But for Dunedin runner Glenn Sutton, it was not long enough.
When the Great Naseby Water Race — which he had run each year for the past 10 years — was cancelled because of Covid-19 Level 2 restrictions, Mr Sutton decided to set out on his own ultramarathon.
He left Dunedin for Naseby at 2am on Thursday, arriving 19 hours later.
The plan, as long as he felt fine, was to turn around and run back to Dunedin through Middlemarch.
"I made it [to Naseby] fine, it was great," he said.
Despite heavy snow on the ground as he got closer to Naseby, the conditions had been mostly warm with picturesque views and he decided to run back.
But it started to get "very, very cold".
After about 30km and facing eight hours alone without cellphone reception he decided to pull the pin.
Mr Sutton covered 175km, but he had hoped for more.
"I would have liked to have gone a bit further. I just sort of froze up."
But he was relieved to return to a warm home and get some well-deserved sleep.
"It was nice to be in bed."
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Comments
There was a series of articles in NZ Runner where past top NZ Runners were interviewed.The message was to do as much as possible on soft surfaces.And there only so many miles in the legs.Running marathons & over on hard surfaces only wears it out quicker.