Spring Superior 50k at Lutsen. Had another fun race up here, enjoyed the day and stayed out of the pain cave for the most part! Took a gamble and dropped the hammer in the first mile, getting ahead of the crowds before the single track and first climb, it paid huge dividends! Last year I stayed towards the back of the crowd and spent the first 7.5 miles behind slow people who couldn't run through mud or run fast downhill. This year no such thing, I had tons of space to myself and no pressure to run fast and no one slowing me down. Was able to keep my time at the aid stations to a minimum, despite wanting to visit with all my trail friends volunteers who greeted me. That's one thing I love about trail running, it's a small community and you really feel the love of all your friends out there, whether they're running or volunteering. And being an out and back course you get to see all your racing friends at some point! Felt pretty good through the first 14 miles, then the climb to Carlton Peak took alot out of me. Got to the peak and spent zero time there, just turned around and headed down. Last year I hung out for 5 minutes and shared a beer with some other runner. Saw Heidi on the way down, a good friend who was running her first 50k and first trail race, she picked a hard one! We ended up meeting up Sawbill aid station and ran most of the last 10 miles together. Got to Oberg feeling a little tired and beat up, the mud and instability of rocks and tree roots were taking their toll on my joints big time. Got my refill on Tailwind, slapped on some Biofreeze on a cramping groin (and Jordan said, "Dude, you're putting that stuff way too high up there, be careful!"), grabbed a couple PB&J's and headed back out for the climb up Moose Mountain. That one was brutal 2nd time around, real slow, never stopped but passed alot of people just doubled over on the side of the trail trying to catch their breath. Hit the top, ran what I could on the ridgeline then blasted down the front side towards the final climb up Mystery Mountain. Met up with Heidi again here until the finish! Slogged up the long, slow switchbacks, passing a ton of 25k'ers, hit the top then found my reserve tank to blast the final 3 miles down to the waterfall and the finish. I love that last descent, it's a ton of fun, not too technical, and even on dead-tired legs it's fast. Good times, I'll see those miles again this fall at the Superior 100!

My training this year has been poor at best. I've been super burned out on running and have not been getting out at all. I ran a marathon in February, got through Rim2Rim2Rim in March and ran about 35 miles of the Miwok 100k two weeks ago. Otherwise hadn't been out on any training runs over 15 miles. But I was already signed up and this is a fun race, so I just went out for a fun day in the woods and mud!

Not much of a cool-down other than getting some water in, hanging with friends at the finish then getting my compression knickers and calf sleeves on asap, with ice.


This is an awesome race, very well run, if you're looking for a tough spring 50k add this to your list!