Half Voyaguer 26 Miler

In the middle of July, just before my trip to Salt Lake City, I raced the Half Voyaguer marathon. Though the name can be confusing, it is a full marathon - half of the 50 Mile race which it shares a course with. The race runs along much of the Superior Hiking trail from the Zoo in West Duluth through Jay Cooke State Park and on to Carlton.

This year was the 20th and final year for race director Gene Curnow, so before the race there was a presentation of a poster and other tokens of our appreciation for the years of work Gene, his family, and the UMTR (Upper Midwest Trail Runners series) has done for the race. Though the race started mostly as a fundraiser for the Voyagure 50 Miler, today it has become a destination race in its own right.

Presenting Gene Curnow with the race poster and shirt. Thanks Gene!

After the presentation, the racers lined up along the "starting line" - a.k.a a crack in the parking
lot at the Lake Superior Zoo. Then, off we went. I started off near the front of the pack, but did not want to expend too much energy on the long climb up spirit mountain that we have right away.

Start of the race

At the top of spirit mountain is an aid station and then we turn of onto the Superior Hiking trail. I had some shoe issues here, my laces kept coming un-tied, but I finally got them secured and began working my way through the pack. I was running the Half Voyaguer as a last supported long run and course preview before the full Voyaguer.

Running towards Beck's Rd and the Fon du lac aid station

I was running with friend and occasional training partner Eric Esher in 5th and 6th place until after the power lines section near 14 miles. The next section is much more hilly than many people expect, and I was able to drop into another gear in this section and us the up hills to my advantage. The rest of the race flew by and before I knew it I was crossing the swinging bridge into Jay Cooke State Park. After that it was a quick, but slow and technical, 5K to the finish line on the Munger trail in Carlton.

On to the finish line on Carlton

I finished in 5th place in 3:35:00, a personal course best by almost 10 minutes! My heart rate stayed nice and low for the entire race, showing that I stayed under my ANT zone for almost the entire race. It was a great race that showed my strengths, bolstered my confidence for the Voyaguer 50 Miler, and was a lot of fun too!

After a quick shower in my solar shower I got in the car and drove straight to the airport in the Twin Cities to fly out the Park City to visit Meg and do some mountain running. Thanks to all of the volunteers and especially Gene Curnow and congratulations to all of the racers!