Lead Photo by Tim Umphreys

Well, that didn’t quite work out the way I was hoping for!

After using a taper that left my legs actually feeling energized leading up to the race, I was getting pretty excited for race morning to finally get here. However, similar to the race in 2019, my day starting going south shortly after the Crosby Manitou aid station at roughly mile 11.7 (yeah, not good when you need to tackle 50 of them).

Until that point, I was running exactly how I wanted to in the beginning – totally relaxed and in control, not trying to over extend anything. I made three new friends during this time as we shared some miles together and plenty of laughs 🙂 That’s part of what I love about trail running, everyone is out for an adventure and really freaking friendly.

Shortly after leaving this aid station I could tell something was a bit off as the temperatures continued to rise (not a good sign for this guy). I had some heat-related issues in longer training runs this summer and was really hoping for a crisp September race day…woops! My body started diverting its focus away from my stomach/digestion and shifting it everywhere else in an attempt to cool me down.

While I was still covering ground relatively well at this point, the stomach issues did not go away. My gels no longer sounded good – nothing sounded good. This began a solid 4+ hours where I did not take in many calories while on the trail…a big no-no in the world of endurance events. Without the necessary calories coming in to partially offset those being burnt off by moving along on the trail, I began to have less energy. Less energy means you don’t run as fast, which means time between aid stations increases.

By the time I was approaching the Cramer Road aid station, I had made up my mind that I was going to drop out. I had been hiking a lot, feeling even worse, and still not eating anything. I was an emotional mess and already had most of the race recap post written in my head about needing to drop out of a race for the first time. I jokingly told a coaching client of ours who was out kindly cheering me on, that if my wife and crew members (Mike Bushey and Jody Zeleznikar) let me, I would be done (because they didn’t let me when I was feeling pretty similar in 2019).

I slowly made my way into the Cramer Road check-in, bummed that I would not be going any further, but looking forward to hanging out with my family and moving ahead to cheer on Ryan Zimny in the 100 miler as he was having a great race. I met my crew chief Mike Bushey first and it played out like a script from two years earlier…I told him I was done. First words out of his mouth were, “No you’re not.” I wanted to punch him. After calming down and actually listening to him, he had some very wise advice as he tends to do! Jody was quickly grabbing some real foods for me to eat and also providing the perfect words of wisdom and encouragement. However, it was not enough to change my mind. I went over to my wife, who was busy wrangling the three kiddos (all under the age of 8, she’s a badass) and told her I was done. Guess what she said?

“No you’re not.”

What the hell?!? Apparently they didn’t understand I was finished. I was starting to get upset. I mumbled some poor-me stuff, and I wasn’t eating, and on and on. Neither Nichole nor Bushey nor Jody wanted to hear it. I even got a mini teacher lecture from my wife about how I needed to be an example for our kids…I wanted to throw up, but I did let that sink in. After some more talking and saying goodbye to my family, it was back on to the trail heading to Lutsen.

I wasn’t sure how I was going to make it there, but figured I’d try (since I didn’t have a choice apparently). So I started hiking out of the Cramer Road aid station putting one foot in front of the other.

After about 5 minutes of hiking I started to feel some energy come back to my body and decided to give jogging a try. I didn’t feel all that bad, so I kept it up. My stomach still didn’t feel the best, but I had some calories to work with finally and was no longer hiking – progress! I actually began to run pretty fast and was excited to see how much I could lower my average pace during the second half of the race! After about 3.5 miles of moving well (all while not eating much of my cracker/chip concoction Bushey gave me), it all came crashing down.

It started with a severe cramp in my left hamstring while climbing a steep set of stairs. I had to sit and stretch it out while taking a salt tablet. I was able to get moving pretty quickly, but my stomach went from bad to downright terrible. Water didn’t even sound good! I was back to hiking hoping things would turn around. They didn’t. Still not able to stomach calories or hydration, by the time I made it to the Temperance River aid station I was light headed, my forearms even began cramping (?!?!?!), and I had stopped sweating — yikes, I knew I was in big trouble.

With those medical red flags all happening at once and not really having fun anymore (which was my goal for this race), I decided to officially drop out of the race. An aid station worker was kind enough to let me borrow a cell phone to inform my crew I needed to be picked up (thank you!!). Even though I knew it was the decision I had to make, I still struggled with it and broke down a bit as I walked down the road to meet my ride.

A lot of time and energy goes into to training for a 50 mile race on the SHT at a personal level, but it’s also a sacrifice for my family over the course of the summer as I log miles early in the morning or late at night. And those who took the time to either crew or cheer me on during the day as well. I definitely felt bad about it. But that changed when everyone was glad that I made the decision to be done given all of the no-so-good things happening to me in the middle of the woods!

Even though I wasn’t able to finish after doing so twice previously, I learned a lot about myself through it all and am proud of being able to acknowledge that I needed to be done early. I am thankful for simply having the ability to do crazy adventures like this – it is not something I take for granted.

I’d like to thank my wife Nichole for this year of me: going off on crazy training runs, needing to get a run in before/after some family function, being tired (potentially cranky at times?), and putting so much effort into this event. I could not have done it without her, and love that she has the courage to bring all three kids out to cheer on their dad – getting out of, and back into the van – for a seemingly all-day event. She’s a rockstar and I am extremely lucky/blessed to call her my wife!

Congrats to all who participated in the Marathon/50/100 mile races, and thanks to all of the volunteers who make a weekend like this possible! A special thanks to race director John Storkamp as well – even though I’ve done plenty of his races before, he continues to impress me with the quality of races he puts on. He’s built up a pretty special community and I’m honored to be a part of it with so many wonderful people.