Trail Tales | For some, running 100 miles around Mt Fuji is pure joy

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The glorious Mt Fuji is the heart of this weekend's Ultra Trail Mount Fuji race. Photo: Jeanette Wang

Published: 7:19pm, 25 Apr 2013Updated: 9:43am, 26 Apr 2013

The late Czech long-distance running great Emil Zatopek once said: "If you want to win something, run 100 metres, if you want to experience something run a marathon." I wonder what he would say about running four straight marathons (that's 42.195km each) in a row.

I guess I could tell you the feeling sometime on Sunday, when I'm done running nearly four consecutive marathons - 161 kilometres to be exact - here in Mount Fuji. I'm among nearly 80 Hongkongers that have made the trip to Kawaguchiko, Japan, to run the Ultra Trail Mount Fuji (UTMF), the country's first and largest international trail running race. There will be 10 cities and villages from the Yamanashi and Shizuoka Prefectures, numerous organisations and over 1,000 volunteers supporting the race.

The event, in its second year, consists of two distances. The UTMF takes racers around the entire perimeter of Mt Fuji, over mainly off-road terrain, including the challenging Tenshi Sanchi Mountain Range and Makuiwa, which at 1,800 metres elevation is the highest point of the race. The course has a total elevation gain of 9,164 metres - more than if you climbed Mount Everest (8,848 metres) from sea level. The other race, which starts tomorrow (Friday, April 26) at 1pm - two hours before the UTMF - is the 85km-long STY (Shizuoka to Yamanashi), which covers the second half of the UTMF course and has a total elevation gain of 4,980 metres.

I figured if I paid all that money, took quite a few days of leave and spent all that time travelling to Japan - my first trip here - I might as well run a hundred miles. It would be my first attempt at the distance; the longest race I've done to date is last summer's Trail Verbier St Bernard in Switzerland, which was 110km-long with 7,000 metres elevation gain. That was also my first race over 100km, and I took about 22 hours (you can read my report that was published in the SCMP here). Being inexperienced at such long distances, I started too fast and suffered at the end. I was leading the race at about the 50km mark but had a spectacular crumble to finish fifth woman overall.

My goal at UTMF - as it was in Verbier - is simply to enjoy myself, savour the amazing nature around me, start slow and finish strong with a smile. I hope to make it back before Sunday, because running into a second night is going to really hurt - you have to battle the cold and dark again, and stave off the sleep monsters. So, that means a maximum time of 33 hours (the cut-off is 46 hours). Last year's men's winner Julien Chorier from France took about 19 hours and the women's, Nerea Martinez of Spain, about 22 hours, but according to organisers, this year's course runs counterclockwise and will be more difficult. Uh-oh.