I WOULD R U N 100 MILES RW’s Alana Munnik survived buffeting winds, sleep deprivation and over 34 hours of running and walking to finish the 100-mile (166km) Ultra-Trail Cape Town on the podium. Here’s how she did it... 48 RUNNERSWORLD.CO.ZA ISSUE 1/ 2023

ISSUE 1/ 2023 RUNNERSWORLD.CO.ZA 49 AS TOLD TO MIKE FINCH X IMAGES • JARED PAISLEY, KELVIN TRAUTMAN AND ZAC ZINN

50 RUNNERSWORLD.CO.ZA ISSUE 1/ 2023 opposite page: SCENIC SEND-OFF A cauldron of adrenaline and noise as the 100-milers are sent off into the late afternoon at the start of their long adventure. below: LIGHT BRIGADE At times, the support up Kloof Nek corner was overwhelming for the author. But the energy helped carry her forward into a long night with only the wind for company. previous page: MOUNTAINS AND OCEANS The author makes her way along one of the many ridgelines on the 100-mile course at UltraTrail Cape Town. ZAC ZINN KELVIN TRAUTMAN 50 RUNNERSWORLD.CO.ZA ISSUE 1/ 2023

ISSUE 1/ 2023 RUNNERSWORLD.CO.ZA 51 T H E S U N W A S A L R E A D Y U P W H E N I C R E S T E D T H E T O P O F S I L V E R M I N E O N T H E R O U T E D O W N T O K A L K B A Y . I W A S A R O U N D 7 5 K M I N T O T H E 1 6 6 K M O F T H E R M B U L T R A - T R A I L C A P E T O W N , A N D T H I N G S W E R E NOT GOING ACCORDING TO PLAN. Despite me slowing to a gentle jog on the downhills towards the coast, my heart rate had started to skyrocket. My dream of finishing the inaugural UTCT 100- miler seemed to be slowly slipping away. It had taken months of training just to get to the start line. Ten weeks of over 90 kilometres a week, regular recces of the route with the race team, and a week-long training camp on Reunion Island had me in a good place. I knew I’d done the legwork. But running 166km poses a unique set of challenges. Besides the physical effort required, there are the issues of sleep deprivation, balanced nutrition and long hours of night running to consider. So how do you train for a 100-miler? The answer is, you don’t. Preparing for a mega-distance running event is the sum of many parts. There are the long runs, the hours spent doing strength work in the gym, and constant experimenting with food and hydration. But there’s no way to test it all out effectively until you get to race day. Nothing can prepare you for the moments of doubt, the mental strain of running for hours with only the beam of your head torch bobbing along in front of you, and the complete exhaustion that you know you have to push through to finish. Some call running 100-mile trail runs ‘madness’. But for me, these are the challenges that have inspired me for most of my running life. It started in 2014, when I decided to take on the Double PUFfeR – 150km, from Cape Town to Cape Point and back again. I did it to see if I could qualify for the Ultra-Trail Mont Blanc – and I did. So in 2015, my dream of running the world’s most famous ultra trail was realised. The UTMB course is 172km and I finished in 38 hours, surviving hallucinations, huge Alpine climbs and staggering descents. And I realised what my body was capable of. From 2015 to 2022 my thirst for ultra-endurance trail runs continued unabated; I ran the Cederberg 100km in 2016, the 125km Ultra-Trail Lavaredo in 2017, the 130km TDS at UTMB in 2018, the eight-day 200km Alvi Trail in Italy in 2019, and the UTCT 100km in 2021. So the decision to return to the 100-mile distance when it was introduced at UTCT seemed like a natural evolution. But it turns out UTCT is not like any other ultra-endurance trail run. Even 2021 women’s winner Courtney Dauwalter described it as one of the most technical courses on the world circuit. Rough trails, boulders, rocks and loose sand make it difficult to find a rhythm, and clambering is not uncommon. ZAC ZINN KELVIN TRAUTMAN

52 RUNNERSWORLD.CO.ZA ISSUE 1/ 2023 SCRAMBLED LEGS Tackling the technical climb up Chapmans Peak on the way back was a battle of mind over body. opposite: BEACH BUMS The plod route across Fish Hoek beach, as the locals prepared for their own surf adventures. JARED PAISLEY KELVIN TRAUTMAN 52 RUNNERSWORLD.CO.ZA ISSUE 1/ 2023

