Hennepin Hundred 2025

Posted on November 9, 2025 by Anne-Marie

Hennepin Hundred 2025 Pre-Race

I started closer to the front than last year and was able to immediately settle into a pace close to my planned race pace. We had great weather, a little cool with clear skies. I was feeling good, keeping my eyes on my watch to see when I should take a gel or when I would need to refill my skratch while also watching my footing (big walnut type things from the trees).

I bounced back and forth between the same few runners, not really chatting as several were running together doing their own thing. Last year I settled into a group and ended up talking to several people for the first 20 miles. This year, not so much, but I didn’t mind it either, I was in my own little zone. However I did turn on my ipod super early since I needed something in the background to help give me an extra boost of energy. Yes an ipod, that thing can go for 30+ hours with wired headphones, perfect for many, many hours of running

Early miles, feeling fresh. Photo Credit: Jennifer Thorsen

I got to Mile 20/AS 4 where my first drop bag was and quickly grabbed my gels/skratch, took the one gel I needed to take at the AS and was on my way pretty quickly. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to linger at aid stations, for some reason it reminds me of the rush/hurry/’you can lose the race by seconds’ mentality during transitions in triathlons and it seems to have carried over to the aid stations too.

Mile 20ish and Aid Station 6. Photo Credit: Jennifer Thorsen

I started chatting with a guy that I ran with last year (I recognized him, small world!) and we both laughed about having to dart into the bushes earlier, and we remembered that last year the trees were bare and the bushes were not an option. I was very grateful for the leaves this year. I kept checking my pace and tried to stay around 10/10:30 pace. As I was approaching Mile 32/AS 7 which had my second drop bag, I remembered how awesome this aid station was last year and was looking forward to the extra energy and boost from the friendly volunteers and music. It did not disappoint and was just as busy and filled with tons of helpful volunteers, I even got a fancy popsicle! They had ice too! I asked a volunteer to pour a scoop of ice down my shirt to help stay cool. At first he hesitated and was like ‘is this appropriate’ and the lady next to him said ‘it’s fine, it’s a trail race’ or something to that effect and he poured it in. Thank you random lady-volunteer. I found my drop bag, grabbed my gels, refilled skratch and was on my way.

This next stretch had zero shade, so it felt extra hot. I remembered it feeling rough last year and it is also one of the longer stretches between aid stations. I decided I was really going to focus and try to keep up with my current pace, knowing that I survived races in much greater heat so this was very do-able. I kept up with my nutrition – gels every 30 minutes and a serving of skratch every 2ish hours (with extra sodium) along with water.

I was very happy to make it to AS 8/Mile 38.7, those 6.6 miles felt like forever. I remembered feeling the same way last year, it was nice to get a break from the heat, drink cold water, coke,.. and ice! I had another volunteer dump more down my shirt – ice in the sports bra really helps. I wish I had my ice bandana as it was the key to surviving my hot races this summer, but I didn’t know if this race would even have ice, so I didn’t bring it. Unsure if it would have helped anyways since only a few aid stations had ice.

On I went and started to feel a little off. Well, my stomach felt a little off. I kept going and hoped it was just a short wave of nausea as it was pretty early in the race to take zofran (nausea medicine). I ran for a few more miles and decided I needed to take it because I was feeling pretty terrible. Shortly after I felt great and was back to moving at a good pace… until I felt sick again 30ish minutes later. Ugh. I started walking and came up to a lady who was also walking and chatted with her for a bit. She said she wasn’t feeling great either but was trying to just ignore it, and figured in a couple of hours when the sun started to go down it would cool off and we would all probably feel better. A couple of hours sounded like a really long time, but I hoped she was right and we parted ways as she was starting to run again.

I was starting to go from bad to worse stomach-wise, while my legs were like ‘let’s get back to this 100 mile party’. My watch went off to take another gel, I did, and practically had it come right back up. I pulled the wrapper out of my pocket to see if it was expired because it had tasted so bad, but 8/2026 was the date. Hmm. ‘Maybe I”ll avoid the orange Sis’ I thought. On I walked and on my stomach sloshed, feeling worse as time went by. Finally the nausea was so strong I pulled to the side of the trail and threw up. Twice. Oh man, all of my expensive maurten gels I had taken, adios. However, afterwards I felt much better. I figured maybe it was just bad luck, and now my stomach was ready to go, so I went back to running and back to my fueling/hydration schedule.

