❗️Before you start 📖reading, i must warn you that it’s going to be a long read📚, long like in the long run🏃🏻♂️ 🤪 but if you are into running or just like to learn nitty gritty details about Tengri adventure then buckle up.
For those of you who don’t know, Tengri Ultra is a running|cycling|bikejoring event organized by Athletex (Extreme Athletics or in Russian “Экстремальная Атлетика”) since 2015. Athletex (Extreme Athletics) itself organizes various sport events since its foundation in 2006.
BACKSTORY:
Back in 2018, i already started running pretty consistently, missing days here and there, nothing crazy. As i started to run longer distances (by long i mean relative to my previous distances - by the way, the first thing you must know is you never measure your effort with someone else’s ruler, so any comparison in my writing is always me vs me yesterday), my interest grew about learning endurance running. That’s when i stumbled up on a link in Google that referred to Tengri Ultra. At the time, anything bigger than half marathon seemed to be humongous distance for me. I closed my tab and that was it.
Then between somewhere in 2019 and 2021, good friend if mine - Zafar, from time to time sent me link to Tengri as he likes to lure me into signing and buying hiking|running stuff. Then around mid June 2021 when I was running with Veronika and Bernd in the early morning, Bernd said he enjoyed Tengri Ultra 70km run several years ago and praised the race. From then on, my interest grew in attending the Tengri Ultra one day. Between 2021 and end of 2022, I would stumble on Tengri Ultra from time to time. Around January 2023, I was setting running goals for 2023 one of which was to run trail in combination of ultra. One affordable and close option was of course: Tengri Ultra in Kazakhstan.
REGISTRATION AND FEAR OF THE SUN
Fast forward to beginning of April, 2023, I am sitting in Merve (Turkish restaurant) with very dear to me friend - Wayne and we are discussing super awesome topics about future of running and adventure races. Then he asks me if I am planning to run any races outside Tajikistan and I tell him that I am thinking of pulling the trigger and participate in Tengri Ultra 2023 but I haven’t made my final decision yet. Within several days while running I made my mind and went ahead registered for the race. Yes, one of the side effects of running is you finally do the things you always wanted to do that were putting them to later 😂
I told my wife about my registration and then later in the day when we went to my brother Firuz’s house for a tea, I told him. Without a second thought he asked if he could join me for 50K distance. I was surprised but pleased because it took me good amount of time to finally make decision while he made decision on the fly 😂 We went ahead purchased tickets and within next days booked our hostel (Wanderlust Riverside hostel, not to confuse with other Wanderlust hostels - like I did 🙈).
In the next days, we drafted a plan for our stay in Almaty that looked like this:
We had one month to prepare. I wasn’t afraid of the distance since I already had experience of running 100km a year before. However, it was all road running. I knew Tengri had different terrain and I needed more elevation gains since my daily running with 150-250 meters elevation wouldn’t cut it. I started incorporating hill repeats at Victory Park and running Angel route, creating segment|route.
One thing remained in my head constantly though. That’s the fear of the sun. From my childhood years, I know that I can’t stand under direct sunlight for too long. I immediately get dizzy and want to through out. I remember my 5-6 grade where I would come back from school on the crowded bus and in many occasions I had vomiting instances that I try to avoid at all cost. After so many years, even today, I can’t bear direct sunlight for extended period of time. It is my one of my weaknesses and I try to avoid running during sunny days at all cost. Anyhow, I knew I would have to face my fear some day and control myself during a daytime run.
Back into preparation, I downloaded .GPX file route for Tengri Ultra 100km (did the same for 50km) run from Athletex.kz website and created Strava route to learn about elevation and be better prepared for the run.
Once I had information about total elevation gain of 1646 meters, I started to check the grade and incline of the hills. As I created segment on Victory Park and tried to run up and down the hill for several loops, I had an idea how it would feel on the day of the run. I started learning more about Strava climbs, created segment on Victory Park had category “4” which is considered advanced. You can learn about climb categorization of Strava
So, while I was doing cross training (mostly core and upper body) and doing hill repeats, I knew any elevation under 2000 meters wouldn’t be too difficult for me. Whenever I did hill repeats, I didn’t go all in and trained my legs to the extend that they new what it would be running|climbing Tengri hills. I was also incorporating trail hiking with DAV.TJ club to make sure I get good amount of climbing elevation. I prepared detailed cheat-sheet for myself about the route:
Here is how my notes looked like 👇🏻(Tengri 100KM Ultra route notes):
MISTAKE #1
One week before our departure to Almaty, Kazakhstan, I talked to a friend of mine Brian who offered to hike|run in Siyoma (49km north of Dushanbe, in the mountains). I offered my brother Firuz to join us and Brian’s friend - Jay, who hiked this route week before. Brian and Jay are mountain goats and I knew this would be a great addition to our preparation. I loved trail running and hiking up in Siyoma with around 937 meters elevation gain.
