Ice Age 50 Report - 2009

Words I thought would never come out of my mouth,

"I am going to hold back until mile 30, then I will put my game face on to see what I can do".

Put this in context with 2 years ago, at my first Ice Age as well as being my first 50 Miler.

Mile 30 something:
Me - "I want to walk off this cliff and end this now...... Where is that damn aid station? (it was still a few miles away)"

Ice Age last year
Mile 30 something - "I am crashing, but I know I will get though this.... the question is... when?
Mile 40 something - "This sucks... and is getting worse.... I don't think I will rebound before the end.... damn this is taking forever."

Ice Age 2007 - 9:09
Ice Age 2008 - 9:02
This year

8:41!!!

And.... I finally ran A GREAT race. I never crashed. I could have kept going at the end. I guess I ran the race I SHOULD HAVE.

**************

The "party cabin" was back this year, with one new participant (Bill P.). Bill was to run his first 50 mile race. Steve, Bryan, Wilson, Bill, and I hung out at the "PC" getting ready for the race.

The forecast looked perfect (for me), 40 - 50, rain, wind, overcast (I could do without the wind, but the course is well protected).

No late night arrivals this year. Got enough sleep to take the edge off (better than Zumbro).

We arrived at the start around 5:10 am. Kind of dark. Rain. Wind. Cold.

Saw a few familiar faces. Put the drop bags in their places (I am finally down to limited stuff in drops - and I still had 2x as much as I needed). And just sat until it was time to step into the elements.

Bryan shot the start for us. Not too exciting, but here it is.



Once we were off, it was all about the plan. I knew I should run the first 9 miles at or slower than I did last year. I was afraid I was going to run it a lot faster.

The first 9 is called "The Nordic Loop". It is basically like running up on the prairie at Afton, but with rolling hills. It is easy, and easy to drain the bank. I ran with Steve the whole loop, heckling him with how many beers we were apart at any given time (-.00025 - +.0001, etc.).

I was surprised at about .5 miles, we were probably in 50-60th place (maybe more). I knew from experience that we were starting out around an 8 hour pace. The last 2 years, 8 hours would have given you a top 10 finish. So, I smiled and knew, "I will get to pass this year, instead of being passed".

We ran a little with Kevin Grabowski (Steve's brother). I had a feeling he would take off, as he HAS run this in 8 hours. I met Dave Dehart who at the age of 47 ran 7:20. What was I doing with this guy? He and Kevin are smart runners. They were on the same plan.... take it easy, then step it up.

Steve and I actually got passed by quite a few people on the Nordic Loop. Many were running the hills. I decided if I were going to run up any hills, they would be after mile 30.

We finished the Nordic Loop around 1:22, almost 5 minutes slower than I did last year. Did I do this too slow? 5 minutes is easy to make up, but I was already questioning myself.

One nice thing I did was limit my gear to one hand held bottle, and no belt. I had 1 pack of shot blox and 1 Hammer Gel pack in the pouch. Refills were in my drop bags.

Because it was so cool out, and I topped off my water (no sports drink yet) halfway through the Nordic Loop, I didn't even stop at the end of the loop. I think I said to Steve "okay... time to lite her up", and phase 1 of the race was on.

The first leg after the Nordic Loop takes you on the Ice Age Trail down to Rice Lake and back. It is single track, but not too technical. I decided to slowly pick off runners and pass them. I found one guy "the blue shirt guy" that I would try to catch. He kept up the pace though... I kept losing him. I did slowly pass people. One dude was already crashing (mile 12). I could see it in his gait. I was surprised to catch Roy Purring at about 12. He said he was "just taking it easy today". I think Steve said he was in Italy last week for a 24 our timed event and got injured. I told Roy "the only way I could pass you is on one of your easy days".

A nice advantage I had was knowing the course well. I knew where I could pick up the pace a little without any ill effects. I continued to pass some runners.

Close to hwy 12, I got passed by a runner during a bio break. Once I pulled in behind him, I could tell this guy was experienced and knew what he was doing. He was Ted Niemann from Columbus, OH. Nice guy. We were close to each other for almost the rest of the race.

