In March of 2018 I was getting myself ready for an epic challenge. I had DNF'ed at The Canyons 100K the year prior and with the 2018 event about a month away at the time, I was putting in some big miles to prepare myself for redemption. Easter and Passover weekend happened to land on the last weekend of March that year, so I hopped on a flight from Los Angeles to Detroit to spend a long weekend with my family. And to do something else pretty exciting that would help with my Canyons training. I had recently discovered that there was a thirty-three mile trail that ran from my college town of Kalamazoo to South Haven, a beach town on Michigan's west coast. I successfully completed the thirty-three mile one way trek to South Haven, beginning at the trailhead in Kalamazoo, however the adventure did not end as planned. I intended to get a ride from an Uber in South Haven back to my car, which was parked at the trialhead in Kalamazoo, then drive back to my dad's house. There were no Ubers in South Haven. Living in Los Angeles, I took things like Uber for granted and should have expected that I wouldn't be able to find one in small, modest beach town in Michigan. Long story short, there were no other transportation options available, and all I could do was call my sister and ask her to drive out to South Haven from our hometown, which was three hours away and come get me. When she didn't pick up, I had to call my dad. After a long pause and a sigh of frustration, he finally said "I'll be there in a little while". When he arrived, he was proud of me for having knocked off thirty-three miles, but not thrilled that he had to waste his evening driving to South Haven to pick up his thirty-one year old son who should have known better. I think I also got a bit of a free pass because he was happy to have me home from California for a long weekend.
But before that happened, the run was fantastic. I ran along a nice, smooth crushed limestone path through wilderness and farmland in rural Michigan, passing through several small towns along the way. Several stretches of the route were very remote and when I reached one of the towns along the way, the trail would come to an intersection with a road and I'd run past a few small establishments and the occasional park. Then it was back to forest and farmland. The run was so nice because it had a real Midwestern feel to it. Flat, some forest, some farmland, lots of intersections with back country roads, and lots of small towns along the way. With the Badger 50-miler coming up on August 1st (one week from today as I type this), I found myself reminiscing about the run I did three years ago in Michigan. As I did my research, I began to realize that this race will likely have a very similar vibe to the run I did from Kalamazoo to South Haven. The race itself is held in Wisconsin, starting in the small town of Belleville, about twenty miles southwest of Madison. The course is an out and back route beginning at a local park and turning around in the town of Monroe, which lies pretty close to the Illinois/Wisconsin border. In addition to the 50-mile course, there are also 100-miler, 100K, 50K, marathon, and half marathon options available, and all races follow the same route. Something for everybody, as I like to think of it. The route is held entirely on the Badger State trail and Jane Adams trail. The path is mainly composed of sand, dirt tracks, and crushed limestone with no technical sections, according to the race manual. In fact, the organizers have described the 100-mile race as "a thirty-six hour cut off and the course is flat as shit". It could turn out to be not what I'm expecting of course, but I'm looking forward to participating in another Midwest race. And by that, I mean running a nice flat course, and having an experience similar to the one I had when running from Kalamazoo to South Haven in March 2018 and participating in the Minnesota Voyageur that summer, and the St. Croix Winter Ultra in January 2020. I love California ultramarathons, but ultras in the Midwest have a different personality to them. It's a different vibe and a different feel, and I like it!
Another reason why I'm looking forward to next weekend is, well, it's nice to be doing in-person races again! Even now, I'm trying not to take live races for granted because we never know what could happen, we can only hope. And if you're wondering why I chose this 50-miler in particular, it's because the organizers are also hosts of a running podcast based out of Chicago that I've been listening to for a few years now. Ten Junk Miles is a great podcast to listen to if you like to laugh and enjoy hearing stories about ultrarunning while occasionally learning a few things about running. It's not a good podcast to listen to if you're all business and take running super seriously. I intended to run another of their 50-milers (The Sugar Badger) in May of 2020, however the pandemic forced the cancellation of the race and I ended up doing a virtual Sugar Badger, a fifty-mile rally along El Camino Real while getting support from my friends along the way. I don't know exactly how I will perform, but I'm hoping for the best. The last several months of my life have been good, but busy, and aside from Western States Training camp, which consisted of running fifty miles on the Western States trail over a two day period at the end of May, I haven't done any super long distance training. My plan is to just do what I can and although I don't have a lofty goal in mind, I'm hoping to finish in ten to ten and a half hours. We'll see. My main goal is to have fun and enjoy the race. The weather so far seems to be cooperating. We're looking at party cloud skies with low sixties in the morning, low eighties in the afternoon, which is pretty typical of Wisconsin in August. Two things I know I'll need to be wary of are higher humidity levels and bugs, probably mosquitos. After all, California is drier than Wisconsin and I'm used to not having to worry about dampness in the summer air. Higher humidity means more sweating, which means I will need to make sure I monitor my fluid and electrolyte intake carefully. If I don't, I could cramp up or suffer from heat related nausea and things could go to hell pretty quickly. Luckily, there will be plenty of well stocked aid stations out there to take care of us, the furthest gap between aid stations being seven and a quarter miles, according to the chart. When it comes to dealing with mosquitos, I'll just need to remember to spray myself down with bug repellent. That should do the trick.
Focusing on work will be more challenging this week as the excitement continues to build up, but with July month end pre-close coming up, it will be important for me to re-direct my attention as much as possible. My career is important to me, but once I finish work for the day on Friday, get on that red eye flight from San Francisco to Chicago on Friday night, then make the two hour drive from Chicago to Belleville on Saturday morning, I'll be hoping for an unforgettable race experience at the Badger. I'm looking forward to doing another Midwest race and hanging out with the Ten Junk Miles crew and nation. Unfortunately, Sam will be working that weekend and won't be able to join, but I know she'll be there in spirit. More details to come afterwards. Until then, cheers!
