A great weekend with new
friends. 5:53. Much slower than my goal was going in but I'll adjust
my training a bit to hopefully improve my time. Also, part of this race
was the conditions on race day. It was the hottest and muggiest day yet
this spring for me and by mile 20+ it caught up with me and hydration became an
issue. It was really nice to share this trail with some new friends as 4
of us went up and stayed at the Caribou Highlands Lodge,. ate at the Coho Cafe
on Saturday afternoon, and hit up Betty's Pies for breakfast on the way back
home Sunday morning.
Thanks B for giving my car a place
to stay over the weekend and thanks T.J. for driving up the north shore.
Thanks Todd for booking the condo, super nice and perfect for our group.
"Superior
50k"
Tom had a good point later in the
afternoon on Saturday. "Usually early on I'm a little bit cold, but
today I felt a little bit too good starting out." We were warmed up
when we walked out of the condo at 7am for the start of the 50k race. It
was even warmer at 9 when the 25k started.
I woke up at 5:20 so I wouldn't have to be
in a hurry getting ready, had 4 hard boiled eggs, a banana with peanut butter,
some water, and 3 cups of coffee. I could have drank more water, probably
should have, and will next time. I felt good though, went down to check
in, and sat on the sofa to write a bit on my phone. Here's what I wrote:
"I'm excited today. It
looks like it'll be a beautiful day out on the trail. My plan is this:
use the first section as my warm up, use the rolling hills through the sawbill
section to make up some ground, run the peak section until the big boulders
begin and scamper as well as I can up to the peak. On the way down, do
the same. I feel pretty good. My training was quite different for
this race than for previous races in that I was more specific in my daily
routine. Speed intervals, sprints, hills, and a long day on Sunday.
My goal is to run at an overall 10 minute per mile pace. That'll mean
that there will need to be portions that I'll need to really be cookin'.
What a fun
trip with Tom, Todd, and TJ. It's great when you enjoy the company of
those around you. A neat group. I'm thinking of my family at
home. I wonder what they think of the adventures that I travel and the
miles I chose to run. I love them all and look forward to working some
aid with the kids in the near future. A great experience for them and
one that I haven't ever done myself. I appreciate all of the support I
feel from family, friends, clients and know that your supportive words will
keep me going today. I'm thinking about you today Dann. Praying for
you Carlsons. Missing you back here at home in the north woods where we
spent some of my most memorable weeks catching smallmouth, breaking paddles,
and eating a ton of fish."
To the here and now... My legs
are on fire today from my hips all the way to my feet. I probably shouldn’t have sprinted to beat my
kids up the hill at the t ball game today.
I was alright before that. I beat
them up the hill and we tied the game.
What fun!!
So, the
first section was the warm up. That’s
the way it worked out as I settled in with Dan, a 3rd time 50k
runner from North Dakota for a few miles.
I guess I used the 1st half of the first leg to warm-up, then
I was feeling good so I picked it up a little bit and cruised into the first
aid feeling great. I had left water
bottles already mixed at the aid stations so I just swooped in, picked up my
pre-mixed bottles, dropped the ones I’d carried on the Oberg section, and
headed back out on the trail for the section that I thought I would really be
able to gain some ground on. I did
cruise on the way out and this section was pretty uneventful on the way
out. I cruised right through the second
aid. I guess I did stop for some
water. Probably 3 glasses. The peak section wasn’t too bad on the way
up, but the way down would prove to be a mistake. It didn’t show up until 5 miles or so later,
but I’m sure the quick-stepping down the peak contributed to the extreme
cramping that begun in the adductors.
Still
feeling pretty good, I cruised into Sawbill aid with 13 miles to go, switched
out the water bottles for the last time, drank some water, and headed down the
trail into the section that I had hoped I’d be able to make up some ground
on. My legs were getting heavy and I was
starting to sweat less and less. That’s
not good. I felt ok and was still able
to cruise the hills up until about 2 miles to go in this section. I was running low on fluid and trying to
ration my beans for the final section when I felt my right hamstring/adductor
twinge in cramp. I knew that was not a
good sign of things to come at all. That
one twinge came and went and I didn’t feel anything else for about 10 minutes. Then, the left quad started to cramp with
each step. As you run the trail,
different pains come up and then you either just get used to them or they work
themselves out. That must have happened
here too but not for miles to come. It
started getting nasty with about 9 to go.