I ended up running a little with Gene Bartzen from Leadville, Co. This guy has done a lot. Real nice man, fun to run with, and get this.... at the end of the race he said "If you ever do Leadville, you have a place to stay". I must develop this friendship. I will have to put this guy on the Christmas card A-list and send him some home brew. One has to keep his contacts in important places happy. My wife did not like this part of the story. "you are not doing Leadville!" (she says)

The turnaround came and went as planned. I decided to figure out my distance between me and Steve, and when I saw him I shouted "1 beer". He looked in good spirits.

Wilson looked great. He heckled me.

Bill looked happy when I saw him on the way back. He was running smart for a first 50 mile.

I paid close attention to the section before hwy 12, as I wiped out there last year. This whole section from hwy 12 to Rice Lake and back is a bit rocky. It is not hard, but will trip you up if you are not paying attention.

I rolled into hwy 12 on the return trip at about 4:18. Coincidentally, this is the marathon point. I said to Ted on the way out "I guess we should be happy with a 4:18 trail marathon". He looked good, I felt great. Much better than last year.

The sections were going by quick. I hit the aid station at about mile 30, and felt real good. I decided it was time.

I slowly picked up the pace again. I slowly passed a few and just focused on getting to the next aid station.

The mile 31-32 aid station is where I have made mistakes in the past. 2 years ago, I left it without a full bottle. This time, I topped off my bottle and that was it.

The next section is the toughest section of the course. Some decent size hills, and longer between stations. I powered up Bald Bluff, the biggest climb, without any problems. In fact, at the top I felt energized, so I lit it up, and bombed down the back side.

This is where I crashed 2 years ago. I decided to take revenge by killing this part. I ran some of the uphills, bombed all of the down hills, and before I knew it, I was at the next aid station "horseriders". I couldn't believe it. I over came a major mental block and put it behind me.

Barb Meyers, Scott Meyers wife said hi to me at horseriders. I was so focused on what I had to do.... I gave her the blank look, even though I had talked with her a few weeks back at Zumbro. I guess ultra brain was setting in.

The next section is somewhat easy, but I was getting a little tired from hammering the last section. I backed off a little, and tried to recover.

The next aid station is mile 40, and the turnaround to go back to the finish line. I had to take care of some serious bio business, and I think that was also slowing me down. I "TCB" in a flash, and headed back out. But, I had about 5 dudes on my heels. One guy passed, and picked it up. I never saw him again "was he a sandbagger?". Ted was right behind me, as well as a few familiar faces.

I suddenly was feeling good again, so I pushed on. I knew there was one Matt ahead of me (Matt Aro), and he was quite a ways ahead of me. No chance in catching him. I was just hoping there was a Matt behind me, so I would not be "the slowest Matt".

Halfway back to Horseriders, I saw Steve. I think I said "square root of pi". He was starting to feel the effects of 4 ultras in 5 weeks. He looked better than I have seen him at this point, so I guess he just had too many race miles on those legs. That's what you get for being a Gnarly Bandit.

Horseriders came quick. Barb helped me move my gear... Thanks! and as I headed toward the trail head, something happened. I felt "the game face" get on. There were only 7 miles left, a tough section ahead, and I still had gas in the tank. I decided to put on the heat.

I powered up the hill, and then ran. Wilson looked great. He was still heckling me. Bill P looked great, and he had a smile.

I was running. I think I caught 3-4 people in this section. I was especially surprised to catch up to Larry Hall. He is a veteran and kind of a legend. I told him I was the heckler from Chippewa, and he laughed.

Coming up to the final part of that leg, I caught 2 more guys. One was "the guy with the blue shirt" I tried to catch 30 miles before. I got him! He gave me encouragement going up Bald Bluff. At the top, I gave a primal scream and then ran as fast as I could down that hill.

I topped off at the next aid station so I could skip the last one. There was less than 3 miles left. I continued to hammer it. I ran the whole next hill. Stupid, because when I finally made it to the last 1.5 miles on the Nordic Loop, I was trashed. I ended up doing a couple of 30 second recovery "speed walks".

I finally heard the cowbells and crowd, and put on the last blast.

