I never thought there would come a day that I would use a 100 mile race as a training race for something longer. And yet, here we are.

Yes, I used Superior 100 this year as a chance to wrap my head around the idea that I will be attempting the Cocodona 250 mile race next May. A short 33 weeks away. As I thought about my goals for my 11th Superior 100 start (and subsequent 9th finish) I needed to mentally set myself up of what I might encounter at Cocodona 250. And while these races are two completely different events, some of the mental tools I use will likely be the same.

Here are some things that I wanted to accomplish this year: run with less crew and no pacers, be confident navigating the night, utilize drop bags & aid stations without the help of crew, run hard enough that at some point I have to put the wheels back on the bus.

Race morning arrived feeling like early October instead of the actual Sept 5th that it was. 50 degrees, overcast, windy & spitting rain greeted us at the start line at Gooseberry State Park. While the forecast for Saturday looked pleasant at 60 degrees and sunny, today was going to feel like late fall.

I met up with my friend, Alisha, & her family at Gooseberry State Park visitor’s center & we laughed when we realized we were wearing nearly the exact same outfit, completely unplanned! Pink t-shirt, cloud patterned shorts, baseball cap & a gray long sleeve. Alisha was also planning on running without pacers & limited crew as well. We figured we’d start together & see where it went from there.

The race started at 8am & we started to make our way towards the finish line at Lutsen Mountain, nearly 103 miles away. The early miles flew by with a slightly different route that led us across some state park trails before linking up with the Superior Hiking Trail that we would follow to the finish line.

The first place you can access crew is mile 18.8 at Beaver Bay. I was surprised to see Matt there as we had originally planned that he would skip the first aid station and meet me at the following aid station, Silver Bay. As life would have it, as I was stepping out of the van at the campground that morning, I took a misstep and nearly rolled my ankle. Matt wanted to make sure that I was doing ok before continuing on (can we just take a minute & celebrate this guy?! Seriously, he’s the best!)

The section from Beaver Bay to Silver Bay is short (4.2 miles) in comparison to many sections but I found myself in a bit of a low. The first 18.8 miles had gone well, but it was weirdly humid, so I’m thinking my electrolytes were a little off. I was kicking rocks & took a hard “near-miss” fall - I caught my toe & luckily caught myself on a tree so I didn’t actually hit the ground… but it shook me a bit. I pulled back on pace & reset a little bit.

At Silver Bay I took time to refill my pack - I was using the pack that I anticipate using for Cocodona which has a lot of capacity, so I was only taking it off to refill it occasionally. At 23+ miles, this was the first time I had refilled my water bladder, bottles & grabbed a bunch of snacks. The next 2 sections would be long before seeing crew again at County Road 6 (mile 42.6.) I grabbed an extra light here just in case I didn’t make it to crew before the sun went down (and without much actual sun, it would get dark in the woods extra early.)

The next section is beautiful. Even on dreary, cold days. We climb up to Bean & Bear Lakes and cross Mount Trudee before dropping down into Tettegouche State Park at mile 33. The aid station at Tettegouche is always an oasis since it’s been a full 10 miles since Silver Bay & it’s going to be another long 9.3 miles to County Road 6 yet to come.

Literally holding onto my hat! That wind on the ridges was no joke! Scot Rokis photo.

All smiles as we cross Mount Trudee. Scots Rokis Photo.

Hiking & eating as we head towards County Road 6.

Leaving Tettegouche aid station, it’s a gradual uphill grind along the river. The trail is a major state park trail and not overly technical. This is a great chance to finish eating whatever snacks we grabbed at the aid station (cheese quesadilla & bacon for me!) and allow them a bit of time to digest before the more technical climbs of the next section. I joke that ultra running is simply an eating contest in disguise! If you can’t eat & digest calories, you cannot continue on, it’s as simple as that.

The race continues to ebb & flow. Alisha & I would at times run together & at times get separated. Often she would hit the aid station a few minutes ahead of me & I would often leave that same aid station a few minutes ahead of her. She would always catch up to me :)

We hit County Road 6 where we would see crew for the last time that day before it got dark. This is always a mid-race goal of mine - hit this aid station before or at sunset. Frequently I use this aid station as a chance to reset & get ready for the night. Temps were looking steady for the night & I didn’t make any clothing or gear changes. I only swapped out my hat for a headband to use under my headlamp. I left the aid station before Alisha, and it wasn’t too long before she caught up with me as the trail started to get dark.

Finland Aid Station mile 50. Half way! PC Willow H.

