Two years ago, Luba Miteva, 23, couldn’t run 100 metres without stopping. In six weeks, she’ll run her first ultra marathon. But something most people can’t imagine doing doesn’t feel at all excessive to her.
Elation after the race Photo: Unknown
By day, Luba is a software tester for a website. She runs about three times a week, sometimes through the Wellington CBD, sometimes longer trail runs on the weekend.
She started running just under two years ago, when a friend was doing Wellington’s Round The Bays and Luba joined her to walk the 7km fun run. “I was like ‘OK, we’ll just walk it. While we were doing it, I said ‘Why don’t we just jog for a bit?’”. One hundred metres later, she had to stop, huffing and puffing with a nasty stitch in her side.
“So I decided that the year after, I would do the half marathon.” Which she did, and then early this year, ran her first full marathon.
“That was tough. At the time that was the longest had ever run. I got about three-quarters of the way through, and felt like I couldn’t carry on anymore. My legs were really sore, I felt really tired,” she says. “When I was struggling, I thought that I wouldn’t be able to finish, and that even if I did, I would be miserable. I wouldn’t want to see my friends, I’d want to hide. But I finished and it was awesome.”
Luba says the bad weather and being battered by a cold wind contributed to her bad mood - and the pain. She stopped for a while to take shelter in another runner’s supporter’s car for 10 minutes, where she had a snack and drank some water so that she could continue.
By the end of the 42km race, she felt physically fine. “But by the last 5km, my brain was like ‘are we done yet? Now? Are we there? Are we there yet? Now?’”
So, of course, the next logical step is an even longer race: In March, Luba will run the Tarawera ultra marathon.
I’ve gone from not being able to run 100m to running 42km. I guess that’s kind of a big deal.
“This is going to sound a bit funny, but I am [doing the 60km race] kind of out of FOMO. I read this book called Born To Run, all about ultra marathon running, and it really makes you want to run.”
Reading the book made her wonder if she could handle an ultra marathon one day. She saw people she knew discussing the Tarawera race on Twitter. “And I was like ‘That’s so awesome, and I’d like to join you, but that’s crazy, I’d never do it.’ But when I come back from holiday in September, I was like ‘Eh. Screw it. No time like the present’.”
Allowing herself only six months to train means she’s not as nervous as she perhaps should be. “I fluctuate,” she says. “I think my brain doesn’t actually comprehend how long 60km actually is, so I am really excited about it, but I think in the middle I’m going to be asking ‘When is this going to be over?’”
About to cross the finish line Photo: Unknown
Unlike most of the running she’s done so far – including her first marathon – Tarawera is a trail race, over hills, rivers and forests, and Luba doesn’t know quite what to expect. Except that it will be much, much harder.
And yet it doesn’t seem excessive to her, especially considering what other people are capable of. “In the same event, there’s an 80km race, and a 100km one. When you even say ‘ultra marathon’ in the States, it means 100 miles [160 km], so 60 is a baby step.”
She’s hoping for the same kind of elation she felt at the end of her first marathon. “Finishing the marathon felt amazing,” she says. “I’ve never been a runner. Every time I’ve tried to run I’d get a horrible stitch and have to stop. So I’ve gone from not being able to run 100m to running 42km. I guess that’s kind of a big deal.”
