I went to Mt. FUJI100, which was held from Friday, April 25th to Sunday, April 27th, 2025.

In order to be fully prepared, I traveled the day before and made a detour along the way to a famous restaurant in Mie called "Osumi" to have a hormone set meal.

Afterwards, we moved to Shizuoka and replenished our energy by eating the famous fist-sized hamburger steak at "Sawayaka."

We had a light pre-party and went to bed. The next morning, we took a walk, ate some Hotou (pumpkin), a Yamanashi specialty, and took a short nap before heading to the venue.

When I arrived at the venue, I saw some familiar faces. I was going to compete head-to-head with Mr. Goto, the division manager of The North Face. He is a sub-3 marathon runner and has plenty of trail running experience, but since I was in Wave 1 and Mr. Goto was in Wave 2, I was given a 15-minute handicap.

At the starting line, I found Naota Takemura next to me! Even though he's an elite runner, he started from the back. Even just five minutes before the start, he still had chips attached to his shoes and looked relaxed. That's impressive.

And once the race started, the runners all took off running at once. I kept telling myself to stay calm and not go too fast, and continued running without stopping until I reached the aid station at the foot of the mountain at 52km.

I was looking forward to eating Fujinomiya Yakisoba, but my stomach wasn't feeling well, so I gave up on it. I ate rice porridge and pineapple, and then it was 18km to the next Lake Shoji aid station. I calmed myself down and left the foot of the mountain.

We arrived at the Lake Shoji aid station just after 5am. I'll tell you something: Mr. Yoshida, who was supposed to be there two years ago, had overslept. We didn't stay here for long, but took a quick break before moving on.

From here onwards, the road is long and the climb is walking style. This section of trail is my favourite part of the FUJI100. There is a pleasant descent and it is also part of the park-like Tokai Nature Trail.

And then, at the 97km point, we arrived at the Fuji Hokuroku Park Gymnasium. I was greeted by Kuwahara Kei, the representative of Run boys! Run girls!, and my spirits were lifted. I was feeling a little sleepy, so I told him I wanted to take a nap, but then Goto, the business manager of The North Face, who I had mentioned at the beginning, finally showed up. This was no time to sleep. I hurriedly left the aid station, but...

Finally, at the 107km point, I was caught. Sweat. I thought he would just pass me and keep running, but he said he wanted to run with me. I was so grateful. I was fighting sleepiness, so I was happy that he was pulling me along while we talked during this section. We decided to go our separate ways from the next aid station in Oshino, but I was glad that we were able to make good progress.

We then arrived at Lake Yamanaka Kirara, at the 123km point.

The wind blows through here, so I warm myself up. I eat the pork soup and rice balls I've been looking forward to. I've been able to refuel, so I'm feeling revived. This is also the last time I'll be able to meet my supporters. After this, the final bosses Shakushiyama and Shimoyama await.

I change into long pants, change my mood, and switch myself on.

As I passed Panorama View and started riding downhill, someone carrying a large camera called out to me, "Are you Nishioka?" and "I always listen to your podcast!" I unexpectedly bumped into photographer Takumi Ishiyama on the course. It was practically our first meeting, but I was glad to be able to chat, even if it was just for a little while. He also took some great photos.

After this, it was a very long and distant journey to the Nijukaku Pass aid station. This is the section of the FUJI100 course I dislike the most. Asano from Trippers was ringing a cowbell and cheering on the approaching runners. It really is energizing to see someone I know on the course. I'm truly grateful. Afterwards, I decided to run to the finish line with Koba, a staff member at Moose, an outdoor shop in Nagoya. We were both feeling sleepy and in pain, but we encouraged each other and managed to run to the end. I just did my best. I was able to beat my time from two years ago by about two hours. There are things I want to improve on, but I did my best with what I could do at the time.

After crossing the finish line, I was able to have my long-awaited Finisher's Portrait taken by Sho Fujimaki. I was especially happy that the three of us were able to have it taken as a Team Milestone. Nishioka: 32 hours 25 minutes, Haruka: 37 hours 19 minutes Yoshida: Nice support

Once again, thank you so much to everyone who spoke to me at the venue, on the course, etc. Talking to you all gave me the strength to move forward.

I was ranked 212th out of about 2,400 people.

This is what the competition wear looks like

Cap: MSC-015 Latte

Beanie: MSC-020 Olive

Headlamp: MS-i1 "Endurance Model"

Backpack: RUSH11R by Paagoworks

Sublight: MS-i1 + RUSHLight2.0

Rainwear: Up-Swing Rain Hoody (Ice Gray)

Rain Pants: Up-Swing Rain Pants (Graphite Black)

Hoodie: Cloud Hoody (Black)

Number belt: milestone original race belt

Dust pouch: milestone original dust porch

T-shirts: Doo-Bop T-Shirts (Brown) , (Wine Red)

Shorts: Natty Shorts 5_inch PLUS (mustard) , ( light green)

Arm sleeves: milestone original arm sleeves (cocoa), (cappuccino)

Gloves: Fast Trail Gloves

Pants: Natty Long Pants

Innerwear: All You Need I s… Merino Boxer

Socks: MSS-003 Valley Beige

Shoes: Asics Fuji Lite

By the way, this race report is included in the podcast "Weekly Milestone.com" in "Episode 21 Mt.FUJI100 Special Edition: Right to the Right, Up and Up." It's a blockbuster that's over two hours long, so please enjoy it as a companion for your long runs.