Seoul 100K Ultra-Trail: My 2023 Trail Running Goal

Running · Published 1/14/2023 ·

Trail running is a sport where you run on trails.

The most famous trail running race in the world is the [Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc: UTMB]], a 160–170km event.

In Korea, there are plenty of races too — Trans Jeju, Korea 50K, Jeju Trail, DMZ Trail, Jungle Trail, K100 Trail, and more.

The international governing body for the sport is the ITRA (www.itra.run).

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Trail running is one of my goals for 2023.

The Seoul 100K is a landmark race with what may be the only ultra-trail running course in the world that lets you take in Seoul’s nature, history, and culture all at once — famous mountains like Inwangsan and Bukhansan, the trails that loop all the way around the city, the forest of buildings cutting through downtown, and the Han River. This year’s Seoul 100K course is especially notable: it adds the ▲ Baegakjeong–Gokjang–Bukaksan Octagonal Pavilion section, which includes the walking path behind the Blue House that opened for the first time in 54 years, giving runners a brand-new experience of running while looking out over the cityscape of downtown Seoul. — Source: from the 2022 Seoul 100K race recruitment post —

I laid the 100K course GPX file over a map.

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You start from the plaza in front of Seoul City Hall, loop around Bukaksan, cut through Bukhansan, climb Bukhansan again, then come back down along the foot of Buramsan. Most of it is classic trail running — walking or running along mountain paths. Honestly, 100K feels way too hard to take on right now, so I’m thinking of training for the 50K first.

50K course

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The 50K isn’t exactly a walk in the park either. It’s just as grueling — maybe the only difference is whether you suffer over two days or one? The 2023 course hasn’t been announced yet, so this is the 2022 Seoul 100K GPS data. But I doubt it’ll change much from this course, so I’m planning to go run some of the more accessible training sections ahead of time. Trail running doesn’t necessarily mean sticking to mountain paths — courses cut through the city center, loop around local landmarks, and take all sorts of forms. There’s a similar race, the Hong Kong 100K, and it seems like these are popping up all over the place.

In 2023, I really want to finish a trail running (ultramarathon) race.

Thanks for reading.

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