Centurion Running had been advertising their virtual One Community event for a couple of weeks before it clicked; I had to take part. The event was live from Monday, November 23rd to Sunday, November 29th.
You could choose to sign up for distances ranging from 5 kilometres all the way up to 100 miles, and you had the whole week to complete your chosen distance. Whether you wanted to run it in one go or cumulatively was up to you.
Without further ado I signed up for the 100 miles and one week later the event begun...
Sometimes you just do things.
My plan was to run 23 kilometres a day, which meant running the 100 miles would take me 7 days. I had not trained properly, I had not tapered and I was probably pretty stupid for signing up to such a distance at that moment in time — having just come out of two weeks of quarantine after having travelled back from the Azores, where I had done a tough 4 day stage race just three weeks earlier — but we live and we learn. I am not here to wonder.
Was I nervous? No. Instead I was curious to see how my body would cope with covering so many miles over the course of a week, and what tricks my mind would play on me.
I ended up dividing the many miles into nine chunks and did double run days consisting of long, back to back runs. I ran every 12 hours. It meant waking up at 430am all week, so I could run before work, and then I would lace up the shoes again just before dinner, ticking off some more miles.
All runs were done in the dark (early birds gets to see the sunrise though), which meant more or less empty roads & trails. I counted more foxes than humans. I even saw a few mice and a hare!
MONDAY
AM: 23 km & PM: 12 km
Total — 35 km
TUESDAY
AM: 15 km & PM: 11 km
Total — 26 km
Accumulated total — 61 km
WEDNESDAY
AM: 20 km & PM: 13 km
Total — 33 km
Accumulated total — 94 km
THURSDAY
AM: 21 km & PM: 16 km
Total — 37 km
Accumulated total — 131 km
FRIDAY
AM: 30 km for breakfast and done!
Accumulated total — 161 km / 100 miles
Come Friday morning I had completed the event. A lot quicker than I anticipated. 100 miles is far, do not get me wrong. I have a lot of respect for the distance, and I am in complete awe of anyone who has ever covered this in one go. I hope to follow in your footsteps one day!
For now, running 161 kilometres in a little over 4 days, whilst working a busy full time job, will have to do. And I am proud of that achievement. Running twice a day, alone, and in the dark, might not be for everyone — but I genuinely enjoyed every step.
If you have to ask why, you will never understand.
Me & my ’’ buckle ’’ *
It was by all means not a race for me, more so a personal challenge. However, I actually ended up doing pretty well for someone who’s previous highest weekly milage was somewhere between 40 and 50 miles.
Centurion Running One Community Results
Female Senior
11th out of 51
Female
28th out of 150
Overall
88th out of 469
* In order to earn a real buckle, you need to cover the distance in one go. Although I am still proud of my achievement, the right to brag about having a 100 miler buckle was not granted this time. 2022 maybe?
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