Whitehorse's Jennifer King is transforming herself into a long-distance runner.

But she sees it differently.

"I am totally a recreational runner and I just sign up for marathons, etc.,” said the mother of two.

King was the top female finisher in the Mount Lorne Mis-Adventure Cross-Country Run on Sunday with a time of two hours, five minutes and 54 seconds over 20 kilometres.

She placed eighth – again the fastest female – in the Grey Mountain Summit Half Marathon (21 km) on July 10 by clocking a time of 2:08:43.

"I've done it a few times, but it's hard to know how far you are. It was just a training run; it wasn't really racing necessarily,” King said.

Now she has her sights set on stretching those distances to the limit.

Come September, she will look to complete the 50-km event in the Lost Soul Ultra Marathon in Lethbridge, Alta. – dubbed "The Toughest Race on the Prairies.”

But running her longest distance yet doesn't seem to faze King.

"It's more the terrain that's going to be difficult than the actual distance, I think. I've never done it before, so just to finish will be good for me.

"It's supposed to be very hilly, steep hills, difficult footing at times.”

King has been running for fun for the past six years.

Within the past two years, however, she's made the jump to more competitive distance running.

Sue MacKinnon-Dunn, who was the race organizer for the Mount Lorne Mis-Adventure run, convinced King to take on the Annual Scotiabank Calgary Marathon two years ago.

King finished that 42-km jaunt in 4:17.

"I sort of got addicted after that,” she said.

Her next long-distance run will be the Yukon River Trail Marathon on Aug. 7 starting from Shipyards Park with the full marathon at 8:30 a.m., the relay at 9:15 a.m. and the half marathon at 10 a.m.

"(The Mis-Adventure) was sort of a warm up to that, and the trail marathon will be a warm up to the ultra in September,” King said, adding that she simplifies her approach to running any distance: "Remembering to keep a good pace at the beginning, a slower pace, so you don't get too tired towards the end.”

Full Mis-Adventure Race results are as follows:

20 km

Male

Tom Ullyett 1:38:09

Ben Yu Schott 1:54:00

Francis Whiteman 1:55:52

Richard Zral 2:19:15

Grant Macdonald 2:22:52

Female

Jen King 2:05:54

Megan Phillips 2:09:30

Deb Kiemele 2:11:02

Carolyn Moore 2:11:22

Nicole Hulstein 2:13:51

Val Neufeld 2:19:15

Leneath Yanson 2:23:45

First 10 km

Jillian Pare 1:02

Second 10 km

Carol Spillette

7 km

Lazy Sue 45 min.