Right before I’d left the condo that morning, I grabbed an empty pack of
sport beans and filled it up with EFS powder.
I sure am glad that I did. I
would not have had any electrolyte replenishment for the final leg had I not
done that. My water bottles were empty
when I got to Oberg aid and all I wanted were some bananas and water. The water was great but they were out of
bananas at the aid station so I settled for a half dozen orange slices. It wasn’t enough as I started the last 7.5
knowing this one would not be a walk in the park. Turned out it was more of a walk through the
woods than I would have liked.
My goal
going into this race was a 10 minute pace.
If I’d have been able to do that, I would have finished #22 in the race
overall. As it turned out I would finish
#45 at 5 hours and 53 minutes. The last
section was a brutal one for me on this day.
From the moment I left Oberg aid I was forced to mostly walk as my legs
just wouldn’t work the way I wanted them to.
I would take 4 or 5 sport beans and 5 minutes later I would be able to
run for 5 or 10 minutes. Then, I would
need to repeat. When I finally reached
the lodge I had nothing left in either water bottle and no beans left
either. I was completely out of
fuel. There was a moment coming up the
switchbacks on moose where I was passed by a couple of other 50k racers and I
just had nothing left to keep my place.
I walked with stiff legs for a good portion of the last 5 miles
otherwise, my legs would lock up completely.
There were a couple of times where I was unsure if I would be able to
continue walking when everything would seize up at the same time. Fortunately it seemed that if I forced myself
to move and keep gaining on my target, I would loosen up and be able to
continue on. The last miles here are a
bit of a fog really but I knew that once I heard the Poplar River I would make
myself run the road and pass as many people as I could see. I had about 3 sips of drink left when I hit
the road and I saw 6-8 people. The previous
night I had written the names of my children on the tops of my water bottles as
I knew they would help to motivate me as I got tired at the end or in moments
of difficulty. They definitely did and
in this instance, I looked down and saw Caden’s name on the top of my water
bottle. A tear came to my eye and I was
able to focus in a way that I was unsure I was able. It no longer became an option to run and
catch each and every person I could see on the road ahead of me. It became my mission. I caught and passed each one moving up 3 or 4
spaces in the 50k finishers.
After
resting a bit and hearing the last of the racers coming in past the finish
line, the 4 of us drove down the coast to Coho Café. Three of us ordered 14” pizzas and TJ got a 6
incher. Tom and I ate all of ours, Todd
had about half, and TJ downed his 6 incher too.
Good food and the temperature dropped over 10 degrees in the mile
between Lake Superior and the Caribou Highlands Lodge. It was a nice surprise to see the Twin’s pull
out an extra inning victory while sitting in the bar at the Lodge with a cold
Bavarian Wheat brew and talking over the morning’s adventure.
We were in
bed by 9:30 and up to head back by 6:30 Sunday morning. After stopping at Betty’s Pies for breakfast
just north of Two Harbors, we zipped back on 61 and headed back to the Twin
Cities. I got back to pick up the car in
Forest Lake at noon and headed to Life Time Plymouth to pick up Caden from a
birthday party. Then it was home for
rest time and off to our T Ball game at Kimberly Lane. So fun to see the kids improving already so
early in the season.
There’s
nothing like a few hours alone in the woods to recharge one’s batteries. Always a beautiful day on the trail up
there. I truly do appreciate all of the
support from my family and friends in going on these adventures. It means a lot to be able to share these
experiences with ya’ll. My next race is
Afton 50k on July 7th if anyone is interested in joining me. They have a 25k version too:
Congratulations Jon and keep up the training after a week off with only strectching and relaxing!!Look forward to hearing more on Wednesday.
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