Timo, the RD from Kettle 100, was at the final stretch giving high fives and that is one I had to take.

I crossed in 8:40 and change in 29th place, and was on top of the world. No Bonks!

I told Timo I was coming back in 4 weeks to settle some unfinished business. He said to me "YOU, ran a great race". I knew what he meant.... what a great thing to say.

I got to hang with Ted at Kel at the end. Kel ran her 2nd 50k in 3 weeks, second ultra ever. Great job! Missed her goal by 1 minute.. It's all relative.

Lynn Saari won some hardware for the 50k. She place in her age class. Her husband Daryl did the 50M, and finished looking like he had just gone for a walk in the park.

Steve Quick came through somewhere between the square root of pie, and pie for beer consumption. So most of you nailed that guess.

Jim had a great race. Bill P pulled a muscle in the final 100 yards, and limped across the finish. He got it done! 1st 50. Rock on.

Wynn Davis finished 2nd in the 50 Mile with a killer 6:46:19. Zach Gingerech ran a stellar race in 6:23:53, taking the win. Those are FAST times. The winner last year was 7:11, I think. I heard Zach put in some pretty high mileage weeks. Miles which are hard to comprehend.

I got home to check the race results all to find that the guy 1 place ahead of me was named Matt! WHAT'S THE DEAL WITH THAT.

I woke up this morning to find, after Zach pointed it out, that....... I won my age group! This time it's legit. I wasn't the only one in my age group.

It's a good think I did not know this Saturday, as I would have made the boys put the plaque on the dash of the "green hornet" on the way home.

So that's the story. I finally won something.... after almost 30 years of running.

Now I have 4 weeks to recover and get revenge at Kettle 100 mile.

Time to put that baby to rest.

Thanks to everybody for the support.

Oh yeah..... The WAS one more Matt behind me.

I was the second slowest Matt. Yeah!

Ice Age Plan

After reading my Ice Age report from last year, seeing the forecast for Saturday, and knowing the condition I am in, I have decided to.....

Run Hard!

If I do the first Marathon portion at the same pace, and maintain it for the remainder of the race, I will break 8 hours.

Will I break 8 hours? Don't know if that is in the cards. I am pretty sure I could do 8:30.

I am not worried about how it will affect Kettle 100. I have 4 weeks to recover, and no races in between.

Last year the heat killed me, not my conditioning. And, I ran Superior 50k the week after Ice Age.

I feel great, and feel like I have an awesome run in the hopper.

**********

Steve posted a poll on his blog on how many hours Wynn will beat him by.

In that spirit, I am predicting I will beat Steve (He ran 100M 4 weeks ago, 50k 3 weeks ago, 50k 2 weeks ago, and god knows what kind of non recovery routine.

I am measuring by how much not by time, but by beers.

At the end of the race, Milwaukee Ale House has nice brew at the end. How many beers will I consume after the race before Steve finishes? We will see.... Take the poll.
Steve.... I do hope you see the humor in this.

*********

And one last note. Adam and I have a battle going.

Adam is running FANS the same day I am doing Kettle 100. I challenged him to see "Who can hit the 100 Mile mark first?"

Considering he has to keep going after he hits the 100 (24 hour timed event), and I get to stop at 100, that compensates for the difference in race courses.

Anybody want to chime in with predictions?

How about what the loser has to do?

A good day.... Finally

I have felt like a train wreck even since Zumbro (until a few days ago).

I had horrible allergies hit me almost 2 weeks ago, and just did not feel like doing squat.

Every run was like trying to restart the engines of a 747 doing a nose dive from 40,000. Okay.... horrible analogy.

My attempt at a long run this weekend was pathetic.

I finally mustered up an Afton trip on Tuesday to do hill repeats. I was happy to get in 12 up Campground hill, and felt great. All of them up under 5 minutes (to the post with the blue diamond on it..... Steve knows it).

I was a bit sore from that, but recharged.

Felt like a freight train this morning (that's a good feeling).

I was worried I would not be recovered for Ice Age, but now I am confident. But, this leads me to a dilemma at Ice Age

* Do I run the race I know I can run?
* Do I run the race I should run?
* Do I run the race I want to run?

