Finland toSonju Lake Road 7.5 miles
Finland to Sonju is an uphill section. You slowly climb until you reach the highest point of the course, near Egge lake. It feels odd, knowing, with big climbs at Carlton, Moose and Oberg still to come, that everything else in the course is downhill from here. It’s a good section. It can get rooty and rocky at points, especially in the latter half, but it’s one I knew well. Well, I knew it well in the daylight, and my Kogalla helped make it feel like it was daylight. Until the light went out.
Around halfway through the section, my light went out. No warning, nothing. I went from 800 lumens of happy, to 0 lumens of oh *kitten*. I had my buddy check my connections and still nothing worked. It had only been 4 ours, the battery was supposed to last for 9, even on full power. I’ll put this note in here. I am an idiot, and I had been on my feet for a lot of hours. The battpak has an automatic shutoff after 4 hours, unless you use the middle port. I did not use the middle port, and did not think of that. My light functioned properly, I just didn’t know it at the time.
Cursing my light, I slowly followed my running buddy as we stumbled through the dark, his headlamp not functioning to full capacity. We tried to move closer to the train of runners ahead of us, stumbling over roots and rocks, inchworming forward under his inadequate light.
Finally we caught up, and tucked in behind the bright light of the pacer, hiking behind his runners. After a few minutes of following, the pacer told us we could pass. That’s when I admitted that my light was totally out, and that’s when the pacer helped save my race. He handed me a flashlight, and some good advice “never run a 100 without 3 lights” he said. Sounds reasonable, lesson learned, always bring a backup, or two. With the light, we passed the runners and pacer and moved slightly more quickly, finally getting to the Aid Station, after over three hours.
At the AS was my friend Brian. I told him about my light issue, and another volunteer offered to get me batteries. Unfortunately, I couldn’t take them up on the offer, because of how the Kogalla works. I did, on the other hand, get not one, but TWO of Brian’s bacon and egg rice cakes. They were awesome. As I was opening my first rice cake, the racers ad pacer I got the light from came in. I told Matt, one of the runners, that I still needed the light, and would drop it at the next AS, with instructions to get it back to him. With light for the next section, and a great rice cake (or 2) to eat, we headed out into the night.

Sonju Lake Road to Crosby-Manitou 4.2 Miles
This is a rooty, rocky section. It doesn’t have the vert of other sections, but makes up for it by being an obstacle course of roots. Moving slowly, but steadily, I don’t remember much about the section, other than what I already know, that there’s roots, there’s rocks, and it’s a HARD section to navigate quickly during the day. At night it was even harder. We struggled through the relatively short section until we, finally, it the gravel road leading up to the Aid Station at George Crosby Manitou State park. Hiking/jogging up the road, I couldn’t wait to see my crew.
Finally, I saw them. They didn’t see me at first, as they were looking for the daylight produced by my Kogalla. I quickly told them what the problem was, and My mom gave me her waistlamp to borrow for the rest of the night. Refueling and hydrating, more coke, more coffee, more chicken soup. Feeling slightly better physically, and feeling a lot better about my light situation, my running buddy and I headed off to tackle, what to me is, the hardest part of the course.

