Ultra-Trail Hungary | Szentendre 54 km | June 8, 2025

We wound our way through the cobbled streets of the Szentendre Danube Promenade into the forest, heading towards Visegrád. In the moments before the start, I asked a few trail-running acquaintances for a tip or two on how to best run the UTH 54km course.

In the first few kilometers, I tried to follow the pace of the lead pack as long as we were running on flat ground – at the first serious climb, I fell behind nicely.

But I didn't mind; in fact, I was glad – unlike the team flow experience of street races, in trail running I prefer to run alone and concentrate only on the next step, focusing on the present moment.

On descents, I always remember the ankle ligament tear that happened in the Börzsöny last year – since then, I've been afraid to descend quickly.

And the uphill climb is just sluggish.

At times like this, I'm no longer racing against others, time, or myself; I'm just recharging in nature while being alone with my own thoughts.

A few hours later, around the 40th km during the climb at Vörös-kő, I found out that the "serious climbs" weren't at the beginning. In this section, I was sometimes trying to pull myself up by grabbing onto protruding tree roots.

Approaching the Danube Bend in the depths of the forest in a great flow, I wondered why so many of us are running here on the Pentecost long weekend. Hundreds in the mountains, in the early summer heat.

Are we just fighting for recognition?

Or do we sometimes think with a healthy adult head?

Are we running out of overcompensation?

Or with childlike joy?

We are actually addicts,

and just chasing dopamine?

I don't think everyone is running away from something – from traumas, obligations, or themselves.

Most of the time, our ancient evolutionary heritage drives us from within:

the freedom of movement, the joy of running, the flow, the experience of streaming.

Perhaps many of us instinctively feel how movement affects us.

Especially when it all happens in nature.

Whether it's a walk or trail running, a few kilometers or an ultra distance, a race or a family hike,

it doesn't change the essence.

The result is mental and spiritual recharging in nature,

and for a while:

existence in the timeless eternal present.

Ultra-Trail Hungary 54km

5h 19m

GU Energy Hungary