However as I kept running I started to feel awful again. I made it to the next aid station and explained my situation, as this issue was a new territory for me. One lady suggested gas-x which I took – she had a whole kit of things (the ladies at this aid station were on it!), and also suggested trying some solid food. I took some tater tots at her recommendation but gagged while trying to eat one after I left the aid station. My stomach did not want fried potatoes, and I pulled over to the side and got sick again. Then I felt better.

Like clockwork, I hit the next aid station not feeling great (mind you I’m still taking skratch and gels), taking in more water, coke and refilling bottles, and then promptly five minutes later pulling to the side to throw up again. Like what the heck. I couldn’t figure out why my stomach was revolting using the nutrition I had used ALL year. ALL YEAR. Maybe it was the heat? Maybe it was because I took my immodium 45 minutes before the race instead of an hour? Maybe I should stop drinking coke at the aid stations? I pondered all of these things while walk/running to the next aid station. I decided to hold off on the gels for now and try to troubleshoot at the next aid station

When I got to AS 11 around mile 50, I once again shared my predicament of having now thrown up 3x and that my nutrition was not settling. A volunteer suggested bananas, which I took and then saw a guy making quesadillas and asked if they had mashed potatoes and he said he did! Those saved the day last year, they are pretty bland so I was hoping that maybe they would work. Off I went with my potatoes, making myself eat the whole cup before I tried to run again since I was so low on nutrition. I also started wondering if I was going to have to drop. Even though I was feeling better than I did prior to the aid station (pre mashed potatoes), I was still not feeling great, and was a little stressed as to how I was going to take in (and keep down) enough calories to be able to run another 50 miles.

These questions were on a loop in my head as I picked up the pace to a slow run and started to feel really good again, the potatoes helped! I passed several people that had passed me while I was walking which also made me feel like I was turning things around. My watch beeped that it was time to eat, I figured now that I was feeling better and I was super behind on calories, I would take a Maurten. I then drank some water and had some sips of my skratch to ensure I was still getting enough sodium. I kept running but was starting to feel sick again, however I felt ok enough to keep running. My watch beeped as another 30 minutes had passed and it was time for another gel. I took an Sis and continued to feel not great, thinking it was because I was so low on calories. I approached the next aid station, desperate to take in calories that my body could handle, eating some watermelon and drinking some coke. One girl suggested LMNT since I was struggling getting in sodium and it was still pretty hot, so I happily accepted her offer (this was the aid station where I got the gas-x from their secret supply kit).

Mile 58ish. One of the many walk breaks before came up with a new nutrition plan. Photo Credit: Jennifer Thorsen

Shortly after leaving the aid station, I had to pull over and throw everything back up again. Ugh. I’ll spare the details but I kept on trudging, gel every 30 min, some sips of LMNT instead of skratch, still feeling sick. At the next aid station I took some salt stick tablets since they didn’t have anything like LMNT that was not sweet. I chugged some coke, took a banana and a cup of potatoes and carried on. Like clockwork I pulled over and it all came back up. That’s it I thought, it’s got to be sugar = coke (or gels, or skratch…ALL the sugar). NO MORE SUGAR. I finally accepted that I couldn’t force my body to keep taking my planned nutrition because it clearly wasn’t working. It was at that moment that I decided I was going to just eat mashed potatoes and bananas. I would stockpile bananas in my shorts pockets, my vest, whatever I needed to do, but the gels and skratch and anything sweet (looking at you too, Coke) wasn’t going to work.

Once I accepted my new plan, I continued walking with the goal to get back to running once I finished my potatoes. My watch beeped that is was time to take a gel and I ignored it, I kept my gels in my vest and sipped on the LMNT. My stomach felt ok. When I got to the next aid station they let me take an entire banana and I got another cup of mashed potatoes. I also took some peanut butter pretzels as a ‘just in case’ since I wasn’t sure what my stomach might be able to take later on. This was also the aid station where my drop bag was and I didn’t even open it. No need. No gels or Skratch. Continue on, nothing to see here.

