Race Report – Gerard Cramer 09/30/2019 0 Not sure where to start in writing a race report on my Superior 100 race. A journey and experience might be a more appropriate description, so I’ll describe both the journey and the race. Some people have wondered or asked why I run trail ultras and why I wanted to run a 100+ miles race. To be honest, the best answer that I have is that it humbles me. I love the ultra community and atmosphere, and ultras feed my curious mind. There are lots of variables that continuously change that either need to be figured out during training or be dealt with during the race. That experience and the journey it takes to get there is what I enjoy, and the race then becomes the “test” where failure is a real possibility but without any real consequences. So maybe a better word is a celebration. I didn’t always feel this way about my races and it has pretty much taken me until this year to get to that frame of mind mentally. I started my ultra career back in 2012 with a 50K on the roads and that experience was truly one of the best experiences I have had and ignited a spark. I stuck with marathons for a few more years chasing 3:30 but ultimately got tired of the marathon grind and started looking for ultras. I did my first 50-mile run in 2016 and that is where my learning began. I still remember Robbie meeting me at one of the aid stations (a complete surprise!!) and dragging me around for a loop telling me to walk with a purpose and keep eating. That race, while eventful and relatively successful, was meant to be a test for my ultimate goal of running a 150K on the roads in Calgary in celebration of Canada’s 150th year. In prep for that race, I got an ultra trail-focused coach and ran another 50 miler in the spring. But the sole focus for me was running this 150K race. Well, there’s a saying in ultras that if you haven’t DNF’d you haven’t tried enough hard things. I DNF’d that race after running out my mental capacity to push through the lack of nutrition and pain after about 71ish miles. That DNF crushed me and caused me to question many things yet I made it a goal to run a 100 miler in 2019 and this started the journey to Superior. For good measure, I followed that DNF up with another DNF in the mountains in 2018 as my nutrition once again failed me. The 2nd DNF wasn’t as crushing as I was beginning to realize that these races are really learning experiences. I feel I can almost fake my way through a 50 miler but after that distance, you need to have learned a few things about yourself. To speed up my learning I hired a dietitian for race day nutrition and I shook my DNF streak in the fall of 2018. From there I applied and got into the Superior 100 and planned my 2019 around that as my A race/celebration. As part of the journey, I ran a 100K in June and it left me pretty scared for the Superior 100 as it was on a much easier (though still really hard) trail. After that race I had some fun runs in the UK that cemented the realization that what I really enjoy about ultras is the structure and people I get to run and workout with during my training. My Superior training was relatively uneventful after my 100K and I was able to manage most of the little niggles that came during training. I would have loved to get on the Superior hiking trail more during the training but 2 runs around Jay Cooke state park were all I was able to squeeze in. This left me feeling prepared but quite uncertain about the trail leading up to the race. My taper week was eventful from a mental perspective yet after deciding to ignore some medical advice (with blessings from Mandy and my coach) I started the 100 miles at 8 am September 6th. The race actually starts on a paved path leading out of Gooseberry falls state park for about 4 miles and I ran this slow to not get burned up in the first few miles. Once we got on the trail, the fun started. And to be honest, the trail for the first 20-30 miles was actually “easier” than I had expected. Sure there was lots of climbing (~21,000 feet gain for the whole race) and some sections were technical, but other sections were quite runnable. This pattern continued for the rest of the race except the technical parts became extremely technical with roots and rocks/boulders and steeper climbs. The runnable sections became not so runnable for me for the last 50-60 miles and my goal basically became to stay around the 20 minutes/mile pace as that would ensure a finish. In this race, the distance between aid stations varies from 5-11 miles and the focus for me during the race was always just to get to the next aid station. At the aid stations I’d see my amazing crew chief, Julie, who was extremely organized and put up with my whining. I also had the help of her husband Matt who paced me and got to experience how ultra runners run downhill on technical terrain, and my brother Wilco who came from Canada to crew on the first day and pace afterward. Mandy surprised me and showed up in the middle of the night when I hit my first low point. Without them all, I would have struggled more and I’m not sure I would have finished as they got me to continue to try and eat some solids to keep up my calories. After about 30 miles I had a hard time swallowing and had to rely on mainly liquid nutrition that by the end was acting as a diuretic due to the electrolytes included with the carbs. After running for about 24 hours I began to “see” things in the clusters of coloured leaves in the trees. Things that I remember are a 77-mile marker, a TCRC sign, and a purple shirt. Other than the shirt, there was a context for all these hallucinations and I knew they were hallucinations as soon as I said them out loud. A lot of the race is actually a bit of blurry mess in my mind as it all kind of fused together. I do remember telling my pacers to go faster up Moose Mountain and then running a bit afterward on the smoother sections. That high was quickly followed by bouts of dizziness going up Mystery Mountain and I had to back the pace down to ensure I didn’t pass out. Eventually, I got to the river and the long hike into the resort was an amazing and surreal feeling. The highlights of the race definitely include the scenery. I love the mountains but for those of you who have never been on the Superior hiking trail, the views are absolutely stunning at times, and I know I missed a good portion of them as got to run in the dark twice. There were multiple times where a group of us runners would get to an overlook and just pause to take in the views of the trees, lakes, and rivers. It was amazing to see the colour of the trees change as we headed north. Another highlight where the amazing volunteers. The ultra community is truly amazing and the volunteer spirit that exists for Rocksteady races is not one that I have found to be matched anywhere else. Other highlights include getting messages from Robbie via Mandy as he was doing his “truck boys” duties and I know we just missed each other several times. Similarly, seeing friends out on the trail either telling me to suck it up and get moving or their smiles at the finish was amazing. As I crossed the finish line I did not know what to think other than I think I might have told Robbie that this might have been peak suffering and I didn’t need to do that again. Like a true runner I no longer think that way and on my drive back Sunday I was reflecting on sections I could do much better at next time. As I reflect on the race and the journey I learned that a good coach, strength training, and a good PT are crucial as I get old, my nutrition has improved but is still a weak link, and good crew/pacers can do a lot for you. To wrap up this likely too long of a race report I want to thank all you Northstars who joined me on runs, put up with my constant attempts to get you to join me on a trail run and in general the support of team “poor decisions.” THANKS!!
