I did it.

I signed up for a 100 mile trail race. The inaugural Tarawera 100 mile Endurance Run.

And I have 83 days to prepare! (Insert peeing pants emoji here!)

I’ve never ran 100 miles before. I’m an Australian, we run in kilometres.

In February this year, I ran my first 100km trail run, the Tarawera 102km Ultramarathon. It was beyond incredible. There were ups and downs of course, but in the 16 hrs and 49 minutes that I was on the course I have never felt more alive even when I thought I was dying (literally, I walked the last 10km).

2017 has been a big year for me.

Here’s my race break down:
January 2017                  – Two Bays 56 km-                              7:43:58
February 17                    – Tarawera 100km-                           16:49:11
May 2017                         – Great Ocean Road 44 km-             4:55:13
July 2017                          – Gold Coast Marathon-                   4:18:45
July 2017                          – You Yangs 50km-                            7:01:59
September 2017             -Surf Coast Century 100km-          15:19:13
October 2017                  -Great Barrier Reef Marathon-      5:20:32

Both the You Yangs 50k and Surf Coast Century 100k were distance PB’s and You Yangs was a race PB.

I know with all being equal I could beat my 102km time at Tarawera and that was my plan when I signed up in June. I learnt a lot in February, about how my body reacts, about hydration and peeing and about my limitations in the dark.

So why did I sign up for 100 miles with such little prep and experience? A number of reasons.

1. It’s the inaugural event

2. The qualification standards are lower (as it’s the first year) & as a back of the packer I might never get the opportunity to run it.

3. Tarawera is on mostly private land. This might be my only chance to run these trails in my favourite place in the world.

SOLD.

I’ll detail my training and preparation here for anyone interested. I have an awesome Squad Run program but even Coach Kerry hasn’t run 100 miles. So here’s the loose plan whilst I try and work out an actual plan.

-Stick to the Squad Run plan
-Ignore junk miles and focus on long and slow
-Incorporate night runs
-Add in long days of hiking
-Buy and train with trekking poles
-Get a new head torch
-Incorporate resistance training
-Loose weight!

If you have any tips at all, I’ll take all the help I can get!