On the Defensive

Last weekend I headed North for a variety of fun events. The first stop was at my parents house for supper and a short birthday celebration. I swapped cars with my mom and continued North toward the Porath's cabin. There was a detour along the way that added some extra time, since I didn't have a phone to tell me a good way to circumnavigate the detour I decided to wing it and after a couple wrong turns and some fun gravel road adventuring got back on course and made it to the cabin before it got too late. Rob, Nate, and Nichole where there when I arrived, and Nate's parents arrived soon after. They also brought birthday cake for me, so we celebrated and headed off to bed.

The next morning I was up bright and early to go defend my first ever marathon win, the Birkie trail marathon. Rob was running the 100k, so he was already racing by the time I woke up. It was a perfect day for running, cool and clear, and the Birkie trail was gorgeous as always. I knew there would be a couple of speedy fellows there, so I mentally prepared myself to go out in control.

Start of the race - Photo: Birkie.com

Of course when the gun went off that didn't exactly happen. There is a lot of climbing in the first few miles of the course, and while I did mostly keep things in control I still pushed harder than I probably should have. There was a young guy who got away almost right from the get go, and I settled in behind a bearded fellow completely decked out in Scott racing apparel. The 3 of us quickly distanced the rest of the field, so the podium seemed pretty much locked up by a mile or so into the race.

I lost sight of the leader pretty quickly, but kept the Scott runner in sight for quite a long time. We hit the first section of single track and it felt great to just let the trail dictate the pace and flow through the fun switchbacks. Back on the Birkie trail I caught the Scott runner at the OO turnaround, but he slowly opened up a gap on me again during the long push North on the classic trail. At mile 16 he had about 20 seconds on me, at mile 18 it was about 40 seconds, and I didn't see him again until the finish after that.

Once he was out of sight I tried to push myself just in case someone was coming up behind me, but I could tell that I was struggling. It was close enough to the end of the race though that I was willing to be in pain for a while.

Nate found me about 1/2 mile or so from the finish and cheered me in. He said he though I was in second, but I figured he missed the kid in the lead because he was quite far ahead of the other two of us.

I sprinted past a couple of kids running the 5k to finish strong. The Scott guy looked like he had been done for a while, and about a minute after I finished the kid who had been in first came in. He took a wrong turn and added almost 3 extra miles.

Finishing! - Photo: Birkie.com

I had found out just before the race that there was going to be prize money this year, so I got my first ever paycheck from running; $250, not too bad for a race that I got to run for free. I got to stand on a pretty sweet looking podium, and then I had to fill out tax forms. While they were processing the forms I was chatting with the winner. Apparently he is from Germany and just ran the Run Rabbit Run 100 miler the weekend before. He took 5th there despite getting quite lost. I could still feel my 50 miler from 2 weekends ago, so to double back from a 100 miler and take on the Birkie trail was impressive.

The Podium - Photo: Birkie.com

While we were waiting I also heard that runner #10 (Rob!) was in the lead and due to be at the Boedecker road aid station soon. Nate, Nichole, and I booked it out there to see if we could catch him. We were there well ahead of him and had some time to chat with the aid station workers and the 2 girls who were there crewing for their boyfriends.

Rob came through cool as a cucumber, although I could tell the miles were starting to get to his legs a bit. That is to be expected 40 miles into a race though I'm sure. He moved through in good time and didn't have any nagging issues. The second place runner was arriving just as Rob was leaving, but he took a good 10 minutes or more of chair time before walking out of the aid station, so I figured he wouldn't catch back up to Rob any time soon. That did prove to be the case, Rob won the race, his first race win, by over an hour, and was the only runner to finish in the daylight!

After that I headed back to my parents for the next event. My friend Adam is getting married next month, so we held his bachelors party out in the woods behind my parents. We headed into town to go mini golfing first. Cary and I had a good duel for a while before I finally got the edge in my group. I tried some pretty risky shots, and a few of them even paid off. I got a bit sloppy in the last few holes, but by that point my lead was insurmountable. Then we grilled some food and got the bonfire going. Rob stopped by to spend the night as well. We turned in a little after 1:00 AM. Most other folks were up until the fire died down a little after 3. I woke up early to check on breakfast and see Rob on his way. I had briefly considered going rollerskiing, but had more fun hanging out and watching some blurry eyed boys wolf down egg bake.