Crosby-Manitou to Sugarloaf: 9.4 miles
THIS SECTION SUCKS. There is no way around it. It’s 9.4 miles, the first 4 of which are down the Manitou river gorge, and then back up again. My overnight running buddy and I headed out, me now using my mom’s waist lamp. This was a definite improvement, since I needed to use my hands a LOT, to grab trees and rocks, just going down the gorge. It iss steep, it is technical, it is,during the day a lot of fun. At night not so much, Navigating the steep descent on legs with over 100k on them was no fun. But, we made it down. Then we missed some flags and took a staircase down. It was only 200 yards later that we realized it, when we came to a campsite that, having run the area several times, I knew was NOT on the correct path. So, we backtracked, retracing our steps and made it out.
The climb back up the gorge was everything I remembered it being, with the added bonus of doing it in the dark. I quickly confused myself trying to figure out which relatively flat spots counted as one of the four false summits. This made the climb seem even longer. Finally we made it to the top of the gorge. I knew what awaited us. Roughly 5 miles of pretty runnable single track. That was not in the cards. The chafing that had been bothering me for almost 20 miles was really getting to me. As an added bonus, my feet were really aching. I LOVE my Altra Superiors but, on that night, I needed more cushion. I could feel what I was pretty sure was a bunch of nasty blisters on my feet. No two ways about it, this section sucked.
My running buddy was really getting down. His headlamp had been giving him issues for miles, and things were just slow. He talked to his wife and I heard quite a few explitives when he described how it was going. I tried to keep positive, but I was getting really drained, having been on my feet for more than 20 hours, only really sitting for shoe changes.
Then it happened. I saw this light and was like “what the F%$# is that spotlight?” Newsflash! It was the sun coming up. As the day brightened I was able to hike more quickly. We made it to the Caribou River, the spot, for me that says there’s only a couple miles left to go before the AS. I was hurting, I was bonking hard and slowing down.
Then my running buddy took off. Well, he started walking faster. I tried to keep up but just didn’t have the energy. With about a mile left, I was nearly in tears. I had lost track of time, despite having my watch. I was certain I was going to be swept off the course. To show how messed up my mind was, it was about 7:15AM. Cut off at the AS I was going to, was 12:10PM. I couldn’t move fast. Actually, imagine a 90 year old man trying to power walk, but slower, That’s what I looked like. I was on the verge of tears, really the only thing stopping me was exhaustion. I came into the AS a total wreck.
At the AS, I told Matt that I didn’t think I could finish. Part of this was how close to cut off I thought I was. The other part was that I was FREEZING. I had gone through the night in shorts and tech tee. I was fine while I was moving even moving slowly, but as soon as I sat in the chair, I was shivering. Matt took off his coat and put it around me. He was totally taking charge. Thank God for him. He got the rest of my crew working at taking care of me, and started getting himself ready to pace.
It’s amazing what calories and warmth can do for a person. I won’t say that I felt amazing, because I felt like trash but, some chicken soup, some other food, and I was feeling quite a bit better. I added some layers on top, to try to regain some warmth. I took a salt pill, because electrolytes have been a nagging issue all summer (side note, bad idea), and Matt and I headed out.

Sugarloaf to Cramer Road 5.6 miles
I really don’t remember much about the trail between Sugarloaf and Cramer road. As I would later report to my crew, everything hurt. Matt did an AMAZING job keeping me going, encouraging me to run/shuffle when I could. I didn’t know it, but he knew how much time I had, and he wanted me to keep as much of a buffer before cut off as possible. There were two highlights of this section. First was seeing my coach Jake. He was FLYING. He was running the 50 and was going at a pace I could only go half that distance at… on the road… he really is amazing. Not only was he just cruising, he actually asked how I was doing and, when I told him about my chafing, he said his crew had lube and I could use some. Great coach, great human. (I found out later that my view of his speed wasn’t just me. He set a new course record for the 50 that day). Second highlight was the random hiker who wanted my picture. I have no clue who this person was, but the thought of someone wanting my picture, when I’m pretty sure I looked like an extra on The Walking Dead, was something I found Hilarious. The section went by fast despite my slow pace, and I found myself at the Cramer road Aid Station.
This AS was one I had been waiting for and, hoping I got there at the right time. There was a wedding! Two of the runners, who normally are photographers for the race were running the 100 together. They had met at this AS and now they said there vows here. I thought it was totally cool.
While the couple, who looked totally fresh and amazing, were getting married, I had some more mundane things to do, like changing my shoes, using an extra pair, and stuffing my face with bacon. I guess eating 3 strips isn’t stuffing my face, but after eating mostly gels and Tailwind for twenty-five hours, it felt like I was. Fueled up and feeling somewhat better, I headed out, again with Matt.

Cramer Road to Temperance River SP 7.1 miles
I honestly don’t remember much about this secction. Up and over hills, down into valleys, over the cross river, with a sharper climb after the crossing. Running along the cross river, you encounter boardwalks. I put the walk in board walk at Superior. They were just a little slippery to me, and my balance wasn’t great. Not wanting to timble into the Cross river, I took things carefully. I tried to run/shuffle some during the parts of the trails without roots, but there were very fer places with smooth single trask! Ots of shuffling and hiking, making my way toward the next AS.. Then, Finally, the descent and some running along the Temperance River to the AS.
The AS was a blur, I sat for a bit, I ate some food, I drank some Coke and ginger ale, and then I was off with Jason, who took over pacing duties from Matt.

Temperance River SP to Sawbill Trail 5.7 miles
In this section I got a hint that I might be stronger than I think. Even though I was walking almost everything, I was FASTER on the hike up Carlton Peak, than I was the flatish mile before it and the downhill mile after it. Running/hiking with Jason, first along the Temperence river, then up and over Carlton Peak, I felt good, if exhausted. The climb starts out gently, a slow, steady grind up from the river. Ever so slowly, the trail gets steeper and narrower, as you leave the state park trails and are back on the single track of the SHT. We climbed, up the trail, over rocks and boulders.
Near to where you top out on Carlton peak is a rock fall, with boulders the size of cars. Ou go through these boulders and over some smaller ones. There’s sand, lots of sand and gravel, where the rocks fell. Climbing through and over rocks is fun, I can say that I enjoyed this, despite the difficulty. Soon we were back on single track trail and going down.running shuffling down the mountain, and then across board walks, a quick crossing of Sawbill trail, and I was at the AS. I had actually been FASTER on this section than the ones before. I caught my crew off guard. It was pretty sweet. More eating, more drinking, using the outhouse, then I was ready to head out, my brother pacing me for the second to last section.

