Superior Fall Trail Race 2021

running so hot you may just burn out

- this is how not to superior 100

Pre 2021

2 Years ago, way back when Covid wasn't a thing, things were just clicking. During that time, I had recently ran Badwater Salton Sea, an 84 mile ultra marathon; as well as ran over 50 miles at Worlds Toughest Mudder, a 24 hour Obstacle Course Race. Fast forward to 2020 and everything shuts down. On my docket was the Zumbro 100, Superior 100, WTM, and others. I went into that year feeling strong; and with the cancelation of event after event; so went my desire to push my body.

2020 wasn't a year of 'nothing' like it may have seemed for many; we managed to move half way across the country; running/ training/ etc. just took a back seat to other more important things. That said, its not that I didn't do anything; I still maintained some mileage; and generally stay relatively active.

I really really wanted to take a crack at Superior; and when it came up as an option in 2021 I had to try, regardless of where I was sitting with my relative fitness. If you don't try, how do you know?

2021 wasn't the best year for my training. I had spent the first part of 2020 with runners knee, making getting out a challenge (it hurt to walk, bike, and run). Some time off from that I then later sprained my ankle rather severely (literally the night after I registered for Superior 100). I had to take almost another 3 weeks off because of that. lastly, I ate shit on the trail 6 weeks prior to Superior and sprained my hip, knocking me out another 2 weeks right when I should be putting up my longest weekends.

My consistency in 2021 wasn't there; and a lot of my training was toeing the line with injury management; nothing ever really felt great. That said, I had a ticket and wanted to try.

pre -race

I really feel like I did my taper right on this one; I got out for a 15 mile hike about 1 week before and beyond that kept it simple. I jogged the day before the race a couple shake-out miles; I felt good; and finally for the first time in 9 months...injury free.

A small shout out to Rocksteady Running; they are a well oiled race machine when it comes to putting this stuff together. Their events come off as effortless; which just really means the amount and quality of work from the team behind the scenes is exceptional. You realize this when told there is more volunteers working than 100 mile racers racing; really giving a person perspective on what putting on an event like this takes. It is really a world class and quality event that i cant say enough good things about.

(Photo by Scott Rokis)

Miles 1 - 10

The first 4 miles of Superior are road; and I wanted to take advantage of the road as I was worried about the cutoffs. I took off with the pack, constantly worried I was in last, spite running around a 10 minute mile pace. (My plan was 14:00/mile into the first aid station, 15:00/ mile between aid station 1 and 2 (at mile 21))

Once the trail turned up the Superior hiking trail at Split Rock, I didn't slow much; I just settled into a group of runners and stuck with the pack. I was feeling really good; I didn't feel like I was breathing or working too hard; and was really enjoying the technical climbs and descents along the river. I was sweating more than I'm used to; but chalked that up to high Minnesota Humidity of the morning and that my body was used to the dryer Colorado climate. I came into the first aid station around mile 10 under a 12:00/mile pace. My plan prior to running to was to get into that aid station 2+ minutes/ mile slower.

A quick turn around from that aid station and 11 more miles to Beaver Bay; again feeling great, staying on top of food and drink, everything was going way better than I had expected..... except how sweaty my damn shirt and hat was.... the sweat was annoying and I wasn't used to it.

Because the SHT is all single track, I felt pressured to run other peoples pace as people came up behind me; which in retrospect is not how one 'runs his own race'; some of that may have help add fuel to the fire of my demise.

Miles 10-21

Miles 10-16 i was still flying through the rocks, ridgelines, valleys and roots and really felt in a groove. I was running strong, confident and felt great.

Somewhere around 16 after a long climb up a ridgetop is where i first noticed something was off. All day the lack of wind made the woods feel humid, hot and stagnant. The only breeze i got was generated when running. I remember feeling like I couldn't catch my breath in this instance; which all day I have having very little breath issues even on big climbs; which I attributed that to living at a bit higher altitude.