Sunday afternoon I headed to the cities to hang out with Eva. We got a little frisbee playing in and went out to watch the super blood moon eclipse. It was a really amazing event. We headed out to the ag fields at the U of M, the place with about the least amount of light pollution that we could walk to. It was a perfect evening for laying out and gazing upon the heavens.

October promises to be a busy month, but I have no more races on the schedule as of now. Next weekend is Twin Cities Marathon, a chance to dust off the cow suit and get a practice ride in before heading down to Chicago the weekend after.

Quick Fiddy

As summer comes to a close I am finally getting back to racing. Last summer I was really fit, raced a lot, and won quite a few small races. This summer by contrast I was pretty wiped out after two early spring marathons and haven't been as motivated to get out training. This has given me the chance to do a bit more adventuring, camping, and spending time with friends and family, which has been nice. My brilliant strategy to allow myself this freedom was to sign up for a 50 mile race in September so I wouldn't be tempted to sign up and train hard for a fall marathon. That race was the Superior 50, the little brother of the epic Sawtooth 100 race on the superior hiking trail. The tag line for the race is Rugged, Relentless, Remote, and it lives up to that.

Leading up to the race I was putting in moderate training weeks with big mileage on the weekend. I had a few weekends with 2-3 runs totally 30+ miles for the weekend. I kept the pace easy, knowing I would need to be efficient at a much slower speed than I'm used to running. I didn't race at all in July and only one little 10 miler in August. I got in a long weekend of hiking on the Pictured Rocks trails in Michigan and tried to spend a lot of time outside. When I first started racing long races like the Chippewa Triathlon I noticed that since I work indoors I was not used to being outside for large chunks of the day especially in the heat of the middle of the day, so I have focused on spending weekends outside as much as possible to not have that additional stress to adapt to on race day. This was a great excuse to get in a couple camping trips and some long bike rides.

The 50 mile race starts in Finland, MN at 5:30 on a Saturday morning. The 100 mile starts at 8:00 AM the day before, so I spent Friday evening cheering on my friends Rob and Eric. Rob ended up dropping out at mile 50, the very same place where I would be starting the next day. I was sad to see him drop, so when I started running the next day part of me felt like I was carrying on the torch for him.

Ready to Race!

The weather at the race start was absolutely spectacular. It was just under 40F, the sky was clear of clouds and awash with stars. Most of us runners stayed inside out of the cold until the race organizer herded us out to the start line. I wish I had a picture or video to match how amazing the race start was. The road ahead lit by the headlamps of all the runners around me, the almost complete darkness of the surrounding forest, and then the brilliant tableau of stars up above. The paved road quickly turned to gravel, and not long after that we dived into the darkness that is the superior national forest.

Runners getting ready to start.

The race climbed steadily for a couple miles, but it was when we turned downhill that I began to run into problems almost right away. Since I figured I would only be running in darkness for an hour at most I only packed a small light, and it was not enough to see the trail well. When I did more trail running and was a younger, more nimble fellow this may not have been a big concern, but my amount of technical trail running has not been that great this summer, so I was kind of in over my head. After passing a runner who suddenly pulled over to the side of the trail I considered that twisting an ankle was a serious concern. Sure enough, not even a quarter mile later I rolled my left ankle pretty good on the edge of a rock.

Course profile for the Superior Fall Races

I backed the pace off after this, because I couldn't really trust my weight on that foot for a while, but I still managed to roll the same ankle a couple more times before making it in to the first aid station 7.5 miles into the race. I made a quick stop to loosen up my shoe laces on my now swelling foot and was back underway. Throughout the day that was one thing I felt like I did very well, I came into aid stations with a plan and I moved through quickly and efficiently.

The sun finally edged above the horizon before the next aid station, and my friend Emily was there to take my headlight and long sleeve shirt. I kept my arm warmers and buff since I still couldn't really use my fingers because of the cold most of the time. I wasn't going to complain about that though, knowing that chilly fingers are far better than the heat of the race a couple years ago the first time Rob ran it. The next stretch was the Crosby-Manitou segment, one of the most beautiful sections, but also one of the most difficult, and the longest stretch of the race between aid stations. Last year I paced my friend Jeff through this section in the middle of the night, and it was far more enjoyable in the daylight I have to say. My energy was good for this section and I felt like I was moving very well.

I kept those good feelings through the next aid station and past the marathon start. One marathon down, one to go (the actual race length is 52.4 miles, so just about exactly 2 full marathons). I was at 5:15 at this point, so a bit off of my goal of sub 10 hours, but I was happy with how things were going. That changed quickly on the long downhill to the Cross River however.

