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Loretta Tobolske-Horn ran for 17 hours, 21 minutes and 56 seconds. 

“It takes a lot of mental strength to get through those miles,” said Tobolske-Horn, 48, from Brighton. 

That strength helped her finish in first place in the Tunnel Hill 100 race earlier this month in Vienna, Illinois, out of more than 500 other runners. Her time made her the 10th fastest female 100-mile runner in the nation, according to Ultra Running Magazine. 

“It was pretty exciting,” she said. 

But not only did her mental strength and training help her, but so did her family and friends, who provided support and things such as food and water along the way. 

The limestone path at the Tunnel Hill State Trail is 45 miles and she looped around it to complete 100 miles.

She would break down the race by hour, eating food and drinking water every half hour at aid stations, she said. In the last 24 miles of the race, her team,  consisting of her daughter Maddelynn; her husband, Derek; and her friends Teddy, Chris and Jeff, took turns running with her. 

“My goal was to not stop,” she said. 

She began training in February with running coach Zach Bitter.

Bitter holds world records in the 100-mile run and for a 12-hour run and, for the past six years, has held the U.S. record for fastest 100-mile run. 

Working remotely with Tobolske-Horn — Bitter lives in Arizona — he helped her with her goals of completing a marathon, or a 26.2-mile race, and completing a 100-mile race. 

“We try to come up with the ‘why?’ before running any kind of race,” Bitter said. 

He helped Tobolske-Horn with three sessions each week in building a “strong aerobic base” and to build up her ability to complete long runs, he said. 

At the peak of their training, Tobolske-Horn would run 20 miles, of which 14 or 15 miles would be run at a pace to complete a marathon, Bitter said. 

She also said she would work on gradually increasing the miles she ran.

Also, her nutrition and hydration during, before, and after events such as this are key.

“If you’re not taking enough, you might not finish,” Tobolske-Horn said. 

“She’s just a competitor,” said her husband, Derek Horn.

Horn helped create spreadsheets of her times that she wanted to reach as goals throughout the race.

He said when she was training, she would be excited for the chance to run for five hours, for example.

Despite her finish, Tobolske-Horn said she knows she can do better.

“Also (I thought) like ‘OK, I know I can go faster. I know I can be better,” Tobolske-Horn said. 

She’ll be able to test herself again when she runs in the 2020 Boston Marathon in April, which she qualified for by winning the Tunnel Hill 100. 

Contact Livingston Daily reporter Sean Bradley at 517-552-2860 or at spbradley@livingstondaily.com. Follow him on Twitter @SbradleyLD.

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