Summer 2019 Races

Last Runner Standing

I ran Last Runner Standing in Duluth on June 10. The climbs were challenging and I felt better than last year. I enjoyed using trekking poles for the first time and felt they were beneficial. It was fun having something else to do and pretending I had 4 legs. It also took some of the load off the legs climbing and descending if very steep. I didn't carry fluids since it was cool enough (high of 78F?). I decided to drop after I only had 1:30 remaining after reaching 15 loops (100K) and 2 more loops than last year. I was the last runner in my final 2 loops. We had 1 hour to finish the 4.167 mile loops.

100 runners started. By loop 12 (50 miles) - 20 remaining, loop 13 (54 miles) - 13 remaining, loops 14 and 15 (100K) - both 11 remaining. At this point 4 of us dropped and there were 7 remaining. The last runner standing had 129.17 miles - 31 races in 31 hours. The time on my Strava is moving time of 13 hours 17 minutes so I had a total of 1 hour 43 minutes to take care of everything I needed between loops.

I felt good and my new Topo shoes kept my feet very happy! No issues at all other than I just slowed down on this tough course. I went there to get hills and practice trekking poles for Never Summer 100K. Goals accomplished!

Dark2Dawn - 6 hours

Dark2 Dawn was a race that started at midnight on June 30 near St Louis at Indian Camp Creek in St Charles County. Each loop was approximately 6.7 miles. I ended up getting 5 loops, 32-33.5 miles which took me 6 hours and 20 seconds, placing 4th overall. It was extremely humid all night. Sam, Becky, and Laurel joined me for this event. My loop splits were pretty even overall. They almost weren't going to let me go out for the last loop. However, I think the race director realized how good I felt and I wasn't going to slow down so she said to go back out. I ran this race after after running 22 miles of hilly course the day before for Shawn's birthday run. I would definitely consider doing this race again.

Never Summer 100K

Never Summer 100k was an adventure that several of us from the Columbia area "ran" on July 27. It was a fun time being with everyone. I experienced altitude, elevation, mud, rain, hail and a little snow in a few places we ran. Mountain running is hard enough without the extras. Altitude is tough to train for in Missouri. Lots of climbing got the heart rate up! Straight up the mountain and no switchbacks. The views were nice. I’m glad I got the experience and met some awesome runners to run with during the day and night. It was a great experience but won't be subjecting myself to anything like this again. My time of 21:45 is almost double other 100ks I’ve run. It was more of a hike than a run.