Iznik Ultra 2014 – 42 K Mountain Marathon

As my first trail race, Iznik Ultra is very dear to my heart. I am writing this post years after running the 42 K trail in 2014, because it definitely deserves a mention in this blog.

Iznik Ultra is arguably one of the best race organizations in Turkey. Thanks to its proximity to Istanbul and wonderful course and experienced organizers, the has been attracting more and more runners every year. If you happen to live in Istanbul and looking for a wonderful race, you can not miss Iznik Ultra. You can find all the details here in the race site.

Iznik is the home for the First Council of Nicea. It is not a typical tourist destination but a small town busy with agriculture these days. It is extremely accessible from Istanbul, only 1-2 hours of ride depending on where you leave from. It would take like 2-3 to from the new Istanbul Airport. There are many small motels around Iznik, but don’t expect a 5 star experience. This is a small town after all.

I can’t truly remember why I registered to this race. I was curious of course but knew very little about trail running by then. Iznik Ultra is one of the earliest organizations – trail running was definitely not in fashion by then. My son was only three and a half, spring was coming, we needed a good weekend in the countryside. I wanted to run a race – long enough to be challenging but not too intimidating. 42 K seemed to be spot on.

“Team Istrunbul”, my first and only running team, didn’t have any trail runners. We were a bunch of beginners, very serious about road races but not really into trails. I don’t know how we ended up signing up as a group but we did 🙂

The race is organised around lake Iznik. It is practically impossible to get lost since you are running around a lake. Remember where the lake is, follow the trail and you should be fine. It’s also a very popular race. It’s very unlikely that you’ll be alone, especially in the shorter courses.

I am great fan of this place and I am obviously a bit biased. Yet, this does not make the lake less beautiful. This is an agricultural town with large swathes of protected forest. Nothing particularly wild. The race starts from a village, runs across trails and paved roads, along which you will bump into local farmers and get lots of applause. You an even but a few drinks from groceries along the way if you sacrifice a few minutes from your time.

In 2014, I was still very “new” runner, still trying to get in shape and still overweight for serious running. My weekly mileage was probably 40-50 K per week. Zero training on trails. With no previous trail running experience, I naively expected to finis this course under four hours :-).

It was also just two months after running my first marathon in March in the same year. Very new to running and still recovering from my first marathon experience, it’s a miracle I completed the race. I ended up power walking the course in 5 hours and 23 minutes. Terrible pain in the quads, painful descents, de-hydration. Very typical but a very happy first race experience.

Sibel and Ahmet were great companions. The only downside of my experience was the after party-we ended up drinking twice more calories in wine than we burned. No regrets 🙂 We deserved all of it.

I used to fly from Istanbul to Izmir a lot. I would always ask for a left window seat in the mornings to catch a glimpse of Lake Iznik just after taking off. I still dream about completing the 160K, which was an impossible dream in 2014. I still have that dream. I don’t know when the stars will align and I will have a chance to be there, but I know I have a rendezvous with the lake.