ISSUE 1/ 2023 RUNNERSWORLD.CO.ZA 53 ANYTHING BUT CALM Race day was anything but calm. The race itself only started at 5pm on the Friday evening of the UTCT weekend; but as the time dragged before we eventually set off, my mind was already racing with possible event scenarios. The day before I’d felt the worrying twinge of a slightly sore throat, but on race day it had disappeared. I wondered if I’d contracted a virus, and decided that I would monitor my heart rate and breathing closely and reconsider my options if there were any concerning signs. But by the time I got to Kloof Nek corner I was feeling strong, and I knew I could continue. The support on Kloof Nek corner is special: spectators line the uphill slog, cheering, ringing cowbells and shouting encouragement. I felt like a hero, summiting that climb. The crowd cacophony can be overwhelming for some, and for me it was an emotional experience. This would be the last big crowd I would see for a long time, and I soaked up the energy as I made my way up and along towards the long hike up Platteklip, with the sun setting over the ocean beyond. As I crested the climb, making my way onto the top of the ‘table’ of Table Mountain, the battle against the wind began. Even though I ran alone most of the time, through the night I was 8 LESSONS FROM RUNNING A 100-MILER Chunk It Out. It works in all long races; but learning how to treat each section of the route as a separate section is a particularly critical skill in long trail endurance runs. Breaking up the different parts of the course means focusing on reaching each aid station one at a time. Eat, Eat and Eat. At times, eating feels impossible. Often you’re not hungry and sometimes you even feel queasy, but it’s critical to eat. Find a way to force down whole foods, whether it’s a sandwich, soup or sloppy butternut (seriously, I heard of one runner who did that!). The aid stations at UTCT are superb, but you should also practise using your own snacks in training. Train At Your Pace. It seems obvious that training will be a key part of your success. But understanding the pace you’re likely to achieve means you can train that pace during your long runs. Train to walk-run, and train using poles if you’re planning to use them. Plan. I constructed an entire spreadsheet with my expected times at various checkpoints along the route. I’d given them to my seconds, so although I was slower than I’d wanted to be, they knew roughly when to expect me. I remembered the splits in my head, so I knew what times I should be running along various sections. But don’t set your heart on sticking to exact times; the real world is almost always slower than your spreadsheet. Embrace the Journey. Strange as it sounds, the journey is one massive adventure. Yes, it’s tough; but running a long-but-epic event like this is something we choose to do. There was a part of me that was sad when it was over. Find Your Reason To Run. When the going gets tough, having a reason to finish is important. For me, a strong motivator to keep going was justifying the time I’d spent away from my daughter in training, and the example I was setting for her of determination and achievement. Train The Gear. The smallest seam or stitch can become a huge irritation by the middle of a long race. Make sure you test-drive your exact race-day gear (right down to your socks!) You CAN do it. We say it often in this magazine, but the mind is truly a wonderful thing. The saying ‘Where the mind goes, the body will follow’ is 100% correct. Your body will fight you at many points along the route, as it seeks to protect itself. This is natural. Your mind will help you dig deep and go beyond that. I’m still learning this, with every endurance run I tackle. comforted by the sight of bobbing lights, both behind and in front of me. But in my ears the gusty south-easter was all I could hear, and it made finding a rhythm tough as I was buffeted from every angle. Running at night has its perks though. Your only reality is the space around you, and the area lit up by your head lamp. You’re literally running ‘in the moment’, with only your immediate surroundings to worry about. During the day the mountain peaks you have to climb loom ominously ahead. But at night, you can’t see what’s coming; my only focus was on the twinkling route markers that dotted the trail every 50-100m. After the respite of a calmer Llandudno ravine, the climb up a windy Suther Peak was brutal before the release of dropping down to the Hout Bay aid station. I changed my shoes, downed some noodle soup and half a bread roll, and took out my poles to start the climb up Blackburn Ravine. As I climbed towards Silvermine, the sun was rising, along with my mood. But as I exited the Silvermine aid station, my heart rate was through the roof; it wouldn’t settle, even when I walked. This made me wonder if I’d pushed through a minor illness – and if so, was it now catching up with me? I dropped down to the aid station at Kalkies with my heart rate still fluttering, JARED PAISLEY KELVIN TRAUTMAN

much higher than usual. And I decided to take the first of three short 10-minute naps. BACK TO NORMAL That short sleep was just what I needed; I started the run along Fish Hoek beach feeling much better, with my heart rate back to normal. Game on. Up towards Elsies Peak I ran, through Glencairn and on to Simon’s Town. The toughest part of the race, for me, came as I ran into Simon’s Town and then tackled the section towards Kommetjie. I was walking more than running; and with over 60km still to go, the enormity of what lay ahead hit me in waves. I was feeling the fatigue, physical and mental, and those little things that often bug you vaguely in a race – like the inner seam on my shorts, which now seemed to be cutting into my leg – were a major irritation. And so I trudged along Noordhoek beach. With the tide being high I was unable to find the hard sand, and desperately skirted the water in search of the firmest surface. I had to stop myself looking up towards Chapman’s Peak as it loomed ahead, and found myself frantically searching, mentally, for a reason to carry on. I remembered the hours I’d spent away from my two-year-old daughter while I was training over the weekends, and told myself I needed to finish this thing to make sure that time had not been wasted. Hopefully, one day I’ll be able to tell her that she was the one who motivated me. But by Noordhoek I was running low on both mental and physical resources, and after another short nap it took a firm word from Kerry, one of my seconds, to remind me of my task. “You gotta put on your big-girl panties and get this thing done,” she said. Kerry is a two-time Olympic hockey player, and knows what it takes to reach a goal. I listened. From Noordhoek I clambered up the steep slope of Chapman’s Peak, basically on all fours – words cannot describe the strength of the wind gusting up there, only the images from the race give some sense of it. But then along the Hout Bay contour the sun was setting, and for the first time since the start of the race I felt genuinely at peace. My surroundings were spectacular, and I felt so privileged to call these trails home. I reached the end of the contour – and found a group of race marshals positioned to divert runners back down to Hout Bay, so we could be transported over the I HAD TO CONCENTRATE HARD ON KEEPING MY EYES OPEN, FOCUSING ON THE TRAIL AND BATTLING THROUGH WAVES OF COMPLETE EXHAUSTION. MILD HALLUCINATIONS PLAYED WITH MY MIND… GROOT TREK Finishing a race as long as 166km is about breaking up the route into achievable chunks. KELVIN TRAUTMAN ZAC ZINN | MICHELLE FRASER

