Superior is a difficult race as far as hundreds go (realendurance.com lists it at #12 out of about 60 hundred milers). This course lives up to its billing of Rugged, Relentless, Remote. I felt like I was well trained and was well acquainted with at least half of the course. I went in with visions of an approximate 29 hour time which I figured would put me in about the top twenty.
Friday morning at 8:00 a.m. about 200 runners toed the line at Gooseberry Falls and began a long journey through the Sawtooth mountain range in northern Minnesota. The first section (9.7 miles) was rather uneventful with wet trails from the prior days rainfall and people positioning for the proper place and pace. It was nice to run for a short time with John Cameron, the eventual 4th place finisher and a year long training partner. I settled in with a group of about five other runners and we worked our way to the first aid station. I arrived about 17 minutes ahead of my plan, but felt comfortable with the pace and the runable trails in that section. I was in 38th place entering this aid station. There was no crew access to the aid station, so it was a quick turnaround with fresh water and picking up one gel pack.
The section to Beaver Bay (10.3 miles) was also fairly quiet as the packs began to split up more and people dropped into their own pace. I ran off and on with other individuals, but tried to just run my own race. Throughout this section I felt good despite running a bit faster than I had planned. I arrived at Beaver Bay 47 minutes ahead of plan, in 39th place, and felt great. It was nice to see my dad who had flown out from Idaho to crew me at the race. This was his third opportunity to crew for me in ultras. After a quick fill of my handhelds and some fresh ShotBloks I was on my way and looking forward to seeing my wife and kids at Silver Bay aid station in 4.9 miles.
This section was fast, short and uneventful. I was still feeling great and running my own race. I entered the aid station and was able to see my wife and kids. It was amazing the emotional bump from seeing them. I also saw other good friends and running partners at this aid station who had come in to check in on runners. After some quick refills of handhelds, salty cookies and kisses from the kids I was on my way to Tettegouche in 9.9 miles.
Silver Bay to Tettegouche is a beautiful section with some great views of lakes and some good decline into the aid station. I ran well through this section as I really tried to enjoy the race, the views and some time to myself. I knew that at some point things would not be going as well and that I should enjoy everything that I could. I arrived at Tettegouche a little over an hour faster than my plan and had moved up slightly to 35th place. I was still trying to be cognizant of pace and not burning too much energy too early in the race. I was able to have a pretty quick turnaround at the aid station with more cookies, some small sandwiches, fluids and ShotBloks for the next section.
The next section to Country Road 6 is 8.6 miles and has some good runable sections (from what I remember). I disliked the crossing of the Baptism River with a shaky bridge and a lot of wooden stairs. For the first time in the day I felt human as the legs gave me some complaints while running on wooden stairs. After hitting some nice climbs and downhills I was able to put the body into overdrive and cruise through this section. I was looking forward to seeing my family for one last time for the day and picking up my pacer at mile 43.5 (unless I came in before 6:00 and then he couldn't proceed with me). I arrived at Cnty Rd. 6 at 6:05 to the kids holding signs and my pacer ready to go. We took a little more time at this aid station as I said good night to the wife and kids and grabbed a head lamp for the coming night. This was supposed to be the last crewed aid station for me, but since I was about an hour and twenty minutes ahead of plan my dad decided to come to one more aid station before calling it a night. I entered County Road 6 in 29th place.
The next section to Finland aid station is short, but has some decent climbs and descents. Craig Woodward was pacing me and jumped right in to keeping me entertained and making sure I was eating and drinking regularly. It was nice to have some company as the sun set and the moon rose. We saw one or two runners in this section, but for the most part it was beginning to get very quiet on the trails. We entered Finland aid station (the 50 mile race start) a bit over an hour ahead of schedule and in 32nd place. We would maintain the 32nd place for the entirety of the night as everyone dropped into their rightful places and worked their way down the trail at night. At the aid station I switched from handhelds to my hydration pack. I also added a second headlamp around my waist which made a huge difference in lighting and depth perception on the trail. After confirming I had everything I needed for the night and eating the last of my salty cookies we left for our long and lonely night.
