ILOILO CITY — One hundred miles. Or one hundred sixty kilometers. The experience of running 100 miles/160 kilometers within 24 hours in Negros Oriental has changed me forever.
My entire running career, all the training, and the many races (and injuries) that followed, prepared me for what I was about to undertake as I toed the line for my first 100-miler at 4am on Dec. 9, 2017 in Dumaguete.
It all started with a small seed. The seed was an idea that I was capable of doing anything I set out to do, and had the determination and discipline to prepare my body for it.
My training sessions were never easy. Running far didn’t seem so bad either as long as I had some good company to run with. I would run the extra miles to prepare myself for the 160-kilometer. I joined 50-km ultramarathons and more. I looked for the pain, and there simply wasn’t any there. Was there something wrong with my perception or did I need to shift my beliefs on the relationship between time running and pain?
My body was starting to adapt to a different way of running. After running a couple more ultramarathons, and getting to know the regulars of the NegOr Ultra Series, the idea surfaced in my mind, “Yes, I will run 100 miles!”
This upgrade scared me, as it would, without a doubt, force me to push my limits both physically and psychologically — without much time to think about it.
A long run of more than 24 hours sounds a little less intimidating since you know you have finished as soon as you have taken that first step; it is all about pacing and trying to outlast the exhaustion in the entire course.
In the 100-miler that started in Dumaguete, I started off fairly reserved, and then I picked up my speed towards the afternoon, running towards the halfway point of 80 kilometers in Sta. Catalina. As darkness set in, my pace started to fade. My body was holding up all right, aside from some painful chaffing (which was a big lesson I was glad to learn before the 100).
The biggest difficulty I experienced was staying focused in the dark, as I had been running through the night mostly all by myself.
I actually lost my sense of motivation, and when I had already run 120 kilometers (I must have been somewhere in Siaton, heading back to the finish line in Dumaguete), I just decided in my mind that I was done. I waited out the last 90 minutes until the race was over. I struggled through the final hours, but the knowledge I had learned from the experience would prove to be worth it.
I learned more about myself in 24 hours than I ever did in countless other races, yoga classes, and other life experiences. Over those 100 miles, especially the last 30 or 40 kilometers in the dark, the layers of my mind slowly peeled away.
At the finish line, I was left feeling everything in its pure, raw form. Whether I was delusional from completing the task, or I did indeed experience some type of clear mind, I’m not quite sure anymore. All I know is that the experience has stayed with me as a symbol of what we can accomplish if we keep our eyes focused on a goal, and believe!
For those who also believed in me, salamat gid sa inyong tanan!
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Rena is a reporter on IBC TV 13 in Iloilo and broadcaster on DYBQ Radyo Budyong.
She came in 3rd during the 100-miles/160K ultramarathon in 2017. She has also joined the Valencia 50K ultramarathons in April, and has twice run the NegOr 100K Ultra to Bayawan: she came in 3rd in 2015, and was champion in her age category in 2016. She also won 3rd in the recent Amlan Adventure Trail Marathon.
