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Risk taking is an integral part of ultra running. It's about leaving your comfort zone to venture into the yellow zone ⚠️ where you are uncertain of the outcome. Where the terrain, the distance, or both are unknown. It can be an A-goal that makes you nervous or a B-goal that shakes up your training routine. For Maria Bonne, the Grand Trail Courmayeur, a 100k technical trail race in the Alps 🏔 with more than 7.000 elevation meters 🤯 was both. It was the highlight of this year but also a step towards an even bigger goal in 2027 🫣 After 60k and close to +4000m, she was defeated though by a violent storm ⛈️ Her legs were good, spirit was high, but she simply wasn't prepared to take the risk of continuing on a technical and slippery descent in the dark. She took a DNF 🏳 It hurt at first but landed well as one of those decisions that make sense, also when you look back. In the yellow zone, you loose some and you win some! Louise Petersen ventured out of her comfort zone as well when she recently competed in the German National 48H 🇩🇪 in preparation of the 6D World Championships in Hungary 🇭🇺 in a few weeks. Racing in another country is, per definition, much more challenging than on home ground. She struggled with an injury rather early on but carried on and finished 2nd female overall with 257k. A clear win, even if it's not a PB 🏆 Finally, you don't always have to travel far to leave your comfort zone. At UTOC, a Danish 50k technical race along the coast 🇩🇰 Frederik Worm, who's currently training for a 48H race later this year, left the tarmac for a while in exchange for stones, rocks and pebbles 🛘 It was a challenge but he completed it with good energy and consistent pacing throughout. Training for the same 48H in Skanderborg, Kenneth Nyboe Kaiser did the same and absolutely aced it, finishing 2nd male 🏆 In my view, throwing yourself into unknown and risky territory is always a win, regardless of the outcome 💪 Massive kudos to these runners 👏👏👏👏 I hope their stories will inspire you 🙂

He did it 👊 Yesterday, Simon Feldborg Hundebøll reached Copenhagen again after running 1.074km to Skagen and return in 12 days, 7 hours and 1 minute 🏃‍♂️↪️ An extraordinary accomplishment 🤸‍♂️🎉 Especially when considering that his longest run, when he contacted me just 10 months ago, was 21k 🤯 As a running coach, rest assured that I do NOT rely on this method as a new baseline 😅 But Simon deserves a huge amount of kudos for his dedication, tenacity and mental strength all together 💪🙌👏 And for doing it all to raise money for the fight against cancer 🙏 # Kræftens Bekæmpelse https://www.instagram.com/p/DbJHyoQjoBN/?igsh=MTg5ZzV6YXhqNjdzZA==

For bare ét år siden var mit længste løb 21 kilometer. I dag har jeg krydset målstregen efter at have løbet 1.074 km fra København til Skagen og tilbage igen på 12 dage, 7 timer 1 minut og 39 sek. Det havde jeg aldrig forestillet mig var muligt for et år siden. Det, der begyndte som en vild idé, er nu blevet til virkelighed. Noget af det mest givende ved projektet har været at opleve, hvad der sker, når man nægter at give op. Fremskridt handler ikke om at levere en kæmpe præstation hver dag, men om at møde op igen og igen også når kroppen er træt, motivationen mangler, og målet virker uendeligt langt væk. Små skridt bliver med tiden til store resultater. En særlig tak til alle der har hjulpet mig på min vej, og alle der har støttet indsamlingen til Kræftens Bekæmpelse. Sammen har vi indtil videre indsamlet 103.250 kr., og indsamlingen er stadig åben. Hver eneste donation gør en forskel, og jeg håber, vi kan nå endnu længere sammen. Sikke en rejse, og kæmpe tak til crew. Uden jer havde det ikke været muligt❤️ Billeder: @mollersmedia

One week after Phrae Ultra 100 Miles and I´ve had time to let it all sink in and translate it into a (long❗️) race report ⬇️

The facts:
▫️Phrae Ultra 100 the 5th.
▫️Course: God 100 Miles
▫️Elevation: 5.500m
▫️Considered Thailand´s hardest road ultra.
▫️Temperatures from 28-33 degrees
▫️Finish time: 33hours 30min
▫️Position: 2nd female out of 10
▫️9th overall out of 63
▫️App half of the runners finished the race
▫️Supported by Ulrik Pridal as always ❤️

Is this the hardest race I´ve done? I´m not sure 🤔 It isn´t the longest, as I´ve done two 6-days races, covering 554km and 605km. The last one qualified me for the Danish National Multiday Team. But it´s definitely the one with the most elevation: 5.500m in total ⛰️ And the most beautiful. And the most brutal. It sure pushed me to a limit where I haven´t been before. And where I want to go again!

