Superior Trail Races, May 16, 2009

I have the Arrowhead on my life list but not the Sawtooth races. It's a great group of people throwing them, Matt and the course is (as you know) on a beautiful section of the trail.

FYI for everyone.

http://www.arrowheadultra.com/

I had a couple friends go up there and volunteer for it. I knew it was an ultra but didn't know it was 135 miles! Depending on how I feel after the Sawtooth, I might have to add this one to my to-do list, too!

Hey – I just noticed that's my SHT thru-hike start date!

I'm starting at the north end by Canada, so I won't be crossing paths with the runners.

The Arrowhead Ultra is really interesting reading. I found the blog entries (diary-type journals from the participants) to be riveting.

I was impressed by the stats: of 59 starters, 24 finished the Arrowhead in under 60 hours and 1 was disqualified for getting lost and taking a car ride back to the trail.
26 bikers started, 15 finished
26 on foot, 8 finished
7 skiers, 1 finished.

Welcome to Minnesota!!

I also signed up for the fall 50 mile run. Anyone else wanna take it on with me? I'll split lodging costs with you.

http://www.superiortrailrace.com/fall/index.html

52.55 miles this week over 6:57:59. Included in that are two quality workouts (i.e. something other than a simple easy run); a 2x 4K threshold run and a 15.8 mile long run today.

Next week should be another 50+ week, then I may move to somewhere between 55 and 60 miles.

Finished last week with 48.17 miles run over five days. Took Thursday off because of soreness from Wednesday and Friday because of travel plans. Did some great runs in Milwaukee over the weekend. Wednesday was a killer interval repeat session, weights and a longish run.

Mileage bumps up to 60 this week for two or three weeks. I replaced my running shorts and should be replacing shoes this week or next (coming in on 250 miles on them, we'll see how long they last).

Took Thursday off because of soreness from Wednesday and Friday because of travel plans.

Can you say lazy? Where is your dedication man? ;)

So are you planning on hanging out up there after your race? My solo part of the hike begins the following weekend on the 23rd.

59.57 miles ran over the course of 7:43:08; did no speed workout this week and killed a pair of shoes. Moved to a pair of Asics that are running-specific.

@Dan – I'm staying at Caribou Highlands, which is giving runners a 10 percent discount. I'll be there Friday and Saturday nights. Same thing with the race in September.

Hit ~40 miles with each week for a variety of reasons. And bonked today 12 miles into a 14.5 run. It was as fun as it sounds… [sarcasm]

**waits for Dan to make comment about how much I'm not running…

Race finished: unofficial time is something around 5:36. Official results have not been posted yet, but should be tonight.

Course was brutal: it rained the night before, and the winds were constant at 30+ mph. The trail was muddy and the forest duff concealed some sketchy spots. It also was snowing small ice pellets throughout the race (welcome to northern Minnesota in May). Despite these factors, a new course record was set today in the 50K, something like 3:48 or low 3:50s. The runner had previously run in the US Olympic trials in the men's marathon.

But I finished. And that's what matters. I'll never run in another big city marathon again.

Look for a race report later on my blog, crazyrunnerguy.blogspot.com

> …But I finished… I'll never run in another big city marathon again.

Congratulations, Matt!

Second that, really nice work, Matt! And here I was so proud of my 18 mile hiking day earlier this week…

James

Congratulations, Matt! You did it!!

Long bump, but the 50 miler is this weekend. For those who use twitter, search for #straces for updates from a few racers (and/or their crews), including from my self and crew.