I just kept moving, my legs feeling great and finally able to run without feeling nauseous, and was able to keep up a good pace in the mid 10’s. I hit up the next aid station – bananas and mashed potatoes, some water, saltstick tabs and I was on my way. This continued throughout the next two aid stations, not taking too much time at them, getting my bananas and potatoes and keeping on. I started doing running math after AS 17/mile 79.5 since 20 miles is pretty easy math. I figured that if I kept at least a 15min pace/mile, I could still finish faster than my time last year. With how my legs were feeling at this point, compared to how they felt last year, I felt like it was very do-able. My stomach was finally on board and so were my legs since all of the earlier walking saved them.

However, even though my legs felt great, my brain was getting a little fuzzy. I wasn’t tired at all but once again like last year, I suddenly thought that maybe I had made a wrong turn since I hadn’t seen anyone ahead of me for what felt like a really long time. I had passed a guy maybe 10 minutes earlier, but he was enjoying running in the moonlight and didn’t have his headlamp on, so I couldn’t see if he was behind me. After taking a wrong turn at a race this summer, I was pretty worried I did it again. I started running backwards to try and find the guy to make sure I was still on the right trail. Note that there is only one trail. It goes along the canal. I was on a trail next to the canal. My brain. I finally saw him and asked him if he thought we were going the right way as there was some turn aways back that took us to the other side of the canal and was worried we missed something like that. He thought we were still on the right trail/path, so reassured, I turned around and kept going.

Maybe 30 minutes later two guys with headlamps came running from the opposite direction. I was so confused. Who runs at 2a along this canal? What are they doing? They ran by and said ‘Good job!’ and I said ‘Am I going the right way?!’ I could hear them laugh and they said ‘Yep!’. Imagine me in a legit trail run in the woods… I would probably still be lost.

I went to the next several aid stations, just getting water, banana, potatoes. I only got my drop bag at AS 19 (mile 88.1) because I wanted my portable battery in case my phone died. I had switched over to using that for music around mile 45 as the iPod tunes weren’t doing it for me. It still had some battery left though as I had kept it on airplane mode and only took it off a couple of times to send texts to a few people to let them know I was alive. ‘I threw up five times and I’m at mile 90’ was the one I sent to my dad, lol. It was around this time I felt a sharp pain in my left pinky toe and knew that a blister had burst. Ouch. ‘Not today devil’ I said to myself, out loud. Yes, there was some out loud talking to myself during these later miles. The pain was the sudden ‘take your breath away’ kind, but I knew it would subside soon, and it did. I hoped that was the only one for this race (it was).

I got to the last aid station, mile 94.7, still got my cup of potatoes (forgot the banana), and asked a volunteer if it was really 5.2 more miles to the finish. My watch was already over quite a bit (running backwards didn’t help) and I just didn’t want to think about going even further. Plus, I was already cutting it close to my time from last year. They said they were pretty sure it was exact, which, does it really matter? Was I going to start dropping sub 9min miles? At the time it seemed important. On I went, noticing how it was such a different experience running the race at this point compared to last year. This time I was running, (veering from side to side a little if I didn’t pay attention) legs felt good, and everything didn’t hurt. I didn’t feel fresh but also didn’t feel terrible, in fact I felt better than I did at mile 40 for sure.

More running math, and finally according to my watch I had a mile to go and I was still running. Still feeling good and so happy. I started to recognize this last part of the course which goes off the trail onto a cement sidewalk, and knew the finish line was close. I couldn’t believe I was going to finish for a second time, and according to my watch, 20ish minutes faster than last year, YES! Soon I could hear the finish line, and then I could see it, and I smiled as big as I could while running through the finish (however the finish line photos are hilarious and I hardly looked like I was smiling, but I thought I was!). I was given my sub 24 hour buckle, my finisher flannel shirt (Rabbit! My favorite brand, super duper fancy finisher swag), and then had a picture of me taken at the finish.

I did it! Again! Photo Credit: John Knepper

After sending a text to a few friends, my coach and my dad, I sat down and had some post race food. I was actually really hungry since I’m pretty sure I didn’t hit my planned calorie goals with my new nutrition plan, however it got the job done. I hung out at the finish for a bit, cheering other runners on as they crossed the finish. After about 45 minutes I got up and was able to walk! Hooray! I was in bad shape last year, so I was a little worried how I’d feel this year. I slowly shuffled to the car and headed back to the hotel to try to get a little sleep before driving home.