The hardest thing I deal with is not doing #3 when things are going well.

I know I am not going to run the race I can run, which leaves me to the should vs. want.

Part of my personality and life has this "You only have so many of these left" mentality. "Go for it while you can". I know it does not make sense to some, but many completely understand.

I have 1 more week to figure it out.

Chippewa 50K Race Report

I know, I did not run it, but I got to see the whole thing unfold and come together from a totally new perspective. So here is a report from an observers point of view.

First off, I did not know I would so much fun helping at a race rather than running. For those of thinking of trail running or ultra stuff, come spend a day with the race. You won't regret it.

Friday brought beautiful weather. It was a spectacular drive to New Auburn, and it seemed Spring was finally here.

I arrived to find Larry making his special electrolyte drink for the runners.


Warning to other race directors - Don't leave Larry and me unsupervised for too long. Enough said.

We packed the race bags, allocated the aid station stock, and just hung out and traded stories. A good time.

I had this pipe dream that I was going to go run the whole course that night. I headed out at 4:30 pm with my pack full of water. I returned to the parking lot at 5:30pm totally spent. It was hot, but my legs were just not ready for anything. Oh well.

It was a good thing I quit, because right after getting in my car, heading down hwy M, I was blasted with hail. Then rain, .... etc.

I stayed at the Four Seasons in Chippewa Falls with Bill Pomerenke. He was preparing for his second ultramarathon ever, as well as second in 8 days. I think I told him "It's a little harder than Trail Mix..... but not by much". "but not by much" could be the Larry creeping into my vernacular.

I awoke early and got to the race early so I could assist. Dang.. it's cold! Will the rain hold off (it was lightly raining when I arrived).

We loaded up the Chippewa Recovery Drink for after the race


Wynn's family had everything under control, so I started interviewing racers. I have posted some already, and will post more later. Stay tuned. And, in case you were wondering, I did not doctor any of the race footage whatsoever. cough cough. Okay, I will fess up. I heavily edited Adam's Race Predictions clip. I couldn't resist.

The night before when I went out for the run, I quickly realized the new start had an interesting twist. A KILLER DOWNHILL! Also an uphill at the end.... What goes down, must go up.

I decided to get some live footage at the bottom hoping, just hoping I would witness a NASCAR like pile up.

Bryan Cochran had the same idea, and he was at the same spot ready to capture hill bombers.

I hear the cowbell ringing, and new the race started. And they started coming.

I think it was Matt Howard who I hear say "We don't have to go back up this" when he was at the bottom. You can here me on tape saying "Yes you do!"

Andy Holak said it best "Do we have to go this way to the finish line? That's kind of a nasty finish"

I gave out some minor heckling and enjoyed watching people with smiles.

Hey, there is Steve Quick! I thought after not seeing him before the race, he got smart and bagged it (two weeks ago he ran Zumbro 100 Mile, and Trail Mix 50k last week). What was I thinking?

After everybody passed, I charged up the hill to see the runners at the 2 mile point. Half way up the hill, I started walking. Damn, this hill is tough. They are going to LOVE this one after 30 miles.

We soon saw the runners coming through at the 2 mile mark. The lead pack was about the same, John Storkamp, Matt Howard, Andy Holak, Chris Gardner, Erik Kaitala. Joe Zigenfuss and Adam Harmer were close behind.

On a funny note, when Matt Long came through, he had about 20 people right behind him. I guess they heard what happens when you try to run a race ahead of Mr. Long (see my Zumbro 100k report). I told him he was clogging up the pipeline.

I also realized I very well could be dubbed the "Slowest Matt" soon. Look who I have to contend with

Matt Howard
Matt Aro
Matt Long

All incredibly strong, smart, and experienced runners.

Once they passed, we just chatted, and then went off to the our duties.

Having camera duty, I decided to go to mile 8. By the time all of the runners came through 2, I didn't think I would catch the front runners at 5.

After a few scenic detours (euphemism for missed turns), I arrived at Town Line rd A/S. I met Gina (Geena?) Howard. She was watching her husband (fiance?) Matt try to take the gold. We saw them come through, and you can see the results on the previously posted video "the race unfolds".