Tokyo Marathon Race Report 04/24/2019 0 Tokyo Marathon Race Report By Doug Schroeder On March 3, 2019, I finished the Tokyo Marathon in 2:56:26. It was not a PR and it was probably the most difficult marathon I have accomplished for many reasons but I kept my dream alive of running all six majors under three hours. Here’s the story. When Kate and I arrived in Tokyo on the Tuesday before, we were exhausted. Although our bodies only said it was about midnight, it was actually 3 pm local time and we just spent the last 12.5 hours on the flight. Over the next three days, Kate and I spent our days touring Tokyo. Throughout those days, we looked all over for some Gatorade so I could stay hydrated and we couldn’t find any. I did finally find an electrolyte drink called Pocari Sweat, which was good because it ended up being what was going to be on the course. I learned afterwards that the color (an opaque, off white) was designed to look like what sweat looks like since that’s what you were replacing when drinking it. I’m glad I didn’t know that until afterwards. I took Saturday really easy to get ready for Sunday morning. We had a great dinner and I was ready to represent Northstar running on the other side of the world. Unfortunately, Sunday morning did not bring the weather I was hoping for. The temperature was great at 41 degrees F, but it was raining and windy. I had to be in the corrals early and there wasn’t any shelter so I spent over an hour out in the elements. It wasn’t ideal but there wasn’t anything I could do about it. We started around 9:10 am (6:10 pm on March 2 here) and I felt good. After things started to spread out over the first kilometer, I was able to develop a rhythm. I felt good running but I kept noticing that I was running too fast. It was not easy to keep a good pace because my GPS was bouncing all over the place and I had to manually split every kilometer. I knew what my goal pace/km was but I only knew if I was close to that pace whenever I saw the next kilometer marker. I’m not great at running at a steady pace which made it difficult but I knew that I just had to give it my all. I was on pace for my goal of 2:50 through the half marathon mark but I faded in the second half. I knew that I didn’t have the long tempo runs in training I had hoped for with our cold and icy winter but I kept pushing. I also knew that I was very cold and wet and I didn’t want to be running any longer than I had to so I just kept moving forward. I had a big boost when I saw Kate around the 30K mark and after a few kilometers, I knew that I would make my sub-3 cut off. With about 6K to go, I started the home stretch back towards the emperor’s palace and the finish line. I was thrilled to see Kate with about 400 m to go and we both knew that it was going to be a good day as my six majors goal was still intact. I finished in 2:56:26, good enough for 1294th place out of 35440, and earned my fourth World Marathon Majors star. I was pleased with this because I knew that my training had not been what I had hoped for, the travel and touring had affected me, and the weather was less than ideal. I wasn’t going to dwell on the things that I could not control and I learned a lot from this race. I have to say that the Tokyo Marathon was a fantastic experience. There were more fans on the course than any other marathon I have been a part of and I have never seen more Marios, Luigis, Yoshis and Pokemon. I’m pretty sure that there were multiple Marios every mile. I enjoyed some Ramen after we arrived back to our hotel and a lot of sushi that night. Both were fantastic. The next day, Kate and I submitted our application for Team Poor Decisions by hiking 10K up Mt. Inari in Kyoto on post-marathon legs but the experience was worth it. Two days later, we were on a beach in Thailand for a fantastic recovery and it was wonderful. In all, while the Tokyo Marathon was by far the most difficult marathon I have accomplished, it will go down as one of the most memorable for many reasons.
Belize Marathon 01/25/2018 0 Christy Hammerstrom ran a marathon in Belize and she wrote up her race report to tell us about it. There were 43 people who ran the marathon. So, with a field that small…i actually placed in my age group. First time, ever. Pretty low key, our start line was a speed bump by the football field in the middle of the village. It wasn’t a chipped timed marathon. I didn’t realize that until I picked my packet. We did meet the race director. He has a vacation home in Placencia and spends about 6 weeks a year there. He works with his Rotary to raise money to send the village kids to high school (after 8th grade, they have to pay for school). This year he send 70 kids to high between rotary raising money and thos race. The sun came up sooner than I anticipated. I only had about 45 minutes in the dark. Had to navigate pot holes in the village, volunteers held flashlights on them. There were water stops every mile handing out anything from homemade Gatorade to coconut water to beer. You ran through the airport…literally. They had a cross arm that they would raise as you went around the airstrip. Since they didn’t have timing mats and it was an open course, each waterstop had a list of everyone running and their bib number. They’d mark you off the list and call you by name when you came through the waterstop. Just a very friendly race. I wasn’t hoping for a record time since this was the 3rd marathon this year. But, I finished feeling good about the race. Probably, the best mentally I’ve felt after a marathon in a while. I felt pretty defeated after Grandma’s and almost didn’t sign up for this.
