I definitely suffered in this race more than the heat and humid adapted locals but my mindset helped me overcome the difficulty of what I could not control.

I wasn’t sick. I didn’t have a cold nor did I have a hamstring issue that two days before the race made me book a last-minute appointment with a physio who I was hoping was going to tell me everything was OK.

My mantra for this race was ‘Run Mindful, Run Free’ I had this on repeat in my head from the start to finish. I wasn’t sure where I was going to place for this run but I had a goal and I was running towards that.

Belief: an acceptance that something exists or is true, especially one without proof | Trust, faith or confidence in (someone or something)

This is not a race for the faint hearted; you need to befriend hurt. The rules of this race are; “don’t worry about the things you can’t control, focus on the things you can.”

GSER; despite the delusional ramblings her exhausted mind was conjuring, despite the exertion that gripped every inch of her body, Amanda had never felt so electrifyingly alive.

“You suck it up, remember why you are doing this, and keep going.” Oscars Hut2Hut is a Alpine Adventure for Autism and will have you muttering the event mantra more than once over the 100km distance ‘Just Another Fucking Climb’.

The GSER 100 – as it is known – is the hardest 100 mile trail race in the Southern Hemisphere and the 5th hardest in the world based on elevation gains. 3 women sat down with Jen Brown to discuss this brutal but beautiful race. The conversation is captivating.

I had prepared myself for the physical challenge of this race and to a certain degree the mental challenge but what I didn’t prepare myself for was the strange altered states of consciousness that brought with it some very disconcerting hallucinations. Thankfully I felt comfortable with 98% of what I saw, the other 2% still leaves me a little frightened.