How to run your first ultramarathon – find a race, get a trainer and get moving, Hong Kong finance executive says

Indian-born Winnie Khattar wasn’t sporty growing up, but started running in 2018 and since then has competed in ultramarathons from Hong Kong to Scotland

She reveals how she trained for her first long-distance race, how she avoids injury despite having a spinal problem and why trail running is ‘like meditation’

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Winnie Khattar on a training run. The Hong Kong-based finance executive entered her first race, an ultramarathon, in 2018 and has not looked back since. Running is “the most rewarding experience”, she says. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Published: 6:15pm, 4 Jun 2023Updated: 6:43pm, 4 Jun 2023

Most people who choose to take up running motivate themselves with a goal – an easy, flat 10km race, say, or even a half marathon if they want to push themselves.

Winnie Khattar is unlike most people. The 36-year-old finance executive, who has called Hong Kong home for the last 13 years, began running in 2018 by signing up for the Vibram Hong Kong 100 ultramarathon.

The challenging 103km (64-mile) endurance race follows most of Hong Kong’s famous MacLehose Trail up and down a series of forested hills.

Khattar had never been a runner, nor had she played any sport while growing up in India. She had taken up outrigger canoeing and dragon boating in Hong Kong, but knew nothing about endurance running.

Khattar running the North Face 50 race in Hong Kong, in 2023. Photo: Winnie Khattar

A colleague mentioned the race while she was considering which event might motivate her to start running.

“It sounded scary and tempting at the same time,” she says.