I am not going to lie. I was dreading taking off my shoes to see what fun things happened to my feet while running, since I already knew about that pinky toe blister. Well, that was nothing, I had made a super duper huge mistake by only taping around my big toes and not along the top and then around – the way I taped it my toenail was held hostage while my toe moved back and forth under it…causing GIANT blisters under both big toenails and all around. It was quite the sight. I did have other blisters on some smaller toes that looked pretty ugly too, but the big toes were the worst. Oh boy. I climbed into bed and slept on and off for a couple of hours and then got up to head back to the finish to pick up my drop bags, eat some more post race food (they had cookies I wanted but couldn’t stomach all of that right after I finished) and cheer more runners on.

I chatted with a few people about our races and got some blister tips from a guy whose feet didn’t look like they had run a mile. I headed out for the four hour drive home, making one stop for 2 red bulls and animal crackers, lol. I made it home in one piece, did some unpacking and after a fast nap headed to my sister’s for my dad’s birthday dinner. I think the drive plus birthday dinner might have been tougher than the race..well, maybe not, but I was pretty wiped.

I walked away from this race with a new PR, however the lessons learned regarding nutrition and footwear/taping strategies were probably even more of a win. While the race was a very different experience than last year, mostly due to the nutrition issues (except the weather was the same, HOT), I still had a lot of fun – from chatting with others during the race, to the quiet solo moments reflecting under the moonlight (even with the slight panic of thinking I was lost at one point). To me, that’s what makes these races so special – the memories created during the many miles while training, the race experience itself, and the lessons learned that I carry with me long after the finish line.

My feet are busy resting and healing, but soon they’ll be back at it as I have IMTX in April 2026….and probably more ultras 🙂

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Hennepin Hundred 2025 Pre-Race

Posted on November 9, 2025 by Anne-Marie

When I finished Hennepin last year (well a few weeks after the race when my feet had healed), I knew I wanted to run another 100 mile ultra in the future. After looking at what races I wanted to do in 2025, I realized that doing an Ironman just didn’t excite me, so I decided 2025 would be mostly a run focused year again. I did decide to sign up for Rockford 70.3 in June, just to get in one tri, but other than that the races would all be running.

After I raced Rockford 70.3 the official Hennepin training started. I had a strong base from the 50 mile race earlier in the year, plus the Lincoln Marathon and the Grand Canyon R2R2R, but I still needed to up the mileage. So throughout July, August and September I ran, ran and ran some more. I did a 6 hour night race, a super duper hot 100k that turned into a 54 mile race, and many long ass weekends of hours of miles. I still managed to have somewhat of a life outside of running, going to an EDM festival in Chicago and also visiting a friend in Kansas City. They also love running, and didn’t mind running 24ish combined miles on a Saturday followed by 15ish miles that Sunday with me (got to stick to the plan!).

Before I knew it, I was training for my last big weekend and then I would only have a few runs before the big race. I felt ready…but was also a little like, oh boy, this time I know what I’m getting into, do I really want to do this? Of course I did, but I just had those occasional little nagging thoughts. I also had really focused on my nutrition while training, sticking with the same plan I had last year, but adding more sodium to my skratch during the hotter runs, which seemed to work really well especially during that 54mile race in 100+ ‘feels like’ temps.

Race week I had my drop bags laid out, nutrition and gear on top and felt as ready as I was going to be. Thursday night I officially packed everything and was ready to leave late Friday morning to head to Moline, IL. The trip went smoothly, I checked into my hotel, relaxed a bit and then headed to drop off my drop bags and go to the pre-race meeting. This all went smoothly too and was soon back in my hotel room eating my pre race dinner and then doing the last minute pre-race things, like taping my toes the night before.

Reused Drop Bags from 2024, so so so many gels….

Except, that didn’t go smoothly. I knocked the glass bottle of compound tincture of benzoin off the edge of the tub (what is recommended to use to make your feet extra tacky/sticky when applying K-tape) ALL over the place. The walls, the toilet, the floor. I was frantically trying to clean the walls first but was not having any luck. After a google search, I headed to Wal-Mart for rubbing alcohol and fortunately that did the trick. However after that hour long incident (and sweating due to stressing and frantic scrubbing), I was pretty wiped and not in the mood to tape my darn toes. I finally got them done, with the tincture on the floor this time and put the lid right back on after using. Then I ate my nightly animal crackers, brushed my teeth and headed to bed.