However, one mistake I made and I still regret is that on the way down from the mountains I did speed up a little bit because I wanted to better prepare myself for Tengri downhills. Around 1km away from finish, I fell by stepping on a unstable rock. I had trekking poles in my right hand and as I was falling down, I wanted to protect my face from hitting the ground. I slid a bit down the hill and hit my chest (left side of it) on a sharp stone. I had slight dizziness and my chest hurt when I was inhaling deeply. My brother was running behind me and Brian with Jay were around 500 meters behind us. I set down and drank some water to then get up and brisk walk back to the car. Firuz also told me that he fell several times but nothing major. So besides small cuts and bruises in my left leg and in Firuz’s hand, we were fine. We had one week to recover from slight injury. At least that’s what I thought of my injury.
On my runs the next days, every time I wake up I would feel a bit discomfort on the left side of my chest and while running if I tried to inhale deeply, cough, sneeze or perform any movement that required chest expansion, it would hurt to the extend that I would try to avoid it. I hoped it would be back to normal by the time of Tengri start. Unfortunately, it did not.
WE FLY TO ALMATY
We arrive in Almaty 3 days before the race. The next 2 days, me and Firuz would be doing easy runs through wonderful Almaty streets and parks. Luckily, Almaty was chiller this year compared to last years and even at 7 am running in the streets would be like running at 5 am in Dushanbe. In one of our runs, Azamat, a friend of mine from Strava, joined us for a 25K run and it was his longest distance. Almaty felt like big park because there are lots of trees around.
Day before the race day, bus took runners|cyclists to the camp site where around 2500 people gathered, according to organizers, came to enjoy the race. In the bus, I had a change to talk to several people, next to me and besides me, if they were running ultra first time. To my surprise, most of them were first timers, let alone they didn’t run marathons, except one guy. From the website, I knew there were 89 people signed up for 100km run and I was kind of shocked to find not many had run 70K, let alone 100km.
We arrived at camp site. First things first, we took our race kits and inside of it were the following things:
Tshirt (which we paid separately)
Pamphlets about the race
Chocolate bar
Nonalcoholic beer can
Dried pancake type of thing
Coupons from various sport stores
I think around 80% of the people were from Kazakhstan, then from Russia, Europe and finally other countries of Central Asia. Two Tajiks, me and my brothers with our DAV.TJ running club T-shirt hang out and enjoyed our time.
One interesting moment that occurred during the dinner time is that we were sitting with other runners on the table discussing who signed up for what distance and one elderly runner, I think he was in his early 60s, who previously ran Tengri Ultra 70k, said that last year when he ran, sand got into his shoe and it squeezed his feet so much that he had to stop, empty his shoes and continue. He then said, it was still tight and later he found that sand got underneath his sole and that’s why it felt tight even after he cleaned it from sand. With all interesting new acquaintances and discussion with new runners, we went back to our tents around 10:40 PM and slept well.
RACE DAY:
I woke up at 4 AM. Firuz the night before asked me to wake him up so he can help me get started and also have enough time to digest his breakfast. We went to breakfast, there were many options, like porridge, fried eggs, boiled eggs, coffee and others. I wanted to have something warmer and got one fried egg and coffee. No surprise that fried eggs were already cold and I didn’t want to eat it. Just sat down and drank my coffee. Went to restroom to make sure I don’t have any urgency in the middle of the run to look for poo-poo. It is my usual routine after having a coffee to visit restroom several times. Sometimes I do several visits before I start my early morning runs. That’s just my body and I know I need to give it some time.
All runners of 100km were asked to get into the started line. There was very energizing tribal music playing and I loved how it brought goosebumps into my body. It was like getting into a boxing ring before your fight. 5 AM, starting pistol went off and people started loudly cheering. Within 5 minutes of the run, line started to brake down. Those who were running for prizes, leashed out all the energy, while those who wanted to enjoy the run or had prior similar experience asked everyone to slow down because well it’s a 100km run, not a 1K or 10K 😄
MISTAKE #2
Mistake of not using pins to attach my bib to my tshirt. In Almaty I purchased plaster with the intention that it will hold my bib during my run, but after 8KM, bib started to detach and I had to use pin to make a hole in my tshirt. I fell hitting a rock cause I am stubborn to decide to stop and use the pin as a normal person. No, I have to run and use the pin while running. Dumb decision - what can I say.