I started to slow around mile 16, but was still run the flats/ down as I developed a pretty good migraine within a few short miles. I stopped to pee for the first time and realized it was very dark. This is when I first realized i was probably getting dehydrated spite drinking almost 6-7 oz a mile. In that moment, my brain decided to make a dumb decision; instead of slowing I did the worst thing possible; I pushed towards the next aid station so I could get more liquids. I also didn't want to miss the cut-off (i was no where near the cut off and my stupid brain wasn't work quite right... i hit beaver bay with almost a 2 hour gap on the cut-off)

The last 5 Miles before i Quit

Out of Beaver Bay towards Silver Bay it was roughly 5 or so miles. I drank a lot of liquid and calories at Beaver Bay to try to get on top of the whole dehydration thing; but in retrospect I think the issue was heat; not liquids. As I mostly walked my way up and down some steep inclines and feet shredding terrain, and across exposed ridgetops over to Silver Bay; I kept feeling worse. I actually sat on a shaded rock 1 mile into this section; drank a red-bull and chilled. As each runner passed me asking if I was ok; I would fake my best, "just taking a break!" so they would just mosey on.

It was a crawl of 5 miles at about 2MPH to get me into silver bay; still over 1 1/2 hours ahead of the cut-off. The entire hike across this section I had a headache I could hear my heart beat in my skull; each climb up I would reach the top of the hill and would feel nauseous. My vision was off; so it made placing my feet within the technical rocky terrain more challenging. I was in a bad place.

Walking into Silver Bay I met my Wife, told her my issues and my plans to quit, likely at the next aid station. She convinced me to sit for almost 30 minutes to try to and feel a bit better; help my vision/headache etc. (it didn't). I tried to drink and eat but at that point my body wasn't having it. I went to the bathroom; pee'd a very dark color and decided if I was going to call it at the next aid station in 10 miles, to just call it in Silver Bay and save myself from worse injury. Had I felt I was getting a handle on whatever my body was doing I would have kept moving; but spite slowing I didn't notice any improvement in 2 hours of walking.

With near perfect weather; perfect race conditions, a great start; and no injury's, I dropped very early on. stopping officially at 25; not 103. I ran 1/4th of the course in under 6 hours which I can officially say is my fastest trail marathon of all time.

(Photo by Scott Rokis)

so what did happen?

I honestly thought it was Rhabdomyolysis as dark as my urine was the few times i tried to pee near the end of dropping, but I think it was just my body flirting with dehydration due to how much I was sweating. I've had it a couple times before over the past few years, but honestly not often. I spoke with my father on the phone on my way back to our room who used to EMT marathons and he said I had all the signs of heat exhaustion.

After getting back to my place, taking a cold shower; realizing how hot my body was all over; all my issues were caused by overheating. My skin/ body remained warm 5+ hours after I called it even on areas that were not in the sun .

I had 6 common symptoms of heat exhaustion; and although I've bonked because of sugars, or had hands swell because of electrolyte issues at previous races, I had never felt like this. Could I have kept going.... maybe? Always a lot of Maybe's after a decision like this.

The only way to get the body temp to come back down is to cool it; so in the end, although a broken leg would have been much more visual; but still its probably the right call as I'm typing this today injury free. Had i seen and reacted sooner, i probably would have been fine. Maybe sitting in the river for 5 minutes, or bringing ice would have saved my day.

Why did this happen? Short Answer; I ran too fast for my body. I was undertrained (although my legs felt good) and could have been in better shape. Also I think the oxygen boost from living at a higher elevation tricked me into thinking and feeling my exerted effort was less even though I was going faster than I normally would. This is one of the reasons I was generating so much more heat.

If I took my running as seriously as Harry Potter plays quittage; I may have finished; or been dead. For me, not being dead is ok as there will be other opportunities to redeem myself when my body throws less red flags.

NOW WHAT?!??!?!?

My own disappointment, shame, resentment, etc. these last few days has been pretty awful, and I'm still mad about how I didn't execute the plan I had made; spite knowing exactly what I needed to do and not doing it.

I have a bucket list goal, to run a 100 mile race, and specifically the Superior 100. So I will be back some day.

For now I'll change gears towards WTM 2021 in hopes to run at least 55 miles there and redeem myself a bit. Beyond that I'm thinking Zumbro 100 would be the next one on the docket as I have an itch for redemption as I left Superior (after feeling better the following Morning) with energy, drive, anger, rage, and desire to get back there and prove myself wrong.

Its funny that I live in Colorado; but my heart for these long distance races remain in Minnesota.

Thank you to everyone who helped me, all volunteers, all photographers, and race event staff. The events, and the people that make these what they are. It was a feeling I've greatly missed.

Cheers,

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