Well that was fun.
But before a brief recap of the fun, thank you to all of the volunteers who cleared a previously barely passable Superior Hiking Trail of the blowdown from the ice storm. Thank you to the volunteers who braved nasty, bitter cold wind and all sorts of precipitation to put on a finely organized and memorable event. Thank you to my two fine travel companions, Kate Havelin and Alicia Gordon who kept the driver alert and entertained for hundreds of miles in the car. Thank you to Jefferey and Lynette for their warm and fun presence at the condo (especially thanks to Lynette for the post-race acupuncture). Thanks to JoAnn for setting up a great place to stay and for her laugh. What a fun weekend!
Got to see many new and old faces in a place that has become one of my favorite places over the past couple years. This spring's trip with Kate and Alicia to Lutsen for the Superior 50K sealed the deal...All time favorite trail: Superior Hiking Trail.
Alicia and Kate and I drove up through some windy, rainy stuff to get to Lutsen and then hunkered down in our cozy condo for the night.
After a full day of some pretty intense rain and a forecast of low 30's for the start - it was tough to get up out of my cozy little bed - hearing that wind howling against the condo all night. The sun was rising, coffee was on and it. was. snowing! The roof in the condos adjacent to ours was coated in a dusting, as were the cars and grass.
We all got ready and had breakfast...I have to remember: oatmeal, salad, protein drink, banana. That is apparently the recipe for a good day.
I milled around at the start with a bunch of other runners, it was so cool to meet folks that only knew about me from this blog! Of course, I was getting tons of questions about the FiveFingers, and I heard through the grapevine that someone else was wearing them as well...I never did find out who that was.
We lined up at the start, the wind drowned out everything the race director Mike was saying. In the famously informal fashion of most ultras, there was the beginning of a countdown, someone said "WAIT!" as they synchronized their timepiece, the countdown resumed and we were all off down the road in front of Caribou Highlands lodge and on our way to the Superior Hiking Trail, Moose Mountain and 31 miles of FUN!
I decided I was just going to run whatever pace felt like good, clean work. Not push it and not sandbag it. Kate had graciously lent me her gloves, since I did not pack any warm things, thinking that this year would be like last year's race and be a little warmer than...wind driven sleet!
The puddles started early and often. I sidestepped exactly two before I started going straight up the gut. Here's why going through mud puddles is fun (for those that need reminding):
1. It feels great.
2. It makes you look like you're really battling out there.
3. It sounds cool.
I ran with Steve Quick for about as long as I could keep up...he's running strong after five ultras in six weeks. Unbelievable. I also ran with Zach Pierce a ways, who PR'd the 50K distance in this race! Not an easy feat considering how muddy it was!
I got to talk to a lot of folks I haven't seen since my last ultra and it's always fun to see everyone and catch up on the run! I especially enjoyed watching Jason Husveth and Kevin Martin hammer through many of the sections (and pass me). Boy they were tough to catch once they went flying by. Looks like they're both having a great year!
The running seemed to come easily and with great joy. It was almost like a dream. The trail seemed to float underneath me for the first ten miles or so. I wasn't even breathing hard. Got to the Oberg aid station and filled up everything and took off again.
I was having a blast splashing through the mud. My FiveFingers were squishing with every step. I had leaves and mud caked on my lower legs...a recipe for happiness.
Shortly before the second A.S., I was running through one of said mud puddles and caught the top of my foot on a submerged root. I was almost relishing falling into the cool mud, braced myself and then as my knee sunk into the mud it met the edge of a rock with a resounding crack.
I was on my hands and knees in the mud, my long sleeved shirt that I was wearing up around my neck was around my head and I was in paiiiin. A nice dude stopped and asked me if I was ok. I waved him on, but he wouldn't leave. Which was nice of him. I pulled my shirt down, let my glasses unfog and breathed in some cool, crisp air.
I got up and shook it out, then began running. More often than not, if I walk immediately after something like that it sets a bad precedence (unless I'm really injured). So I got to the Sawbill Trail A.S., looked down at the horror show that was my knee and started eating peanut butter sandwiches like they were going out of style.
The volunteers washed me up as best they could and then it was a race against Jason to the turnaround (Jennifer Pierce has a picture of me running out of this A.S. *gasp* heel-striking!). I left my jacket and shirt there and decided to brave the elements. Thanks again, Kate for the gloves!
My knee opened up again and I decided to just let it bleed. After that, I had the Rolling Stones stuck in my head for the rest of the run.
I saw a few more runners coming back up the mountain towards the turnaround, and I was taking it pretty easy on the rocks because I didn't want to go tumbling over the edge.
Before I knew it it was back through Sawbill and then on to Oberg again! I stubbed my pinky toe a few times through this area, it doesn't like me today, but it's no worse off than its neighboring toe who met the ugly side of a leaf-buried stump last weekend at Afton. It's all part of the fun! My mind kind of stopped keeping up with the blur of rocks and roots going underfoot and I had to slow way down to process everything so I wouldn't trip.
The puddles all felt so nice to get the feet cooled off in. I really love mud.
The last section of the race came up fast...even though it had already been five hours, time flies when you're having fun! I passed a few folks up Moose Mountain, gave a war whoop at the top of Moose Mountain, ran into some hikers...took in the view...and then I was flying down the valley and soundly hit my wall.
No amount of gel or S! Caps or water was going to make me start running any faster or heal my fried quads, so I just accepted it and pushed as hard as I could to the river and then to the finishing chute. Nobody was hanging out there except for the volunteers because it was blowing like mad and freezing outside.
It was a really great run!
After finishing I went in for some chow, talked to a bunch of people and then hit the showers and a catnap before our crew joined Maria and Doug Barton and their kids in Grand Marais for some kick ass fajitas.
Then it was back to the condo in time for a fire, SNL and Lynette gave us acupuncture (in our happy places {the top of your head, apparently}). I have to say it must've worked! I haven't felt quite so deeply happy in a while on that couch next to my running friends all warm and toasty (with two needles in my head and about five in my foot), sitting on the accomplishment of finishing 31 miles on the SHT. It was so nice!
Sunday we hiked around Gooseberry Falls and I enjoyed massive quantities of food on the way back into town. I wish I could've stay up there...for the rest of my life.
Thanks to all the well wishers! See you on the next trail!
