If you straight up google “100 mile training plans” (as one casually does, obviously) you’ll get quite a few helpful links, blogs, lengthy articles, and pdfs. I obsessively perused through many of them with the same insane intensity that I use when searching for reviews on what which hotel to book for a vacation, which miter saw to buy, or when trying to view and pick seats through the horrific Ticketmaster seat map interface. 

4:21:25. My official chip time for the 2025 Asheville Marathon. (Chip time just means the clock starts when I cross the starting line instead of “gun time” which is when the race starts and the first runners cross the start.) My goal was 4:20 so I’m considering this race a huge success. It was my first road marathon in 8 years and although I’ve run further distances on trail over the past few years, it had been a very long time since I’ve put that many miles in to both training, and race wise, on pavement.

But this race in particular meant more than just a PR. This was about running through my old stomping grounds for the first time since Hurricane Helene and falling in love with my city again.

So the Asheville Marathon is tomorrow! I feel relatively prepared for it, definitely more comfortable this time around compared to the other two road marathons I did in 2014 and 2017. I’ve stuck to the Hal Higdon Intermediate I guide as best as I could, skipping a run here and there but almost always hitting the long ones. I did have two longish vacations during the last four weeks of training that disrupted my flow a little bit but I was still able to complete the 20 mile training run with little discomfort. 

So for this post, I’m going to mostly talk about food since that seemed to be the biggest question from my coworkers last night when I told them what I was up to this weekend.

About a year ago, I was in the break room at work casually talking about an ultra trail runner named Courtney Dauwalter.  She is this absolutely phenomenal runner who holds many records and after watching the handful of documentaries about her, I have become a huge fangirl.

As I was fawning over her achievements, another coworker chimed in and said something along the lines of “people who run that much are definitely running from something else.” Her offhand comment, meant to be lighthearted and a joke, caught me off guard. 

Was I running from something?

Yesterday was a good day. After rearranging my marathon training plan to fit my week long vacation, I knew the 20 mile Sunday block would be an incredibly important training run. The curves of the black font of the 2 and 0 sat there at the end of the row with an air of intimidation, like two bounces checking IDs at a concert, one on each side of the door, challenging me to get past them so I could party.

Resting and rearranging training plans to fit your life is totally acceptable! As long as you try to get as close as you can to the total weekly mileage and don’t skip the long runs for the majority of your plan, you’ll get over the disruptions.

I wasn’t always in to running. It’s been a progressive relationship, with some ghosting here and there on my part. Running and I didn’t start off on a good first impression. I played soccer in high school and the running part of the sport was my least favorite activity. I specifically remember always dreading the “warm up” laps around the field. It was boring and it was tiring and the only part I enjoyed was the gossiping my teammates and I did while we stampeded around the corner flags.

Have you ever heard of “flow state”? It’s a mental state where someone is completely focused on a task, feeling energized and enjoying the process.

That’s what it feels like when I’m having a successful long run. I most enjoy this state while I’m trail running as I get the added benefit of just being around plants and trees and all that good nature stuff. But I surprisingly can also get the same feels even when I’m running alongside traffic.

I’ve never had a running coach. However, I have been using Hal Higdon’s training plans for well over a decade so I guess you could consider him a bit of a “virtual” coach to me. When I first saw a picture of him, he reminded me of a very wise, very in shape, cool grandfather. 

Running strictly on road is such a completely different vibe than trail running. It’s more impact on your feet, knees, and hips, but your pace tends to be quicker as you don’t have to slow down to avoid rocks, water crossings, limbs, or other obstacles, like bears (only partially kidding). You get to look up a lot more during road training too, which is nice.

I love planning things. I’m the one in the relationship who does all the research, bookings, and itinerary making for any upcoming trip. It’s not really a control freak thing… I don’t mind winging it on a few things, I swear! It’s more that it just brings me joy to do the research and it makes me feel good to revel in the payoff of a smooth trip.

Okay, maybe it’s more of an anxiety thing. 

Either way, my wife would agree that I’m really good at it. Or I’ve Stockholm syndromed her into agreeing. 

As I mentioned in previous posts, the 100 mile race that I had my heart set on was the Yeti 100 Mile Endurance Run in Abingdon, Virginia on September 26^th, 2025. Well, this is how I almost missed the boat.

I bet you might be curious as to what prompted this whole “I want to run 100 miles” shenanigans.

Well. If you ignore the part where I probably have some strange emotional hangup about achieving difficult things, I would say the driving factor was actually because of a hurricane.

When I told a friend of mine that I was planning on running a 100 miles, her response was, with her eyebrows furrowed in confusion, “what, like in a month?”

Turns out, she wasn’t the only one to react with the same question. I know my aspiration is an incredibly lofty one but every time I say it out loud, I’m reminded of how crazy it really does sound. I think my brain has just accepted that this is the thing I’m planning on achieving, therefore it is possible.