Festive Runhundred: 100km between Xmas & New Year
Every year between Xmas Eve and New Year cyclists in all corners of the globe fill their Strava and social feeds with tales of the Festive 500. The F500 is a cycling challenge put on by Rapha that has gone from niche sufferfest to mainstream staple. The premise is simple: ride 500km between Xmas Eve and New Year’s Eve (the original was more brutal being only 6 days long from Boxing Day to NYE, and outside rides only!).
My relationship with the F500 as a cyclist has always been tenuous. The main thing is that I just really like being at home over this period rather than spending hours on the bike in the cold. It’s either this or I am travelling to visit relatives and there is no bike for me to ride anyway. But without making too many excuses, it is just one of those challenges I have never managed to get myself into. That said, I still get FOMO. Always. As 2021 has been a year focused on running I decided to head out on foot on Xmas Eve to do ‘something’ and see where it took me.
Festive Runhundred is born
Whilst running you have a lot of time to think and during this jaunt, I came up with the idea of doing an equivalent challenge: 100km in 8 days. This distance felt achievable, yet no walk in the park. Whilst requiring less time than would be needed on the bike, the physical impact on the body would make it much more equivalent. But did I want to do it? Could I do it? I had never run so much in such a small amount of time. But then, what is the point of a challenge if you know you can easily do it?
I posted my first run up with the rather silly name ‘Festive Runhundred’ and tentatively announced the idea on Strava and social media. I mean, worst case scenario I didn’t do it and nobody would bat an eyelid. Right?
Punch Card
Here’s how each day went down. I started off just running whatever I felt like but after a few days, I had everything planned out to ensure I’d make it to the end.
Day 1, Xmas Eve
9.04km | Total distance: 9.04km, Total time: 48:41
Day 2, Xmas Day
11.58km | Total distance: 20.62km, Total time: 1:57:18
Day 3, Boxing Day
10.07km | Total distance: 30.69km, Total time: 2:54:42
Day 4
13.31km | Total distance: 44.00km, Total time: 4:13:28
Day 5, Over halfway!
15.34km | Total distance: 59.34km, Total time: 5:38:07
Day 6
12.75km | Total distance: 72.09km, Total time: 6:50:06
Day 7, Half marathon day
21.80km | Total distance: 93.89km, Total time: 8:53:47
Day 8, New Year’s Eve
10.22km | Total distance: 104.11km, Total time: 9:47:11
Part of the reasoning for running well over 100km is because on several days I had recording issues meaning I lost 1km on one day and 2km on the half marathon day! Whilst I was able to correct it in Strava, my Trainingpeaks account would still be under — and we couldn’t have that!
How was it?
I love to prattle on about every minute detail so I have restrained myself from doing that here. But in short — I loved the whole experience. We had rain, frost, ice, mud, short and dark days and then a final day which was kinda warm! My legs felt pretty good and I only really suffered from tight hamstrings the last couple of days; this is where having a massage gun is actually useful! The hardest part was the middle of the challenge — the no-man’s land where you’re 4 days in (50%) but only with 44% of the distance completed. It feels like a slog at this point because the end is still so far off. The short days are also imposing and the darkness stopped me from going when I should have a few times. The one day I did run in darkness it was 4 pm and I had to wear a headlamp. But obviously, once I got going it was stupid ly fun.
The great thing about a challenge like this is that it makes you look for new routes — you don’t want to be running around Tempelhof for 8 days straight. A lot of roads I had run before, but I tried to put them in different configurations and I ran in all directions from my home. This kept it fresh and reminded me about how weird/awesome Berlin is. My end of town is special in that you don’t have to go far to find yourself either in the countryside or an industrial wasteland. It blows my mind how quickly the hustle and bustle of the big city melts away. I love my corner of Berlin for its rawness and it’s a paradise for running in.
This year was supposed to be my grand return to running and I had planned to break all my PRs. Instead, I mainly broke the muscles in my legs. Tears in my calves and soleus derailed not only the Half Marathon but also the marathon attempt. It would have been easy to close out the year in silence, trying not to dwell on what could have been. Instead, I have finished the year on a high, with a different kind of challenge. In 2022, I have two half marathons, a marathon and a 10k. This time I will PB them all.
Festive Runhundred 2022
I guess this year was a proof of concept. Considering I didn’t even have the idea until Day 1, there was never much of a chance to promote the challenge to anyone else. Hell, I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to do it myself! Special mention goes to Denise van Elk who just happened to see my first run on Strava and joined in — going all the way to 100km also! That added peer pressure did genuinely help — thanks also to Alex who was lured in, albeit late. Will I do it next year? Yes, I think I will, and I will do a much better job of promoting it in the run-up to the start date: you know, give people a chance ;)
Fancy it?
Festive Runhundred 2022
24th December 2022–31st December 2022.
