Minnesota

Superior(s) trail 50K was my first race east of the Mississippi.  Lutsen Minnesota is a 3.5-hour plane ride from Portland and 4.5-hour drive north from Minneapolis. My travel went smoothly and I arrived in Lutsen just in time to check in, eat dinner, and enjoy a sunset walk on the lake to take stock of where I’d landed.

About 13,000 years ago, the melting of mile-thick glaciers from the Wisconsen ice age created the great lakes. From the shore these freshwater lakes look like oceans. I easily imagined I was at the edge of the continent staring at the waves hitting the Pacific seashore, which makes it even more amazing that these lakes exist in the midwest.  Lake Superior, with a surface area of 31,000 square miles, is the largest freshwater lake in the world. It is definitely worth a visit to northern Minnesota to see it.

The Superior Lake Trail is 310-mile popular thru-hiking trail that runs parallel to the north shore. It is popular among trail runners because it is challenging and beautiful.  The trail meanders its way through boreal, hardwood, and maritime forests along the ridge of the Sawtooth mountains. Its rocky climbs are awarded with numerous views of the lake.

The Race

“Technical”.  What does technical mean in trail running?  Coming from the West Coast, I knew technical to mean steep long climbs and descents, sometimes 1000’s of feet, and sometimes rocky.  So…when I read that the Superior Lake trail races are technical, I figured: “no problem, I got this.”

But WOW. Superior 50K takes technical up a notch. Suddenly my familiar west coast mountain trails seemed easy. The Superior trail hammers relentlessly with rocks and roots, steep, slippery, dry, rocky climbs and descents, skinny wooden bridges and LOTS of mud pits.  My feet demanded my attention the entire time or else I’d trip.  One lady fell 6 times during the race. She did finish. I got off easy by only supermanning twice into the soft dirt. The race leaders still made it look easy. After this race I was inspired to buy myself a mobo board.

Superior 50K is one of the few races where I imagined myself laying down on the ground to rest around mile 23.  Would anyone notice me flat on my back in the forest? But I knew if I took a break I might never get back up, so I kept going. Thankfully I was with a pack of runners who knew the route and told me I was almost done climbing. What I found most challenging was that each step took about 3 times the energy to maneuver over the terrain. But the people made up for it and I loved being part of it. With the course being an out-and-back, I was able to high five the front runners in action, which was super cool. The turn-around spot was a party with a view, great music, nice dogs and a shot of alcohol for the taking!

The people in Minnesota are wonderful. I met so many friendly and encouraging runners, and Rocksteady Running puts on a professional race that is truly the draw of the Minnesota trail running community. The volunteers are caring and engaging. And they stick around! Even while being a middle-of-the-pack runner, I felt a lot of excitement, and encouragement from spectators. It was so cool to be congratulated at the end of the race by the same volunteer who checked me in, and she even remembered I was from Oregon. I felt right at home in Minnesota.

I would love to return to Superior and run the race in the fall. I hear the 100 miler is quite the show with some elite runners. Because of its popularity, the race registration is per lottary but this time I was lucky enough to get in on the first draw. If I ever get another opportunity I would love to attempt those rocks and roots again now that I know what I’m up against. After lots of mobo board practice of course.