I HAD THREE PLANS:
PLAN A: finish in 10 hours or less (regardless of what place I come)
PLAN B: finish in 12 hours
PLAN C: finish at all cost, just don’t do DNF (Did-Not-Finish)
The first 50K I ran without any effort, I was hitting pace around 5:30-5:45. I knew my pace would be slower on the uphills and compensated, I would get somewhere around 6 min|km which would mean I will finish the race with PLAN A in mind. First half of the route I finished in less than 5 hours, I think it was somewhere around 4 hours and 55 minutes. I was full of energy and knew I can keep this strategy until the end. I also knew that all I had to focus on the second part of the route is 3 hills. If I tackle them strategically, I would finish with PLAN A in hand.
Everything was going great. Sun was starting to get up and shiny because it was pass 10 AM now. Now came the first hill at 58KM that meant I had uphill of 206 meters elevation gain within 2K. My strategy from the beginning was to brisk walk at hills and then run faster pace at downhills. First hill went great. It had lots of rocks and wasn’t bad. I slid from time to time and around the end of the hill it was a bit challenging but all within my expectations. I noticed, whenever I brisk walked, some runners would run and waste their energy in the uphill, and in the middle of the uphill, they would be tired, while I was passing them.
MISTAKE #3
I came down from uphill to the flat area and according to my plan I had to run 4KM until the next uphill. Little did I know that this part would be a bit sandy. If you ever walked or ran on a beach, you know you waste more energy walking|running on a sand than on an asphalt or hard surface. My mistake was that I focused so much on elevation gains and climbing but didn’t spend time learning terrain. Sand was getting into my feet and my shoes became tighter. It was becoming more uncomfortable to run, however, I kept running.
The day before the race, I came across gaiters (shoe covers) that I regret not buying because I thought it was too expensive (18000 Tenge which is around 450 TJS or 45 USD). I noticed these gaiters on the feet of some of the runners
Now I came to the near of the second hill that I notice couple runners ahead of me. Sun started to grill me. I started to feel I need more water to keep me hydrated and fresh. I climbed the small mountain very efficiently, rarely stopping. I reached the top of the mountain where there was water station (each water stations, you can see it in the map above, had water, coke, pickles, cashew, raisins, marmalade, candies, bananas and so forth) and a runner from Russia. He was surprised how I reached him so fast and said uphills were my advantage. He looked tired and asked if he can join me. I said OK, but within 1km he seemed to have muscle cramps and wished me good luck. He told me his friend who was running as 4th runner (he eventually got disqualified) was not far from me and if I keep my pacing, I would reach him soon. At the time, I was running at 5th place. It wasn’t important for me because my goal was reaching finish before 10 hours regardless of what place I finish.
I started to descend and sun was affecting me. My thoughts were random as I followed the markers. Markers across the route where tapes with mix color of red and white (like police protect the crime area) and hung on sticks or bushes. At 69KM, I think due to longer exposure to the sun, I didn’t notice how I passed the sharp turn where the marker was placed and continued running on the different direction for about 3KM (round trip). I suddenly realized that I am not seeing any tape markers. I stopped and checked my Garmin watch and phone, to find out that I, indeed, was on a different route. That was one of the breaking moments because it is really frustrating to find yourself out of the main route.
I quickly started to run faster way back because I thought if I wanted to reach PLAN A, I needed to increase my pace. That required additional energy. I rejoined the route and rejoiced I was back on track. Part of the route was along the river and in one location I came down to the river and washed my face and my mouth. Got some water and continued. There was one hill left in my mind that I need to fight. But my energy was decreasing because sun got the the point where my cheeks were very warm and my body was struggling to keep me cooled.
AND HERE was 72KM (my watch was off 3-4 kms) and I face an uphill, not the one I expected. This was a different uphill. It was all sandy. I calmed myself saying I can do it and kept walking. I walk up 2 feet, sand brings me 1 feet down. After about 10 minutes, I knew it would be impossible for me to climb this sandy uphill in my planned time of 10 hours to the finish, PLAN A. It was second breaking moment, and I was counting each of my steps and recalculating how much time it would take me to reach the top of this sandy uphill. It took me well around 40 minutes to climb up. By the time I reached the end, my shoes felt like I was wearing my son’s shoes. I sat down and emptied my shoes from sand. My legs were tired at this time and it was very uncomfortable for me to sit down and bend my legs. I barely put my shoes on.
