Jen and I spent the weekend up in the Tofte/Lutsen area of the North Shore for the Superior Trail 25k on Saturday and some touring on Sunday. Weather both days couldn't have been much nicer in spite of a cool north breeze. Temperatures in the mid-50's and even bright sun for a change!
Well, arriving at the Caribou Highlands Lodge for registration I quickly noticed that the field was going to be deep w/a lot of the usual heavy hitters. Some people like to duck others when they're not at their best but not me. I always like these opportunities to see how I stack up in accordance to where I'm currently at(which is sub-par yet). On the 0.6 mile pavement segment leading us to the trailhead it was no surprise to everyone that Greg Hexum would be out of sight before we got into the woods. Going up Moose Mountain the lead group of about 10 began to stretch out a little and I decided to stay in the back w/Kevin Preckel and Rod Raymond. The "rocket" has an ironman tri engine w/plenty of experience in races lasting two hours or longer so I figured he would only be bridging the gap and not falling off. However, I couldn't sustain the pace and instead caught up w/Gregg Robertson after he had unfortunately struggled to readjust a contact lens but got going again and we worked together well to the point where we saw Hexum on his way back down Oberg Mountain as he already made the turnaround. It was then that Robertson decided to go in pursuit of the others ahead of us. The aid station at the halfway point had an amazing spread of food that I found myself very indecisive as to what I should grab. With an entire buffet in front of me I of course almost forgot I was in a competition and just wanted to pull up a chair. However, a handful of gummi bears and H2O was all I took w/me. That did the trick but I spent too much time trying to chew them down while returning carrying a cup of water that I wanted to chase them down with. I lost a couple positions during this time but gained them back on this really steep climb thru a boulder garden. The deadfall across the SHT was abundent too which I think played in my favor a bit also in catching back up to the couple that passed me. Many spots we could steeplechase but some had to be rerouted. It was these type of obstacles that I capitalized on in giving me the surge I needed. I didn't fade and came into the finish line 7th place. With a meal inside and awards out back on the patio near a pool the setting came together great.
I got some lighter active recovery the next morning by hiking(NO running) up and down Britton and Carlton Peaks w/Jen. This also gave me some more time for reconnaissance since I was sure that I'd be attempting my first ultra now on my birthday in this same location. After some lunch at the Coho Cafe we headed back to Duluth.
Duration: 2 hours 5 minutes
Mileage: 25k
avg HR: 166 bpm
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