Finland to Sonju Lake (7.5 miles) and then on to Crosby Manitou (4.2 miles) were fairly uneventful with some nicely paced running and a lot of story telling through the night. The night was beautiful with a nearly full moon and a sky full of stars. Occasionally I would stop to look up and let out a yell as we worked our way through the night. My legs were beginning to feel the effects of +50 miles of running on technical trail, but I still felt good at this point. We had dropped slightly off of our goal pace and entered Crosby Manitou about 25 minutes ahead of the original plan.
Immediately following the Crosby Manitou aid station there is a wickedly difficult drop down to the Caribou River and then an equally difficult climb out. At some point in this mile or two section my right knee decided that it had had enough and began to tighten up pretty significantly. I have had this issue before, most pronounced at Wild Duluth 50k last year. My knee tightens up and I am unable to lift my leg behind me at all. This makes downhills and running technical terrain very difficult. I still felt ok on uphills, but quickly began to realize that my day and race had changed. The good news was that I only had to run about 40 miles with one leg. Despite the knee issues and a slower pace, we reached the Sugarloaf aid station still in 32nd place, but had now slid about 40 minutes behind my goal time. The Sugarloaf aid station was great and brought my spirits up a bit before facing my demons again through the next section.
Sugarloaf to Cramer Road (5.6 miles) was the beginning of the death march. Our pace dropped significantly and other runners began to catch us. I had three other racers pass me in this section as the knee continued to tighten and hurt. I was hoping the rising sun would boost my spirits and loosen me up, but it was not to be. I could feel the wheels starting to come off of my race throughout this section. We arrived at Cramer Road about an hour and a half off of our expected time and had slid to 35th place.
Cramer to Temperance River is a section I was fairly familiar with following a terrible training run this summer where I bonked and laid in the trail for a long time. With this though tin mind I was not looking forward to this section. I knew that there was a lot of downhill ahead of me and that I would not be able to enjoy it the way I hoped. At this point my mood went south and I became a bit crabby. I was beginning to hear voices of other runners catching me and about nine runners passed me in about a mile or two of trail. At about mile 79 I hit bottom and had my first experience with weird mood swings during an ultra. As my pacer was trying to boost my spirits with positive affirmations I decided that I was sick of it all. I promptly told Craig to shut the $&*# up, turned on my ipad and began to run (it was much more of a hobble) down the trail. My entire body filled with rage I had the biggest endorphin rush I have ever felt. I hated Craig, I hated the trail, I hated the race and I hated my knee. With eyes full of anger and sadness I ran as hard as I could and surprisingly the knee began to loosen up. Craig said something about how I was really starting to move well when I told him to shut up again and ran faster. We dropped the pace down to about 12 minute miles for about three miles. I passed every single runner who had passed me on the section and felt great. We were able to drop into the river valley and work our way to the aid station still in 35th place. My dad was there to crew me and must have known that I was in bad shape. I explained the knee issue, switched gear and slowly hobbled my way out of the aid station.
As good as it was to run a good section, I paid for it in the remaining 18 miles as my knee swelled up and felt worse than ever. The section from Temperance to Sawbill (5.7 miles) is difficult with the worst climb of the course up Carlton Peak and then straight back down. My leg was a mess and during this section I became resigned to the fact that it was still going to be a long day of hiking and dragging a leg. Thankfully climbing was still easier for me than descending as this section has a high net climb ratio. We maintained a better than expected pace of about 22 minute miles in this section and entered Sawbill in 39th place. I was now two hours behind my expected pace and knew that a sub-30 hour race had slipped out of reach and was becoming more concerned with actually finishing the race. My wife and kids were at this aid station and as great as it was to see them I felt bad that they had to see me in this depressed and pained state. I could see the look of concern on my wife and my mothers faces as I came into the aid station and was promptly outraced by my two-year old daughter down the trail. When they asked what was wrong all I could muster was that my knee was shot and my whole body hurt. I didn't want to talk for fears of breaking down and tried to quickly get my gear organised and get out of the aid station. This was the only time that a dnf (did not finish) crossed my mind, but it was quickly put to rest when my wife gave me a stern look and told me I was finishing this race. With fresh bottles, food in my belly and a determination to finish I hobbled my way down the trail.