Because of the sandy hill, I had to drink more water and my two water bottles (500ml each) were empty by now. I tried to push myself to run at pace of at least 7 min|km but I felt dizzy. This was the time I was facing my biggest fear. I started brisk walking in pace 9 min|km. It seemed forever to reach 1KM. The next water station was at around 78KM which meant I had to walk 3.5KM. Two runners passed and I wished them good luck.
I tried to engage myself by bringing my thoughts back to focus and running, but to no avail. Tired, thirsty, behind my schedule of PLAN A, I now had a doubt that if I can even finish with PLAN B within 12 hours. Huge breaking moment here as I kept walking and walking. At some point when I was slowing trying to speed up I felt thorn on the left pinky toe. I argued to myself that I can bear the slight discomfort and maybe the pain will go away. No, it just got super annoying and pain was getting even stronger. I gave up and sat down to take my shoes off again. I really didn’t want to because I knew it wouldn’t be easy to get up again and continue running.
The small thorn in the pinky toe was so small that I literally tried to pinch it and take it out for like 3 minutes. I glided my finger over my pinky toe to feel where thorn was located because I couldn’t bend enough to take closer look at it. It seemed to be fine, then I am back on my feet. Another 1KM and I still feel it. At this point, I am all frustrated. Frustrated that I didn’t get gaiters (shoe covers), why my new Salomon trail running shoes I ordered from US got delayed. I hoped to run in them but instead ran with my recent New Balance Fresh Foam 880v11. It’s a good shoe, no doubt but not a trail running shoe. I blamed the sun, I blamed the hot weather and every thorn or plant I could see. I was helpless. Sat down again and carefully removed the small thorn that was bothering me so much.
At water station in 86KM which was the one before the last water station, I reached by just brisk walking and lost all my hope of PLAN B. I knew even if I had to crawl, I will have to finish. Nevertheless, there was huge experience in my back. I have ran so many days in a row, in so many harsh weathers (not in brutal sun for extended period of time though), and in all of those weather, I never gave up. Running everyday is no joke, especially when you do it regardless of how you feel or been sick, have fever, high temperature or no energy. I think I refueled too much at this station. I wondered if I walked all the way to finish which was another 14K with pace of 10 min|km, it would take me at least 3 hours to finish. I think I was running for at least +10 hours by now and adding another 3 hours would mean around 14 hours to the finish.
In about 91KM, I stated to run again. I felt like I gave my body and mind a bit time to rest. I wasn’t aiming at specific pace but noticed it was around 7 min|km. I thought any pace is better than brisk walking and I am stronger than I think I am. As I ran for another 2-3 km, for no apparent reason, I started to cry. Feeling of pettiness for my fear of the sun that I was so afraid of and my frustration of how things turned not the way I wanted - tears just came out of my eyes. My throat felt like something was stuck there. I tried to clear but any coughing or sneezing, because your nose gets stuffed when you cry, expanded my chest which caused real discomfort from my chest injury. I wanted to cry hard but knowing my chest pain would be stronger, I tried to cry silently. Here I am - I thought - little person, all by my own in the wild nature, facing my biggest and oldest fear: fear of the sun, helplessly crying knowing no one will come to calm me down.
Looking back at my crying, I think it really helped me realize how we, human beings, are nothing in front of the mother nature. It can take away thousands of lives in a matter of seconds, which we all saw in the unfortunate event of Turkish earthquakes.
I approached closer and closer and stopped crying after around 15 minutes. Occasionally, I would remember my family, my friends and all the things I did throughout my life - my tears would come back. I don’t know how many questions I asked myself from: am I a good father, am I a good son or a person in this world? What things I did that I shouldn’t do or should have done. Countless questions and answers back and forth inside my head and I keep running and running.
I realized I am close to the last water station at 92KM and little over 8KM left. I get my shit together and focus on my self, my strength and even in the face of the sun, I cannot let loose myself. Person who was registering runners at the water station asked what number I was running under. I shouted 69! I felt my energy was coming back and after crying I felt myself a bit lighter. Without stopping and refueling, I continued my running. There was downhill and another 8KM and I am in the finish line. By my estimates, I should have completed before reaching 12 hours, PLAN B. The guy shouted, run faster, you are 8th runner.
