"I decided to come here because of the country, it is a lovely country, full of beautiful things and the race is an incredible race," she said.
This will be her first ultra of the year, she said.
"I want to be in the front of the race fighting for the first place, these are my goals, but I don't know as I am not 100 per cent because it is the beginning of the season," she said. "But I will try and do my best for sure."
Picas-Albets said she spent an hour running in the Redwoods on Thursday and loved the terrain and scenery in Rotorua.
"They are very nice tracks, they are amazing."
The Spanish runner will have some stiff competition in the women's race today. Among the elite field is the defending champion Jo Johansen (Wellington) who was a surprise winner at last year's shortened event.
Picas-Albets said she had first got into long-distance trail running in 2011.
"I started running ultra trails in 2011 and the race was Cavalls del Vent [in Spain]. It was my first ultra trail and I won there and made the new women's record and I became an ultra trail runner.
"Before that I was always running and doing other sports like climbing," she said.
The Tarawera Ultramarathon started at 6am this morning with the record going into the race 10hr 26min 28sec, for the 100km women's race, set in 2012 by Nicola Gildersleeve.
The men's record was set by Sam Wreford in 2011 in a time of 8:33:50. More than 1100 people are entered for the event today.