Alisha & I spent the entire night running together. There wasn’t much conversation as we were each focused on taking care of ourselves and maintaining a strong pace over the dark trails. We checked off the aid stations: Sonju Lake Road, Crosby Manitou & finally just as first light was hitting the horizon, Sugarloaf at mile 72. From Sugarloaf it’s a short 5.6 miles to Cramer Road where I would see crew and the marathon distance race would start at 8am. I wanted to make sure that I got out of the Cramer Road aid station well before the marathon start. But to do that, I was going to need to keep my foot on the gas.

Knowing it would take me over an hour at this point in the race to cover those 5.6 miles, and I wanted to have time at the Cramer Road aid station to change clothes & reset for a new day, I kept pushing the pace. I passed a few folks in this section, we were all so grateful for the sunrise!

I came into the Cramer Road aid station & Alisha was already there. I needed to change socks, shirt & shorts. I needed a fresh start for the day. I took a few minutes to quickly do that & Matt had made me 2 scrambled egg & cheese wraps that morning. They were still warm. Again, BEST CREW EVER!! I ate one while I was in the aid station & took the other one to eat down the trail. I pulled out of the aid station at 7:50am. 10 minutes ahead of the marathon start. Now the goal was to get as far as possible before the marathoners started passing me!

It took about 40 minutes before the lead runners came by. I find it inspiring to see these fresh, fast runners after I’ve been grinding it out on the trail for the last 24+ hours. They are usually super positive & still smell good!

Saturday continued to ebb & flow. The miles passed quickly and I was motivated to push for as good of a finish time as I could muster. At one point climbing Carlton Peak, Alisha pushed the pace to pass a group of marathoners who were not climbing as efficiently as we wanted to. One of my strengths lies in climbing well even late in a race. We pushed up the technical, rocky climb with my heart pounding in my chest & my breath nearly wheezing from the effort. Crossing the top we moved down the other side and ran into the Sawbill aid station. It was exhilarating to have crushed that climb.

I quickly grabbed more fuel & headed off into the next section. There were only 2 sections of the race remaining & about 13 miles. This next section at 5.5 miles can sometimes be muddy but isn’t as technical (rocky & rooty) as other sections. I was still feeling the high of pushing at Carlton Peak so continued to push this section running much of it. I even found myself leading a “conga line” of marathoners down the single track trail.

Game face in those later miles. SFTR photos.

Rolling into the final aid station, I was starting to come down off the high of the last two sections. I had been listening to music since the last aid station & that had helped tremendously. Here I saw Matt again & he handed me a turkey wrap (that I wasn’t sure I actually wanted, but took it anyway.) I also grabbed a cup of mashed potatoes (if you know me, you know that those are rocket fuel for me!) and headed off. As soon as I left the aid station, my one ear bud that I was listening to died, I went to swap it for the other one, only to find that that one was also dead… oh no… all of a sudden I had a realization that this was going to be a LONG 7.5 miles to the finish line.

Knowing the trail as well as I do, I knew I had a little time before the first big climb. I tried to eat more calories and tried to talk myself into moving a little quicker again. I was glad for the turkey wrap even though getting it in, one small bite at a time, was a total chore. Soon enough I get to the first big climb up Moose Mountain. My legs bark in protest. One. Step. At. A. Time. I pass another runner. The climb continues. My quads are having none of it. Time to imagine this at mile 245 of Cocodona 250 (and climbing over 9000’ elevation…) I press on. This is what I signed up for. Run hard enough that I need to figure out how to dig deeper to keep moving.

I get to the top of the climb. That totally kicked my butt. I try to eat a few calories as I cross the what feels like, a never ending ridge before dropping down to the base of Mystery Mountain. On dead legs this section feels endless. I continue to move forward, albeit slowly.

Moving toward the finish. Scott Rokis photo.

At some point in this section, Alisha is back behind me again. I was grateful for the company; although we were both fighting our own demons, and conversation was limited, it was good to have my friend there. We eventually make our way across the Poplar River Bridge & make the turn for Lutsen Mountain. This year, another change was how we approached the finish line. While probably not any longer than previous years, it felt like it took forever. Alisha was encouraging me to run (shuffle, let’s be honest) but I was having none of it. She could have dropped me like a bad habit at this point, as I was fully on the struggle bus, but she slowed to minimize the distance between us. At the end she kicked it in and I followed about 10 sec behind. A sub 32 hour finish on this course is always a worthy goal, and while not a personal best, I’m 100% satisfied with how it turned out.

If you’ve made it this far, thank you for reading & thank you for your support. Thank you to all the volunteers. Thank you to John & Cherri of Rocksteady Running. Thank you for my team at Sunrise Fitness who kept the classes going while I was playing on the trails this weekend. And Thank you to my biggest cheerleader & best crew ever, Matt. I couldn’t do this without you.

Until next time!