Running with Tonks

Prologue: Oh man, I have really struggled to write and publish this race report. There is so much to this event that happened in the months and weeks before even arriving in Michigan. Learning big life lessons is often painful and this experience is no different. Hindsight gives me the understanding that: If you are old enough to remember watching the Care Bears, Alf, and Fragile Rock, then you are too old to skimp on mobility work. Do not watch the sunrise while actively running downhill trail in the dark. That is a recipe for needing to tell your Garmin not to call emergency services. If you can not run the last 6 weeks of peak training due to injury, then consider dropping down in distance.                                                                                     ...

The Hennepin Hundred starts in Sterling, Illinois, makes a giant, 100 mile upside-down T following Rock River and the Hennepin Canal, finishing in Colona, Illinois in front of the Colona Fire Department. When I run ultras, I imagine myself as a little Pacman running along the course map in a birds-eye view.  The upside down T made for easy segmentation.  Although not exact, each segment was approximately a 50k.  The race started at 7am Saturday morning October 1, 2022 and the course cutoff was at 1pm on Sunday.    sisters pacers packet pick up Good news: I managed to sleep more the night before than last time. Wahoooo! Bad news: I got about two hours. This time I was actually shocked.  I was pretty chill going to bed. I feel like I set myself up for success. Sadly, my brain had other plans.  Ah well, I guess it is something I can count on in the future. In the morning, I caught the bus from the finish line at 5am. It was an hour drive to the start. ...