ISSUE 1/ 2023 RUNNERSWORLD.CO.ZA 55 mountain into Constantia. Sadly, a veld fire on that section of the mountain was now a major risk to our safety on the trail. By the time I reached the Alphen Trail aid station, with 25km to go, I knew that there was no way I wasn’t going to finish. I could walk the rest of the course and still make it. But then Kerry dropped another bombshell: I was currently lying fifth in the women’s race. A podium position! It was just the jolt I needed to stir me from my mental lethargy. Throughout the day I’d been aware of a runner chasing me; but now, with a podium on the line, I needed to put my head down. With purpose, I strode out of Alphen and into the night, heading up towards Cecilia Forest, 400 stairs and my familiar training routes near Newlands Forest. But by this stage I was struggling to stay awake. Run and sleep? Yep, it’s possible. I had to concentrate hard on keeping my eyes open, focusing on the trail and battling through waves of complete exhaustion. Mild hallucinations played with my mind, threatening to throw me off course; and at one stage I found myself way off the trail – I’d lost concentration just for a second, and was heading uphill when I should have gone straight. PIZZA! At UCT, with just under 10km to go at 1am, I had my final 10-minute nap, in the back of our car. When I woke up I hoovered down two slices of Hawaiian pizza, and I was ready to go again. Thankfully, after almost 155km and 32 hours of running, the climb up to the King’s Blockhouse was better than I’d expected. Perhaps it helped knowing it was the final test of almost two days of running, but I knew that once I’d reached the contour I was Home Jerome. There was no way I wasn’t going to finish, and my only concern was that fifth place would be snatched from me so close to the line. By 3am, as I ran down towards the lights of the finish, I was looking around constantly to see if there was a chasing light. As it turned out, the gap between me and sixth ended up being over 70 minutes. Finishing an event that took me over 34 hours to complete was surreal. Of course there was a mixture of relief and utter joy, but also a measure of sadness that the whole journey was about to be over. As I jogged towards the lights at the finish, I wished I could have a way to hold on to the experience. My entire seconding squad was there at the finish, including my husband Oli; but as I entered the final straight, I almost couldn’t believe I’d really done it. But it was true: running 100 miles is like a war of attrition, and I’d won this war. I was still in shock then. My emotions only really spilled over at the prizegiving the following day, when I stood on the podium – suffering from serious impostor syndrome – with some of my biggest running heroes. In the end the leading women finished fourth (American Hillary Allen, in 24:55.22), fifth (Kerry-Ann Marshall, in 25:39.21) and sixth (Naomi Brand, in 26:28.29) overall, and it made me super-proud to be sharing a podium with these amazing people. Women like these and the likes of Courtney Dauwalter are able to compete with many of the top men over longer distances. It’s inspiring. And I will continue to challenge myself over distances like this. Longer? Perhaps no. Faster… perhaps yes! HOW TO NAP Running a 100-mile event means fighting the sleep monsters. The latest research suggests that even a 10-minute nap can help rejuvenate the body. In his book Do Hard Things, author Steve Magness talks about the value of the 10-minute nap, and why a short sleep is better than a coffee boost to revitalise your day. During the UTCT 100- miler I took three 10-minute naps to help me through the tougher moments – and it worked. My husband Oli seconded me throughout the race, and had laid out a mattress in the back of our SUV. Even though I’d asked him to let me sleep for 15 or 20 minutes, he decided to wake me up at 10. The result was remarkable. I awoke feeling revived and ready to run again. I slept at Kalk Bay at 8am, Noordhoek at 5pm, and UCT at 1am. Napping was an essential part of my race plan. DREAM GIRLS Kerry-Ann Marshall, who finished fifth overall, congratulates the author on her podium spot. SUPPORT CREW Race director Stuart McConnachie (left) and the author’s husband Oli (right) celebrate at the finish. KELVIN TRAUTMAN ZAC ZINN | MICHELLE FRASER