceptional which is good to hear. I greatly enjoy hearing from their own experience and receiving any kind of advice they are willing to share. Very precious. To feel the enthusiasm in their voice, to hear how healthy they are and their constant appetite for running, the outdoors and experiencing the world. I hung up the phone from both calls thinking how I wish the journey never ends… that’s how good it feels to be on the road every day!



Check my daily run GPS data on or

Here is the map of today’s run: