Did I run 100 km? I did. The May Day Hundred
Table of Contents
On May 1, 2026, as a training run of sorts, I decided to run my first hundred kilometres. Ten days later I finally found the energy to write this down—to remember how it went and to thank the people who deserve it. Just a story, but what a story. I’ll answer the questions I got most often: how much had you run before? why this distance? training for something bigger?
Training for a 100 km run
One Friday evening with friends it hit me: I hadn’t been running for almost two years for nothing—the original goal had always been a hundred kilometres. I messaged my coach, Alexey Samukov, with roughly the same energy: “So? Where’s my hundred?” He replied: “Pick a date two months out and let’s go.” That was March 1, 2026; two months later was May 1. The date couldn’t have been better. We shook on it.
I was already running five or six days a week; now it would be seven days out of seven—every single day. Weekly volume went up by one and a half to two times, and sessions got harder. In March and April I logged 836 kilometres in total. That should have been enough volume for a hundred-kilometre day.
May Day Hundred 2026 route
About two weeks out I finally marked the route, posted on my page and in the Večeranka evening-run chat. I’d already asked runner friends to join and support the attempt. I knew Vitya would try to go the full distance with me, and I figured friends would cheer me on. I couldn’t have imagined it would turn into a run this full of support.
The start—and the run itself
May 1, 2026, 7 a.m. We meet on the La Rochelle embankment. Four people are on the bridge of their own free will at the start of my “hundred,” which I—lacking a better name—called the May Day Hundred. The name says it all. We start running, and more and more runners latch on. By the time we’re leaving town toward Lososinnoe, there are ten of us.
Everyone upbeat. We run out of town to music.
I’d planned to run alone—or at most with Vitya, who had agreed to the full distance. Ten people was… very unusual.) Most of the group planned to run to Mashezero and back. Many who ran with me that day set personal distance records—some their first beyond a half-marathon distance, some sixty kilometres, some all hundred.
I loved one comment in the chat:
Not long ago we couldn’t scrape a group for 30K, and now you whistle up a crowd for a hundred))! 👍
Heading toward Lososinnoe
Friends, family, and runners
This run wouldn’t have happened without my friends and family. As I wrote in the chat—you were the best support I’ve ever had. My parents laid out an incredible spread in Mashezero, basically a full aid station. Lyosha and his kids ran out to the road near Lososinnoe to cheer us on. Anton, Lyosha, and Veronika met us on Chistaya Street with food and drink after we’d passed fifty kilometres. Veronika fed us at kilometre eighty and ran the last four kilometres to the hundred with us. Anton, Veronika, and Lyosha welcomed the two “hundred finishers” with fireworks—Misha and me. Vitya, sadly, had to drop.
Masha joined us at kilometre 70
Personal firsts from that day:
- My first marathon distance—42 km
- My first 50 km
- My first 100 km
I only learned after the run that even among runners, a hundred kilometres is considered a serious distance. When I first dreamed this up, I mostly wanted a “round number” on the watch, inspired years ago by a short video of a woman running a hundred-mile trail. People were surprised when I answered how far I’d ever run before that: only thirty-five kilometres. “And you jump straight to a hundred?” “Yep, straight to a hundred,” I’d say.
The hundred happened
May 1, 2026 turned out to be a big day: I got what I wanted—my first 100 km. By the watch, not counting short breaks, it took about eleven hours. The last twenty kilometres were brutal. I thought about quitting, my leg hurt, fatigue came in waves, my head swam. I fired myself up however I could—grunting, clapping, keeping up a conversation with Misha. Huge thanks to him—strong as they come.
Why do it? Because I wanted to. Not a race, not some huge build-up to something else. I wanted it. I needed it. Runners, friends, and family backed the idea and helped make it real. Honestly, I’m not sure I’d have finished alone. Instead it became a celebration of running, grit, and hitting a goal all at once. Was it easy? Of course not. Would I do it again? Shake well—but don’t mix.
Finishers of the May Day Hundred
Here are the two people who ran more than 100 km on May 1, 2026. On the left—me, Sergey Polyakov. On the right—Mikhail Stepanov.
May Day Hundred 2026 finishers
I’ll leave detailed results for another time. This screenshot is Misha’s (about 4 km more than mine), because my watch died during the run.
