BadalonaAlmost everyone knows Kilian Jornet. His life, his milestones in the mountains and his great record precede him. The last medal to be hung was just a week ago at the Salomon Ultra Pyrenees, completing the 100 kilometers in just over ten hours. Like him there are few; to say the least. It is the exception that confirms the rule, the corridor in which many want to mirror themselves. His milestones are recognized by everyone, but there are others, such as Gilbert’s, that also deserve to be heard.
26 hours, 25 minutes and 22 seconds. More than a whole day running relentlessly. Thus Gilbert Nicasio (Badalona, 1971) arrived in Bagà to be the last runner to cross the finish line of the Ultra Pyrenees. “When I entered the finish line, there were three balconies with people. I started to greet the full and the empty, everyone [riu]”, you remember with nostalgia.” You prepare many ways to get there, but they have nothing to do with what you will end up being. A lot of people come to you all of a sudden and some of you don’t even know who they are. I remembered the people who accompanied me in those last few miles and who didn’t finish. Suddenly you find people getting wet with cava, the director of the race talking to you… And you see the penultimate one next to it and you think: «For 20 seconds you haven’t had this party and you deserve it anyway that I »”, he confesses.
The race was very tough, but the prior preparation deserves a separate mention. “The first thing to be clear about is that all the preparation you do doesn’t guarantee you finish the race. I know a lot of people who didn’t think I could do the Ultra. In many moments, in fact, I don’t think so either. they imagined that I would dare to sign up.I am a runner like everyone else, I am not a great runner, but what I am is a person who likes what he does.I am passionate about this sport , I really enjoy it, and the only thing I felt like was running in the mountains for more than 24 hours and getting ready to do it, ”he says with his medal hanging from his neck and the empty cava bottle. next to. Gilbert suffers from Crohn’s disease and, although asymptomatic, takes a medication that lowers his defenses and has to be vigilant.
Enjoy to make enjoy
With glassy eyes looking at the Oil Bridge, where he started running, Gilbert relives the most magical moments of a race that will always bring to heart and memory. “The exit is brutal. I had seen a thousand videos and pictures, but from there it’s beastly. You get goosebumps. You don’t really want to go out. You want to stay there, let the song of the last mohican, see how people come out and their face… I was recording and I was crying, ”he recalls. From there, with all the adrenaline running through his body, he had to face the hundred kilometers, with more than 6,600 meters of elevation gain, to return to the starting point.
“You have to go refueling to refueling. You can’t think that you have 80 kilometers left, if it’s not impossible. I had my points where my people were waiting for me and that was a motivation. One of the biggest was in Gósol, where my wife’s potato omelette was waiting for me [riu]. As I went down I was already imagining it and it gave me strength, “he admits. After more than 15 hours, it started to get dark. I had to run at night, fighting the darkness, the fears and the loneliness.” While there time, it can be done, he thought. I suffered a lot to get to the last refreshments. I really saw that I wasn’t getting there. I started running jumping between the stones, through the water… I was crying because he saw me outside. ”But he got there.
In Bagà, the party that awaited him was worthy of a champion and, most importantly, there were all his people waiting to see him cross the finish line that had cost him so much suffering and effort. “Seeing her face of happiness and satisfaction was very beastly. My son asked me, ‘Where will you keep this medal?’, And I replied, ‘This medal is for you,'” he explains to the teary eyes. “We had a very difficult year last year. For me, giving him the medal was for him to realize that if one makes an effort, it’s easy for things to come out. I was planning to give him away to prove it. that many times the effort leads you to success; not always, but if you don’t fight it you will surely not succeed “.
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