I saw two runners in front of me around 800 meters away. As I got closer, one looked like he was struggling because of his leg, the other had a bad form. I ran another 5K when I slowly reached them. One of them stopped because he got cramps on his legs. He sat down and was massaging his leg. I asked him if I can help, he said he just needed time and he will be fine. I continued descending. Once I reached bottom of the hill, I noticed the second runner whose back was hurt. He was standing and twisting and turning, doing stretches. He looked at me and said, he saw me running off route and he was surprised I reached them back so soon. I asked him to take care and taking it easy. Nevertheless, it’s all about you vs you. Not competing with others.
ANOTHER WRONG TURN
As I got closer and closer to the finish line, I was imagining finishing strong. Finishing before 12 hours. But on the last km, the route had a crossing point and I stopped to look at route markers. I saw one further away in the right side, but that route had hill. I looked on my left side, didn’t notice any markers. I didn’t want to make a mistake and finish incorrectly from another route, after all I ran all this distance to not find myself disqualified. I thought I better continue with race organizer’s markers, so start climbing uphill. I had no energy and I was getting angry at organizers how they can plan a route with uphill ending, nonetheless, runners already ran 99km and here at the last km (11 hours and 51 minutes into running), another uphill.
So, I managed to get up relatively with moderate effort and started to descend the hill to the finish line. My watched at this time was showing 105KM and finish line was around 800 meters away from me that someone from the top of the hill shouted “take that way”. I tried to see which way because my brain wasn’t functioning or correctly at full at this time. I saw markers going up again. I thought, maybe I need to continue from the other side of the hill and turned myself back to the finish line and followed route markers.
Another hill, another frustrated me at organizers. I am completely exhausted by this time because I want to finish this race at all cost and as soon as possible. But I don’t know where to go. This was the second hill after 99km and I am clueless. I descended from the hill to check my phone to see I am back at the beginning of 100km run that I should have taken turn way early when I followed right path. That meant, I had to climb again. No wonder someone called this segment “super hills” because even by my standards they felt steeper than the ones I climbed before. Maybe because I was all drained. I would put one step, I am out of breath, I would take another step and I am left with no energy. I think I lost at least 40 minutes in those two hills. I decided to return to the finish from the same route and by the time I was finished, there was bunch of other runners from another distance, I think it was runners of 3K or so, that I entered the finish line and crossed it at 12:30:18 (9th place).
I am sure my brother Firuz, my family and friends who were expecting my finish, went through random thoughts. But I am glad I faced my fear, I cried but didn’t give up. No matter what obstacles I had to go through, some of which was due to my shortsightedness or lack of my knowledge about the terrain, I think I learned myself as a human being better. I am glad I did it because I learned to not be afraid of my own fear. To not let fear prison me but face it, no matter how fearful or impossible it seems. I think this will be invaluable lesson in the future as I venture to unknown areas and distances.
After all of this, I had time to ponder and here are mistakes, pros and cons of the organizers and highlights that happened to me at Tengri Ultra 2023:
Mistakes
Should have been more careful in Siyoma not to fall hard
Didn’t purchase gaiters (shoe covers) when i should have
Didn’t learn enough about type of terrain
Purely focused on markers but need to check my phone from time to time.
Race organizers:
Intersection of routes|markers. They should have designed the route so that it doesn’t cross with other routes. Or put volunteers or arrows at intersections to direct runners to the right direction.
No kit inspection.
No place to wash hands.
Requirement for participation for 100km. Only 45 runners finished that means a lot of people are unprepared. Several runners I talked to didn’t even have 50K runs. Signing up for long distances like 100K, I think should have prerequisites. You never know what could happen to newbies running and pushing themselves to 100%.
Moments:
Fear from sun;
Small thorn on the left toe finger;
First wrong turn;
Sand uphill kill and shoe cleaning;
Running and crying;
Second and third wrong turn to the hills right before the finish.
That’s all I wanted to share about the Tengri Ultra 100KM. I feel grateful and continue my daily running and if any of you some day decide to run, I hope you won’t step into the same pitfalls that I did.
What began as nothing more than a spark of a thought has now taken shape before us, alive and undeniable. We didn’t just imagine it, we lived it, we felt it, and we proved that a simple idea can become something powerful when we dare to believe in it. This journey reminds me that every dream starts quietly, almost invisibly, yet with courage, effort, and heart, it grows into something that touches our lives and inspires us to keep reaching for more.
At the top of the Double Pass (northern), my brother Firuz asked me about our estimated plan of when we will be reaching the finish. Based on the information we had, I said: “Best plan is we reach by 7 PM, given or taken plus/minus 1 hour.” Little I knew how things could go wrong so fast.
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