Phatad Ultra 100km in Petchabun, Thailand -1st place female.

I’ve been making all of my race choices kind of last minute lately. I check my calendar, see which weekends are free, and that usually makes the decisions clear. Phatad was on my one free weekend in May, and right after my birthday. Not knowing ANYTHING about the course, I signed up on the final day of registration.

So, it was an early morning flight to Phitsanulok, and a drive to the Khao Kho area. Bib pick up, gear check, and some food. And then off …the race started at 4 pm. I didn’t even bother to book a hotel. Why bother if you’re going to be running all night long with a Sunday evening flight back to Bangkok!

There are so many interesting points to make about this event. Two ideas I got wrong… it would be an easy, fully runnable course, and it would be a night run, therefore I can go out hot and fast right from the start. I did that on a lot of my races. I run at the front for a while, it’s dark, the temperature is cool (the long hauls are either at night or early morning), so it’s easy to keep a fast pace for a while in the beginning. But I very quickly realized that at 4 pm, the temperature in central Thailand is still very hot. I felt my body temperature get too high and realized I had to scale back to ensure I didn’t redline. There was still a long day ahead. This tactic worked. I was far ahead and felt much better after cooling off a bit and easing off the pace.

This 100km course has about 4600 meters of elevation, and you climb the biggest mountain twice. Since it’s an all-night run, you really don’t get to appreciate the amazing views until the second summit of the main peak. The aid stations are situated between loopty-loops, so I never really knew where I was going and if I’d be returning to that aid station or not. But most of the time, I felt really good about being alone in the woods all night long. Just me and my little headlamp. And a random ghost cow that stared at me a little too long, just standing there in the middle of the trail. Creepy for sure.

Anyway, truthfully, I do love the solitude of being in the woods alone. I love the simplicity of it. I love the self-sufficiency, the decision-making that needs to happen, reading my body, often fighting my body, and in many ways completely relinquishing all control. It’s a dichotomy to be honest. In some ways, I am in complete control. It’s just me and my strength, my stamina, my willingness to grind on further. And at the same time, I have absolutely no control over what lies ahead of me. No matter what the course map says, I blindly follow the little glow-in-the-dark ribbons that flap in the wind on random tree branches. I often have no idea where I am and where I am headed. I just push forward. I am at the mercy of the jungle, the mountains, the mud, the elements, the insects and thorns, and whatever wonderful things you can imagine to be deep in the woods of a Southeast Asian country.

As frustrating as many of those moments are, it’s such a relief to just “get on with it” and not have to decide if I really want to do this or not. You get so deep into it, it becomes this one giant, timeless moment. I try not to think about the hours or get frustrated realizing that I may have 10 more hours ahead of me. I just climb or run or jog or hike. Whatever it takes to experience what’s next.

This course had some great runnable sections. I had fun in many areas. The part that I think I would have loved the best was a total mudpit due to recent rains. I really wanted to run this single-track section; it was gorgeous (at about midnight), but every time I started to pick up my speed, I started slipping all over the place. I wasn’t willing to get injured. And the section from about 50-57km was deep, dark, gnarly jungle climbing. I lost my way a few times, and the climbs were very steep, winding up and up and up. Even using ropes to climb up rocks. It was wild. And I’ll be honest, I loved the rope section because I like to switch things up a bit and put the pressure on my upper body strength and give my legs a break. But I was so frustrated with how long it took to complete this section, it totally messed with my timing plans. And THAT my friends, is what running an ultra course is all about. You just can’t really rely on anything.

Speaking of that. I didn’t check my poles after Cuc Phuong in Vietnam from last month. So about 25km into this race, I realized my poles had corroded and one wouldn’t open properly. I just laughed. Sweet, uneven poles. Annnnd, I knew it was coming… I rolled my ankle at km63. I just knew it was going to happen. But I am very fortunate. If I keep running on it, click it back a few times, it starts to feel better after an hour. And the ankle pain sort of makes me forget about the pain everywhere else in my body. It’s an odd distraction, but I ran on just fine for the remainder of the race.

The ending was hot. I wanted to speed up to get it finished faster, but I kept feeling my heart rate go up, and I really wanted to keep myself in the endurance zone. I was also really hoping to not puke at the finish line. So I tried my best to cool myself off when I could. Once I hit the road though, I recognized the last few kms through town to the finish line and I ran it in, super proud to have run all through the night. Super proud to have weathered that storm. I was the first female. And 6th overall for men and women. Not bad for a grueling, long haul like that. I was whisked away for an interview and to receive my trophy and awards.

After some photos and chitchatting, me checking out the horrors that were my feet… the lead announcer came over to me to tell me… I was the only woman. What? I was the only woman to finish the course; all others DNFed, and I will be honest, I felt really sad to hear that. I love podium finishes, but I really love watching other women kicking ass and pushing their limits. I love seeing success stories, and I love seeing the girls bring it. There’s something so raw and incredible when we dig inside of ourselves and test out who we are and what we are willing to endure. And I feel like women have really been showing the world a different side of female resilience and prowess. So, ladies, I salute you for going out there and trying something incredibly difficult. Phatad was a tough course, just going out there to run all night is serious badassery.

I had a blast with my new buddies- Samantha, Mike, and John. Good laughs all around. And some solid accomplishments. Huge thank you to the Phatad crew, some of the staff were really friendly and helpful.

That’s two 100km wins back to back. Sometimes I ask myself why I do this… why struggle, lose sleep, set yourself up for pain and exhaustion. Sometimes the answer is simple. I do it because I can. My body and mind are prepared for this type of challenge. I consider myself lucky to be able to live my life in a way that feels full and exciting, and adventurous. I like being strong, I like who I am when I can bring out that part of me. I feel truly comfortable in my own body and mind… when I can be that wild-woman in the woods. It just feels right, it’s where I belong.

- Tara Savage