Superior trail

Superior trail.

That pretty much sums up the experience on Saturday at the Superior 50K/25K. This trail never ceases to amaze me even though I have run this course a couple of times and hiked portions of it as well. Besides the apparent beauty of the area, it is the ruggedness of the trail and terrain that appeal to me most. I think it taps into my primal instincts to endure...and that it did as I ran the 50K course.

It was a crisp morning at 39 degrees, blue skies and a brisk wind out of the west, perfect conditions for a trail race.

I found Matt Patten before the start and we chatted for a few minutes. He introduced me to Pierre Ostor, Carl Gammon and Steve Quick, all of whom are experienced runners.

The race start was low key, which is common for trail races..."just let me get a picture and then you can start". This is one of the reasons why I love this sport, the laid back approach is a perfect fit for trail races, as well as ultras.

I won't get very detailed in this race report, but I wanted to point out the highs and lows of the day.

The race was progressing nicely for me and I was comfortable in my pace through the first aid station. I was talking to a runner behind me for a while after this checkpoint and I inadvertently missed a turn in the trail that was well marked by flags. We continued up the trail which switch backed 3 times and came to another fork in the trail, which just happened to have a primitive map on a tree. I stopped because I did not see any markers for which way to go and I started getting a bad feeling about what happened. We decided to turn around and find the last trail marker, but on the way down we ran into a couple other runners, and one was convinced it was the right way. We turned around again and ran back up a couple of hundred yards to the split in the trail with no markers and that's when I blurted out to the other 4 guys "I don't know about you, but I'm going this way" and I took off running back down the trail. I looked back after the first switchback and saw them all coming back down, which made me feel better, as within a few minutes we were back at the intersection with flagging pointing us in the right direction.

This was a long winded explanation of a minor issue in a trail race but it took me about 20 minutes to finally calm myself down and realize that I could not let this "get to me" because I had hours of running ahead.

The rest of the run out to the turn around was comfortable and it was good to start seeing other runners coming back towards the finish. I "high fived" Matt on the way down Carlton Peak and attempted to give most people I saw encouragement as I ran past. The rest of the run back to the finish was uneventful, and for the most part, I was comfortable and relaxed. What struck me the most about this run is that I had extra "gears" to use, meaning I could surge when I wanted to and ease back when I needed to.

After a couple of the switchbacks on Mystery Mt. I began to push the pace all the way to the finish and it felt like I was gliding over the last few miles of trail.

Overall, my goal of beating last years time was met (20 min.), but I really was looking for having a comfortable and relaxed run and having fun in my final preparation race for the Kettle Moraine 100.

Thanks to the race directors, volunteers and other runners on a great day!

I can't wait to go back.