As I wanted to see the leads at the turnaround, I didn't stay too long (I still had duties at the finish line).

At the 25k turnaround, Julie Berg, Londell Pease, Daryl and Lynn Saari were firing up a party. Donny Clark and Bonnie Riley were there too (the marked the trail, and were set to sweep it at the end). They are the glue which holds these races together.

I caught some video, and got a short workout in. Two runners came into the aid station from the road. They missed the final markers taking them through the woods, so they went through someones back yard.

I ran with them to find where they missed.

It was well marked, but I refrained from judging. The markers I missed two weeks prior were way more visible than these.

Side note-
A handful of runners said to me that the course was not well marked.
Knowing who marked it, and this being a trail race, I have this to say respectfully in response

* Part of a trail race is understanding the course, and paying attention. You can't rely on the course to guide you in lieu of you not paying attention. It is INTERACTIVE. Once you become passive, you are doomed for mistakes. All of my missed/wrong turns in previous races were a result of 1 - me not paying attention 2 - assuming the people ahead of me are paying attention. In my opinion, this element makes trail running an even more interesting sport.

The trail was well marked.

My guess is those who were upset, were rather new to trail running. Show me a trail runner who has never missed markings, and I will show you a trail runner who has not run a lot of trails.

Nuff said - If you feel I am off base, email me directly. Then go run the Superior Hiking Trail.

I heckled some people at the turnaround.

"Hey Steve, it's okay to run a 50K in over 5 hours"

"Hey Molly, this isn't social hour.... get your butt back on the trail" (I was also afraid she would start attracting bees"

"Hey Bruce, you are dry"

Donny Clark said it best "This course is showing more blood than mud"

I figured I needed to get back to the start soon. So I was off.

We all gathered at the 2 mile mark, waiting for someone to come through. Based on what we knew, at the 3:42 mark, we figured sub 4 hours was almost out of the questions until we saw Andy Holak doing the "hand on quads" hill climb. We told him it was going to be close for a sub 4 hour.

Not far behind, a serious race was brewing. Matt Howard was power walking the hill. Chris Garnder decided to show us who was boss by running it. John Storkamp decided to get his dark side on and threw his shirt to the ground. He was mad, and wanted this one.

On the other side, we could see them coming from a far. Andy had a good enough lead, but that last hill was a serious X factor. It was funny to watch Andy looking over his shoulder every few seconds as he was crossing the last field. He ended up holding the boys off and brought it home in 3:59:40. He ran the last part of the hill after Wynn said "you have 1.5 minutes to break 4"

Gardner, Howard, and Storkamp followed shortly after. They all had comments on "The Hill"

Adam Harmer's buddies came to watch, so I told them to give him crap at the 2 mile mark. At the final hill, they gave him more crap, so he ran part of hill. He finished not far behind Joe Z.

I planted myself at the top of the hill, yelling at runners. I think I said "This is not a fun walk, it's a run".

Helen came through with a repeat win. Here is an interview with her.


Following in second was Karen Shoenrock. She had a smile the whole time up the hill. You can't see it here, she's just concentrating.


I probably stayed at that hill for at least 2 hours. It was a blast.

Bill Pomerenke came up the hill without a word. After I found him at the finish line, all he had to say was "That F#$@%ing hill!"

Wynn liked that. It is now named.

I ended up taking chair duty and recording names until the end. All I knew were numbers, no names.

I met with Wynn's mom after she "fired" him from kitchen duties next year. We talked ideas for next year. I am looking forward to taking kitchen duty.

Wynn's family is the true success behind the success of this race. His mom was greeted with hugs from the center crew. His dad and sister did so much, without any need for recognition. They rocked big time.

The only bad note from the day was after arriving home, I found a tick had bit me on the ass. Who knows how long it was on there. I guess that's what I get for heckling runners.

The Race Unfolds

Also posted this on the Chippewa 50 race updates site.

This one's for you Nic

I did not realize a trash talk battle had been brewing between Nic and Helen. Being that Nic is new to the trail scene, I decided to be nice.

imovie is too much fun