The 5.5 miles from Sawbill to Oberg are decent miles, but the trail was extremely muddy and beat up from other 100 milers and most of the marathon participants tearing it up. This was my slowest section. After a brief pit stop in the trees about a half mile out of the aid station I emerged with a walking stick to help me take some weight and pressure off of my swollen and painful leg. My pacer graciously found me a second one and I began shuffling up the trail with trail made trekking poles. We averaged about a 31 minute/mile pace in this section and I was passed by numerous runners. Finally after about three hours we emerged at Oberg. I entered the aid station in 50th place and exactly three hours slower than the original plan, but I made it. Here I made my only change in gear for the entire race as I switched into compression socks to see if it would ease any pain and switched to my most cushioned shoes (Altra Olympus). With 7.1 miles to go I figured I may as well try to be as comfortable as possible. We probably wasted a little more time than necessary with the shoe change, but time was no longer a concern, only finishing. I convinced my wife to meet me at the top of ski hill road and run the last half mile or so with me. The thought of meeting her gave me motivation to keep moving. We told her we would be about three and a half hours.
The last section is tough with two major climbs up Moose Mountain and Mystery Mountain. Fortunately for me, climbing was the only thing that I was still able to do. It sounds odd, but I wish the entire last 30 miles had been uphill. Craig and I started to pound out the uphills and gingerly work my way down the downhills. We made better time than anticipated (just below a 29 minute mile pace for the last section) and next thing I knew I could hear the sweet sound of the Poplar River below me. Once we got close I sent Craig ahead to make sure my wife was ready. While crossing the river I had another hundred miler pass me. I resolved that I was going to pass him and beat him to the finish line. Thankfully he was not in the mood to race down the road, because he could have easily beat me. I met my wife, who was just showing up since we were a bit ahead of schedule, and I began to run at the fastest pace I could down the road when I glanced at her walking next to me. I rudely asked her if she could at least pretend like she was running so I didn't look so silly. She obliged and we began our final stretch into home. I enjoyed being able to run a bit with her and share the experience of coming into the finish line.
I finished in 33:30:10 and 58th place. Although well behind my goal, I am exceedingly happy with the results and glad to have it done. The finish line was great as I was able to catch up with other runners and friends and hear stories of how the race went down. John Storkamp was there with a welcome high five and a nice bowl of chili. After picking up my buckle and finishers jacket I headed back to our room for a much needed shower and some rest. The plan was to come out and watch some friends finish the race and watch the award ceremony, but unfortunately my body went into shock. After shaking violently on the couch for a while not being able to get warm I finally swallowed some horse pills and went to bed.
Overall this was the most amazing experience. It is incredible to watch others put themselves through this experience and to suffer and celebrate alongside them. I was overwhelmed with the outpouring of support from family, friends, volunteers, fellow runners, and complete strangers. I have to thank my amazing wife who has been a widow throughout the year and has still stood by me as a trained for this race; she is my rock. Additionally my kids have been patient and supporting as they haven't eaten a proper breakfast with dad all year due to my training. My parents were incredible in flying out and crewing me and supporting me. Craig was an amazing pacer and I can't wait to pace him on his first 100 next year. I also want to thank all of my running partners throughout the year who kept me motivated to keep training, the volunteers at the race and the race director who puts on an amazing show. I highly recommend everyone trying something that seems impossible in your life and accomplishing it. Superior was an experience that I will never forget. I have never hurt so bad in my life; I can't wait for the next race.
Gear list:
Asics singlet
New Balance shorts
Camelback handhelds
Gregory Tempo hydration pack
Headsweats visor
Black Diamond Spot Headlamp
Cabelas XPG headlamp
Drymax socks
Altra Lone Peak 2.0 shoes
Injinji compression socks
Altra Olympus shoes
about 26 packs of Clif ShotBloks
15 of momma's homemade salty cookies
copious amounts of Heed, Gatorade, PB&J sandwiches, M&Ms, quesadillas and other assorted aid station food.
