Cheongnamdae 100km Ultra Marathon Part 6 — 'A Long Novel'

 

Cheongnamdae 100km Ultra Marathon — Part 6

'A Long Novel'

I. Two and a Half Hours Left

Ultra marathon distances never seem to land exactly on 100km.

Last year's Cheonan Heungtaryeong Marathon was about 104km. This year's Cheongnamdae, I heard, was over 101km.

Later, checking the Garmin data of finishers: 101.7–101.8km.

After eating fish cake soup, I was ready to head out. It was 5:30 AM. The cutoff was 8:00 AM — cross the finish line by then, and you're official.

16.7km in two and a half hours. On any normal day, that's nothing to worry about.

But this wasn't a normal day,,,

Before heading out, someone asked,

"Does anyone know exactly how many kilometers are left? This is my third ultra, but my first Cheongnamdae. The hills are brutal. And the cutoff is 16 hours instead of 17,,,"

"Same here. First time at Cheongnamdae. I had no idea there'd be this many hills."

Then someone nearby chimed in,

"I've run Cheongnamdae a few times. You probably noticed on the way in — there are four hills of various sizes left. You'll need to hustle to make the cutoff."

'Wait — hills? I thought the rest was flat.'

At the start, I'd been so happy I hadn't even noticed the hills,,,

With that tension in my chest, I headed out. Before long — 90km.

'Just about 11km to go.'

II. The Crew

I introduced the crew back in Part 2, but here's a quick recap:

Jjong — Running full marathons seriously. Clocked 3:18 at the recent Donga Marathon. First ultra ever. Aiming for 12 hours.

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Bravo — Over 30 pace patrol shifts at various marathons in the past year. Goal: "Finish without injury."

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Durumi — Ultra marathon enthusiast. Will probably just... run well.

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Club Captain — Over 100 full marathons. Second Cheongnamdae. Came as my pacer.

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Jeong (me) — Barely finished last ultra with injury at 77km. Second ultra. Goal: "Finish without injury."

Jjong, despite it being his first ultra, finished before dawn — 12 hours 35 minutes. His take on the experience:

"Running alone is,,, lonely.

So every time I passed someone, I asked if I could run with them.

In the end, I crossed the finish line side by side with someone I'd just met that night — honoring the bond we'd built."

Bravo and Durumi — I'd briefly crossed paths with them at 50km. They were about 20–30 minutes ahead.

They finished together at 15 hours 15 minutes. When I saw Bravo afterward,

"My calves kept cramping. I sprayed pain reliever, ate salt,,, used up every last grain of salt I had."

"Did you eat anything?"

"Nothing would go down,,,ㅠㅠ After running that long, food just doesn't work,,,"

Durumi seemed to have run it like any other day. I didn't even get a chance to ask.

We bumped into each other at the bathhouse later,,, he just smiled and said hi,,,

III. The Last 3km

I expected the final stretch to bring a flood of thoughts. Instead, everything became simple.

'I'm tired.'

'Should I run?'

'Should I walk?'

'When is the Cheongnamdae gate going to appear?'

'How many kilometers left?'

With about 3km remaining, the captain said,

"Jeong, only 3km left. I'm going to stretch out my legs and go ahead."

"Of course, Captain. Thank you for everything."

Later, I found out he ran those last 3km at a 4:50–5:00 pace.

Pacing me all night,,, how frustrating must that have been for him?

Watching the captain pull away, I thought — I should run too.

No matter how hard it was, I wanted to run the final stretch and cross the finish line feeling good.

'Slowly, but keep running.'

No injury. Inside the cutoff. It's over!!

I didn't get hurt — but I never imagined I'd be squeezing every last minute out of the time limit.

It was a course with so, so many hills.

IV. What Running Became

My wife once told me about someone at her old company — a salesman who ran trail marathons.

"When the dev team said something couldn't be done, he didn't agonize over it like the other salespeople. He'd just let it go — cleanly.

If it was out of his control, he moved on to the next thing immediately."

 

"Outside of work, he had marathons, soccer, and whenever he had time, he'd take his three kids camping.

Work wasn't 100% of his life.

That's probably why his mental game was so strong."

"Me,,, whenever something went wrong at work,,, it felt like the whole world was crumbling,,,"

 

"If you'd started running earlier, you'd probably still be at that job."

 

"Yeah,,, less stress,,, I could've lasted longer."

Back when I was working, whenever a colleague mentioned church, or a separate group they belonged to, I'd think, 'You can barely keep up at work — how do you have time for all that?'

Looking back, having something you love outside of work is exactly what makes you better at work.

And one more thing —

When you first start running and make 5km a routine, the first change you notice is that you stop catching colds.

Then as you move past 10km to halfs and full marathons, you realize you can endure things that would have broken you before. Long hours, tough days — your body just handles it.

I kept running because it made the weight on my mind a little lighter. And at some point, I got hungry for that endurance itself.

That's when it started.

'I want to try an ultra marathon. But can I even do it?'

My reckless first attempt left me injured for four months.

But after finishing one, the urge for a second crept in.

"Finish without injury."

That was my goal. It was Bravo's goal too. Those words,,, they don't come from nowhere.

Running.

10km, half, full, ultra — it doesn't matter.

All the hours spent preparing. The careful pacing from start to finish, reading your body every step of the way. Hours of endurance — and of joy — that no one else can run for you.

And when you cross that finish line — the relief of knowing you kept your promise to yourself.

If the life I'm living is a long novel,

then each marathon is a chapter within it.

 

To keep writing my novel well,

I draw each chapter with pride — and that's what running is.

Cheongnamdae 100km Ultra Marathon Series — End