Sawbill Trail to Oberg Mountain 5.5 miles
“Your job is to tell inappropriate jokes and keep me moving” I guess my instructions to my brother were pretty simple. We headed out of the AS and and got into slow cruising mode. Within 15 minutes, I hit a new problem. I REALLY had to pee. I had been pounding electrolytes, thinking that I would be low, as I had been all summer. Nope, as my nutritionist would later tell me, I was HIGH on electrolytes. This became part of my new pattern. Power hike/walk for 15 minutes and go pee. I did this for five and a half miles, up and down hills, through the woods. My brother was great, he kept me on track with my fueling and with my water intake, despite my not wanting to drink much, due to my constant need to answer nature’s call. I don’t remember much from the section, other than good times with my brother, and a lot of rolling hills, and 1 or 2 bigger climbs. Finally we reached the turn on Laveaux Mountain, and headed down to the AS…. The final AS before the finish.
We ran the last 100 yards into the AS because, when though I was hurting and exhausted, you always try to run into the AS. I had walked into a couple, and I NEEDED to run into Oberg. The AS was ROCKING. Run by Kurt Decker and Twin Cities Running Company, the Oberg Mountain AS is a big party, with lots of food and music. It was here that I had a first for me. I had my first poop during an ultra. For some reason this seemed significant to me. Making it even more historic, I got to go in an actual building…. A cement block outhouse with pit toilets but still…. I remember bragging to Mat that my first poop during an ultra was

Oberg Mountain to Caribou Highlands (finish) 7.1 miles
There’s no words to describe heading out for the last section, with my mom! We headed out from the AS and made the short climb up the flank of Oberg Mountain. We passed the spur trail to the lop trail, and continued to climb. Then, with a switch and a switchback, we were heading down. At the bottom, we continued a gentle descent until Moose Mountain hit us like a baseball bat to the gut. It starts out gently, and my mom commented that it didn’t seem that bad. I said, just wait, it gets worse. And boy does it get worse.
Just over two miles into the section, we began what, to me, is one of the toughest climbs in the race.Climbing about 500 feet in two miles, Moose Mountain is really hard on legs with nearly 100 miles on them. I again entered the drone zone, just plugging away, step by step. My mom later commented that the climb didn’t seem to slow me down. Part of that was that I was going slowly to begin with, but another part is that I just like the grind of hills. Soon we were at the “top” of Moose. Really, there was more elevation gain to go, but it was relatively flat and, if I had had any legs left runnable. After a shortish hike, we were on our way down. This was actually harder to me than the climb. When I’m fesh, I can run downhills like this, steep, technical, awesome. With 98 miles on my legs? Not so much. We let several other runners pass us. I was JUST FINE with that, finally starting to feel like the finish was going to happen.
At the bottom of Moose, we traversed the relatively short and flat valley to Mystery mountain. Mystery is switchbacks, lots of switchbacks. I was happy for this! Switchbacks are a slow grind, and a slow grind is my specialty. We made our way up Mystery and hit the 100 point just as we began our descent.
Again, this was a slow descent, my legs and,my feet in particular, were not in good shape for running downhill. We went past the campsite that symbolizes the ending of the trail section of the run and soon were on a new dirt/gravel path. All of a sudden we were going down and then crossing the Poplar river. Up and over one short little bump of a hillock, and we were on the paved road to the finish. I tried to run, but the pavement hurt my feet. Another runner and pacers passed us, but I really didn’t care, I knew I was going to make it.
We made it to the final turn off the main road and onto gravel, then it was onto the grass for the finish. I took off! Well, I began what would normally be a very slow run, but with my legs, it felt much faster. As we heard the corner of the lodge, I got a great surprise. My wife and little man were waiting for me! I grabbed my little man’s hand and began running more. I actually had to slow down so I wouldn’t pull him over. Running along the swimming pool, The lights of the finish area illuminated the path before me with intermittent light. One more turn and I was there! We ran across the finish line and I was done. 36:01:57. I was 6 hours off my goal time and couldn’t care less. I was done, I had finished Superior.