The lead woman caught me on the flat stretch along the Cross River and I picked up my pace to stay with her. Going up and over the next climb I actually put a good gap on her again, but lost all that ground and more on the descent to the Temperance aid station. She was just leaving that aid station when I arrived. It was a lonely slog up to Carleton Peak. I ran almost all the way to the top though, so I was pretty proud of that. Just as I was nearing the peak Emily showed up. It was nice to finally drop off my arm warmers and buff with her and start picking my way downhill to the next aid station. From this point on I had raced all of the rest of the course as part of a 50k a couple years ago, so I had a good idea of what to expect. In some ways that was reassuring, but in other ways it was rather frustrating, since I knew how much more quickly I had covered this section of trail last time I raced here.

The last 15 miles were a slog. I kept running by sheer force of will, but unfortunately not running quickly by this point since my legs were pretty stiff. I got passed by two more women and one more guy in the 50 mile race, moving me back to 14th, the place where I would ultimately finish. I was very happy to finally hit the road near Caribou highlands and be able to push the pace on the more stable surface. My final time was 11:14.

I learned a lot this race, but also did a lot of things right. Food and drink were right on, and I paced things pretty well for much of the race. I was not prepared adequately for the terrain however, and had very little left in the legs for the runnable sections late in the race, so those are some training issues that will need to be addressed before I try another one of these races. I may be back someday, but probably not next year, where I'm already looking at the Inspiration 100 gravel race on this weekend.

Bicycle Voyageur

Last year I went up to cheer for Jeff and Rob at the Voyageur 50 mile race near Duluth. I had a great time running around on the gorgeous trails cheering and watching the race unfold. The aid stations at ultramarathons are their own fun little community with friends, spouses, and children ferrying around watching a race and waiting for their runner to come through before quickly packing up shop and hustling off to the next point. It is many of the same faces throughout the day, although who is at a particular station changes depending on how the runner they are there to support is doing. Since Rob was headed back up to run this race again I though it would be a fun way to get away for the weekend and get a good workout in. It was also a great way to see a 50 mile race in action to give me some ideas of what to expect at my 50 mile debut in a few weeks. (Just a quick note, this race was in late July, I'm not exactly up to date on my blog posting).

Nate decided to accompany Rob and I and do some spectating as well, so on Friday afternoon we loaded up our bikes and headed North. We stopped at Tobie's for supper, the same place I stopped with Jeff and Rob last year, and the hostess seated us at the exact same table as we were at. Rob and I got a good chuckle out of this. Then we finished the trip up to Duluth where we camped at the Indian Point campground. The campground was basically a big open field, and we were a bit worried about all the noisy kids running around, but like magic right around 11:00 everyone quieted down and we had no trouble getting to sleep.

The next morning was cool, but the day promised to get hot, and the humidity was already high. The race is an out and back that starts in the town of Carlton, runs through Jay Cooke state park, works it's way up and over Spirit Mountain, and turns around at the Duluth Zoo. Last year I had no idea where I was going and was lucky enough to run into my friend T-1000 (o.k. her actual name is Kara) who was there crewing for her friend Emily and she had maps and directions for navigating. I hadn't done much spectating for long races before, and while the course is obviously marked for the runners, there are no course markings for spectators or crew. This year I started doing some research a couple weeks before the race so I would know where to go. Then Rob mentioned that the course often runs parallel to the Willard Munger bike trail, and the plan quickly switched from driving to biking. This plan worked amazingly well! It was a great way to get around quickly and to really get to experience the area in a way that driving in a car just doesn't allow. Also since it at times took a bit longer to get from aid station to aid station there was a bit less waiting around.

Rob has a good formula for his races and he follows it well. He races nice and steady and doesn't often seem ruffled by anything. Nate and I cheered him along and gave him updates on how the rest of the race was playing out. We ran a couple short sections with him so we could get a few running miles in ourselves. Sure enough, as the day went on the weather got hot, into the upper 80's and quite muggy for a while. Luckily in the afternoon the humidity started to drop and conditions got a bit more bearable.

Rob hit the turn around in about 4 1/2 hours, looking good for hitting his goal of 10 hours. The way back was much hotter than the way out though, and the heat and mileage took it's toll. He ended up finishing in 10:18, still a pretty respectable time. Rob is running the 100 mile race at Superior, where I am running my 50, so this was a good tuneup day for him. I pushed Nate pretty hard on some of the biking sections of the day, so he was almost as tired as Rob by the end of the day I think.