This race, once again, made it clear to me that I thrive with very long distances and with races that require endurance and fatigue management rather than a high VO2 max. I´m no fast runner but I can keep going. I often feel at my best when others start to become tired. The same happened in this race. For a long time, I was in the middle of the field of ten women, but for the last third I worked my way up to finish second female. And 9th overall out of 63 runners with approximately half of them finishing. I´m pretty proud of that. But most of all it comforts me to know that I can trust myself 🙏

When you throw yourself into the unknown, in my case a mountainous 100 miles with more elevation than I´ve ever experienced, you accept the uncertainty as to whether you can handle it. But you make a deal with yourself which is to do your best. I had made it clear with myself that it would be okay if I couldn´t finish. I´ve never DNFed a race and should it be this one, that was okay. I know that I don´t quit if I don´t have to, so if it should happen here, it would have been because I had reached my limit. The limit we all search for as ultra runners.

It almost did happen. At km 65, in the middle of a 5-6km continuous ascent with a gradient that reached 29%, I suddenly felt off 🥵 I did all the right things: head down, relax, rest. I was on top of my fueling so that was not an issue. I ended up feeling so bad that my body forced me to glide down next to the road. I didn´t want to lie down but sat there and called Ulrik. I thought he picked up, I heard a clear “yes” as to if he would drive back and check up on me (he was always 5-10k ahead). That was wishful thinking. There was only sporadic coverage during the race and my call hadn´t gone through. He could see that I had called though and tried to call me back with no success. Slowly, I felt better and got back on my feet. Switching my mindset from “I have to push forward” to “I have to be grateful to put one foot slowly in front of the other” 👣 One micro-step at a time I felt better. And stronger. And after the next water station and a short rest in the car, I was feeling on top of everything again 💪

And I continued feeling good and strong throughout. With only 63 runners spread out over a large mountainous area, we were often alone on the course. During the night, it was magic. From time to time, I would see the light from another headlamp, but for hours, I would only see the light from the stars 🌟 Or from the reflecting guard rails. Those guard rails played tricks on me, transforming into decorative lights 💫 of a cozy aid station, full of runners and good vibes, waiting for me at the bottom of the descent. I´ve always been curious about hallucinations when running really long distances, but being somewhat of a “control freak”, it´s not something that comes easily. I've tried it once before during a 6-days race. But those two Swedish apple trees 🌳 that transformed into avatars at the time were nothing compared to what I experienced during this race. Huge dinosaurs marking the entrance to an amusement park for example. “Weird spot for an amusement park”, I thought. As the hallucinations continued during the night and well into the morning, they became my friends and entertainment. I enjoyed them. I knew what they were, but at the same time they were so real that I still regret I didn´t pet or talk to some of the strange but nice creatures who greeted me out there 🦕

Okay, back to reality, I´m not crazy 😅 But pushing yourself to the limit, and a bit beyond, can make you go weird places that only other lunatics will understand.

When daylight came again, so did the heat 🌞And the last mountain with the remaining 1.100m of elevation was a hard one to tackle. At a time during the last hours of the night, Ulrik had said to me: “You´ve only got 10 hours left”. That made me spend the next many hours calculating whether he was wrong or right. Your mind needs to fill up with something, and calculating after 20 hours of running is perfect for that. Talking about distractions, I didn´t listen to music at all during the race. I didn´t need it at all 🤷‍♀️

The last completely exposed and extremely hot stretch towards the finish line at the small country school, on the outskirts of the city, was brutal. “I only have one dog walk left”, was one of the tools that I took out from my mental tool box. “You can always take the dog for a walk.” 🐕

I was greeted with homemade coconut ice cream 🥥 and by other ultra runners who compared their stories and their feet 🦶 I felt at home. This was my crowd 🥰 We were in this together. And I´m sure we´ll meet again next year where I hope the RD will make his Nirvana Edition of the race which is not 100 miles but 200km 😱

This year, the caption of our finisher t-shirt read: “I am God” 😇 For the Nirvana race, the caption is: “Beyond Godhood is Nothingness”. I´ll take it! And appreciate that sometimes you have to go big or go home 😅

What a heavenly adventure 😀 I'm not sure I'm gonna wear the t-shirt though, even if I did finish second female and was treated like a Goddess by the RD and my fellow runners 🏆🥰 Race report to follow when I can think of something else than my sore legs 🦵

Last picture 7,6Km before the finish line, she is going to finish the God 100 Miles, brutal climbs and decents, I wouldn’t do it on my bike. This is one of the toughest races I have seen her do.
Amazing (grace) I didn’t find God but I did find a lot of Buddhas so that must be it.🙏🏽
thank you for your comments 🙏🏽
(The pictures of the car is just so Mette remembers to clean it, before she sleeps 🫣)

126Km and one of the most charming CPs I have ever seen.
Sun is rising in the mountains and Mette is doing an orange juice commercial.
She is ready for, well she is doing the last bit the next 6Km are 8% average climb with the steepest at 25% enjoy 😉.

24 hours and 118Km, she is sleeping for 15min and then the last push, the sun will rise in less than 2 hours, that always gives a giant boost. And that is needed 8K rolling now and then the last climb.
Correction just drove the 8Km and there are two 19% climbs so no easy part now 🫣

105Km done and dusted, slowly getting there only one more mountain. A lot of runners are DNF at this point, which is sad as the hardest part is done (apart from the worst hours of the night)
Mette is eating and drinking and tired, but after a small stop at CP3 she is ready again.
New batteries in all her lights and she’s off.