2010 Races

The 2010 race season was a big success for me. I continued with great coaching from Jason Kask, with Superior Performance. He had me come into the season with a great base in May, and kept up my mileage while adding in more ANT (anaerobic-threshold) work in June and July. Come September I started to back off, and have a great peak for my September and October.

I started the season with the Ice Age Trail 50K in May. It was a great race, and I pulled off the win, which was great too! I raced in my new Mizuno Ascends, which worked great on the hilly "kettles" of the course.


In June I traveled out to South Dakota to race at the Deadwood Trail Marathon, which was also the RRCA South Dakota trail marathon championships. After leading for the first half of the race I was passed and gaped by about 5 minutes. I managed to close the gap with a mile to go, and the race came down to a great 200 meter sprint! I came in a close second against great competition, and was really pleased with how I raced, and the strength I showed in the second half.

I September I raced in northern Minnesota at the Superior Trail 50 Miler, on of the most challenging 50 milers in the midwest. The race travels along the Superior Hiking Trail from Finland, MN to Lusten, MN. After sleeping in my tent with Meg and Sundari (our dog) at the starting line I woke up at 5 AM to rain and fog. The rain would be the theme of race making the challenging course even more taxing. I ran neck and neck with another runner until the last aid station with 5 miles to go, where I pulled away and cruised in for the win and new course record in 9:09:18!

My final race of the 2011 season was the Glacial Trail 50K in southern Wisconsin. The race travels along the Glacier Trail near Greenbush, WI. The race day turned out to be unusually hot, and was a big factor in the race. I again showed strong half racing, closing the gap the first place runner had on me and coming in a close second place. Meg had a great race here too, coming in first by almost 8 minutes, and beating several former winners.

I had a bit of unfinished business at this race from last year. In 2009, I was leading with 4 miles to go, when I got lost for almost 40 minutes. I ended up finish in 9th place, but I learned the importance of knowing the race course and watching for trail markers - especially in ultras!

Race winner, and second place at the Glacial Trail 50K


My 2010 season ended with several great races, a course record, and lots of know knowledge about race nutrition, training, and race planning. I'm really looking forward to racing in 2011! Stay tuned for my 2011 racing schedule, and more on our evolving low-impact living.