Van Phan, Maniac 27
Huge Congratulations to our friend Van Phan! Completing 100, 100 mile races! Van is the latest member of the 100×100 club. Van “Pigtails” Phan (100 finishes), age 52 in 2023, from Lakewood, Washington, finished her 100th 100-miler at Hamster 32 Hour Endurance Run in Bellingham, Washington. She began running ultras in 2003 and has finished more than 400 ultras and more than 620 races of a marathon or longer, with a goal to reach 1,000. She finished her first 100-miler in 2006.
Her most finishes came in 2022 with 13. In addition, she has attacked the 200-milers and has finished 18 ultras of 200 miles or longer. She has been a prolific racer, finishing 52 marathons or ultras in a year, three years in a row. In her 100 100-milers, she has won more than 20 of them.
She is mentally tough and has only had a handful of DNFs across her running career. In 2001, Van became a Physician Assistant. She began to run early in the morning at her own pace and fell in love with running.
She ran a 12K with her sister and then never looked back. Following Hal Higdon’s training program, she finished her first marathon in 3:37 and qualified for Boston. But running on pavement resulted in injuries. She progressed, increased her strength and distance and started to run 100-milers now and then and becoming serious about the distance by 2010.
Van, like most of the members of the 100×100 club, has never had a running coach. She has just listened to her body, tried to rest when she should and would train about 30 miles per week on the rare weeks when she did not race. Her 100-mile PR came at the 2007 Rio Del Lago 100 with 21:48:04. She has 15 finishes of the tough Cascade Crest 100 in Washington.
She has also been a race director and founded the Pigtails Challenge in 2012 with distances of 50K, 100K, 100 miles, 150 miles, and 200 miles, running 10-mile loops around the Lake Youngs Watershed in Renton, Washington.
Article courtesy of Davy Crockett & Marathon maniacs Newsletter
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