I put my name on the waiting list in case someone pulled out of the 82-kilometer night race to reregister the slot in my name.
I felt a long and irresistible desire to complete this distance at that place. In December 2017 I decided to run 82 kilometers around the lake by myself. I bought the train tickets to Elton. I was sure I was able to run 82 km on my own, without anyone’s assistance.
My backpack was ready. I was waiting for my train, walking around Saratov. I went to the cinema and watched a film. I bought some puer tea from a pretty shop girl, for the journey. After the film I walked to the train station which was only three blocks away. Listening to the chugging sound of the train, I started another journey ahead to new adventures.
When I was on the train I called a few locals I new at Elton. They told me I could rent a room from them.
The train arrived at 1 a.m. Nevertheless, he met me at the station and took me home. When we entered, he introduced me to his wife and we had tea together.
I woke up early in the morning. I only slept for four hours but I felt fresh and full of energy. I packed a light backpack: 1.5 liters of water, dried fruit, energy bars, and nothing else apart from the monumental desire to achieve the goal.
I started on a trip. In December the steppe was already covered by a thin layer of snow. The roads were smoothed by cars. Some animals were examining the ground, searching for something to eat. There were still some red direction indicators along the roadside from the spring run I had missed. I was wandering around, getting lost several times because the road was crossed by dry creeks and other hollows in multiple places and some of them were flooded. Late in the evening I finally reached the familiar landmark called “Chertova balka” (the “Hell Hollow”). This biological and erosive formation was home to many various plants. There was a small creek at the bottom of the hollow. As I found out later, the place was also known as a wolf country.
Racing the steppe wolf
The sun went down below the horizon, and the menacing dark clouds obscured the sky. They were hanging down low as if they were threatening to devour the planet. It got dark very quickly. I turned on my head torch. The narrow stripe of light was illuminating the mud ruts left by trucks, slightly covered by the snow…
It was now about 30 kilometers to the village. Suddenly my host called me and said he should have warned me about wolves in the area. He told me to be careful.
What a timely warning that was! There was not a soul for dozens of kilometers around me. 30 kilometers is not a huge distance. I would cover it in 3 or, maximum, 4 hours. Something made me look back. I turned around and saw two unwinking eyes 30–50 meters behind. They were reflecting the light from my head torch, which made them look mysterious and baleful.
“Must be a fox or a hare”, I thought and continued running. After 3 more kilometers I looked back again. The same unwinking eyes were still staring at me, gleaming with phosphorus.
I decided to scare the curious animal away and clapped my hands but it didn’t even move. “It’s not scared at all! So weird! Foxes normally try to get as far from humans as they can. People don’t even have a chance to come close to them. This animal is chasing me but keeping at distance… and not even trying to hide?!”
I started to see more and more animal footprints on the snow. They were very specific: this animal was stepping on its paw pads and its claws were pressing into the snow heavily. They were footprints of a wolf chasing its prey. Maybe, there were many wolves. I felt the rush of adrenaline in my blood. My instincts sharpened. I felt calm and composed. “No, big bad wolf, I’m not easy game!”
…The wolf was showing his supremacy in speed for 15 km, trying to overrun me. I looked at the animal and every time met its unwinking stare.
When there was only 10 kilometers to the village and I could already see the lights, the footprints on the snow disappeared…
Elton’s shores are dotted with hollows. They are the favourite habitat of steppe wolves where they are feeding their breed from spring till late autumn and teach them how to hunt. A wolf in its natural environment is far stronger and faster than a human. A human in a straight fight with a wolf would have absolutely no chance. They are able to gather speed up to 63 km/h when chasing prey. Due to their sharp sense of smell, they can detect prey 3 kilometers away.
After my 80 km trial around the lake I was really impressed. Extremely impressed.
Later in my room I was having a cup of tea and reading the local news online. They informed that more than a hundred sheep had been attacked and killed by a pack of wolves in Pallasovsky district of Volgograd region. Local shepherds suffered heavy damages.
I got on the train and walked to my compartment. My fellow traveller introduced himself as Nikolai. He was going from Kazakhstan. We talked, and he told me he was born in Ukraine, lived in Kazakhstan for a long time, and now he was a Russian citizen. In my opinion, he looked like a gypsy. I made tea. Hot strong puer tea warms your soul and sets your mind for philosophical thinking.
I imagined mountains. The day before, the 11th of December turned out to be the day of mountains. I had celebrated it by climbing Mountain Ulagan. In Turkic languages it means a mountain with smooth slopes.
Mountain Ulagan is a growing saline dome. It gains a few millimeters each year. If a light breeze blows over a soft rock mountain for a long time, it will finally turn into something shapeless and structureless. When it comes to a granite cliff, even storms and hurricanes will not destroy it. They will blow away dust and other waste, and the cliff will transform and have beautiful and firm facets. People are also affected by “winds”. Some of them are like sand dunes. Others are like granite cliffs.
I thought I would sleep on my way to Saratov but I couldn’t. I was making one cup of puer tea after another and spent all the time thinking, overwhelmed by emotions and thoughts. Some historical facts came to my mind whilst we were going over the Saratov railroad overpass.
From 1941 to 1945, fascist planes tried hard to bomb the bridge, but Soviet antiaircraft gunners held the line, shooting down the hostile bombers. I remembered my grandmother’s story. She lost her husband during the war. She was telling me how dark it was in the city when they turned all the light off for the night attack and only one strong light, a searchlight beam, was hunting for targets.
I came back to Saratov and went to the dacha – my small house in the countryside. Large snowflakes were falling from the sky. It was only a little frosty, –8 °С. I made a fire in the fireplace and fell asleep in the armchair, cozy under my blanket. In my dream I was surrounded by a pack of wolves. They were out for hunting, looking for prey. When you’re surrounded by wolves you can’t reveal any weakness. It can cost you life. A wolf has a photographical memory of prey’s movements and behaviour. They fix it in their brain and choose the weakest. The law of natural selection is principal in wild nature. The ill and the weakest inevitably become someone else’s food.
When you run, a kilometer after kilometer, along a snowbound steppe road, your nerves are tensed to the maximum and your brain catches and processes multiple signals and impulses, both external and internal. When I started to feel over-exertion and my knee joints began to hurt, I just kept running, trying not to show my weakness and pain. I was like an actor, performing to a full house, the only difference that I could be eaten instead of getting another round of applause. The brain filters and simply doesn’t accept the signals about pain. It is its conscious choice even though your pain and tiredness are real. The wolf becomes you, gets inside you. You can feel its sharp teeth within your thoughts and your consciousness…
I woke in cold sweats, threw some food on the fire, and remembered the recent adventure with a smile. It was a good hunt…
A night of emerald stars
I was on the waiting