My alarm went off at 4a. I got ready, ate my breakfast and headed to the finish line where the shuttle bus would pick us up to drive the hour-ish ride to the start line. All went well, it wasn’t crazy crowded and I easily got a parking spot and then boarded the bus. The ride felt much longer than last year, as I thought we arrived at the start line at 6, but we got there closer to 6:30. Since we got there so close to the start time at 7a, I immediately headed to the porta potty line. The line was super long and as a result I only had ten minutes to stuff my vest with all of my gels and skratch and line up. By the time I made it to the start I was still fussing with my nutrition and watch as the horn went off. We were off! Here we go!

Hennepin Hundred 2025 Race Recap

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Grand Canyon Rim to Rim to Rim

Posted on July 21, 2025 by Anne-Marie

I could write pages and pages about this trip, however I will stick with the highlights and not get too into the details. This trip had been on my bucket list for several years, I wasn’t sure about doing it in one day, but two days seemed do-able. The plan was to fly into Vegas early Wednesday morning and drive the five hours to the North Rim. Thursday hike North to South and spend the night on the South Rim. Friday hike South to North, spend the night at the North Rim and then drive back to Vegas Saturday morning. So. many. logistics. I was able to book South Rim lodging and lodging 20 minutes away from the North Kaibab Trailhead on the North Rim, but was hoping to stay at the North Rim Lodge which is right next to the North Kaibab trailhead. After checking the North Rim Lodge reservations every single day this past December, I finally was able to book a room for both Wednesday and Friday nights, hooray! Next up was actually training for the hike as well as getting a few key gear items.

In February I met up with a friend for coffee, and while we were catching up I told her about my Rim to Rim to Rim (R2R2R) adventure in May. A few weeks later she texted me that she had a friend that lives in STL and was doing the same thing, possibly on the same day, and did I want her info – heck yeah! I texted her friend and sure enough we were both starting our hikes on the North Rim on the same exact day. What are the odds? She was headed to see other sights after the hike, so the second part I would do solo as planned. As much as I was wanting to do a solo type of trip, I was actually pretty excited to have someone to hike the first half with.

I had signed up for a few running races in the spring, a 50 mile race at the end of March and a half-marathon at the end of April. I figured I would get in some hiking in April/May, however, I ended up running a half marathon with friends at the beginning of April and on a whim ran a marathon the week after the originally planned half marathon. I did run it by my coach presenting it as ‘good training for the Grand Canyon’, he agreed that time on feet, is time on feet. Note that was my first standalone marathon since 2015, it’s been a while! So in summary, I did zero hiking but did get in some weeks with big mileage.

I did meet up with my new friend a few times, she is a beast and had already been doing training sessions of hiking stairs for hours. I did 90 minutes with her on a Saturday morning and my calves hurt so badly until the following Thursday (I thought I had torn a muscle it was so bad). As a result, I only trained stairs twice, lol.

As we got closer to the date of our trip, it was posted that there were trail and bridge closures and our original route to go up the Bright Angel trail on the South Rim was derailed. In order to go up that trail, which has water every 1.5 miles, you had to hike an exposed trail for 4 miles to get there. So additional miles that were in the heat. OR we could change plans and hike up South Kaibab on the South Rim, but there wasn’t any water on the trail and it was 7 miles long (apprx 3 hours of hiking was our guess). Both were risky, and we read it was recommended to start as early as possible to get past the hottest parts (bottom of canyon) before 10a. We decided we would go up South Kaibab.

After many logistics and gear discussion, the trip date had finally arrived. The flight and drive up to the North Rim went smoothly, I arrived about 2:30p and walked around, got my gear ready and wrote my postcards to mail at the bottom of the canyon at Phantom Ranch. My friend arrived around 7p, wiped out from her shuttle drive from the South Rim. After discussing a few more logistics, we headed to get some sleep and the plan was to meet in the lobby at 2:50a to hit the trail by 3a.

I didn’t sleep great, afraid I would oversleep, and was out of bed at 2:30a ready to go. We met up in the lobby as planned and hopped into the car to drive to the trailhead, as I was parking there so that I would have a way to get back to the Lodge when I returned. We lucked out and got a parking spot in the lot! I was prepared to park along the roadside as it was pretty packed the day before. Then we headed down to the trail with our headlamps, ready to take on the day.

I hated the first five miles, they were rocky and sandy and I kept almost tripping/twisting my ankle at least ten times. I thought, ‘if the rest of the trail is like this, I can’t do it’. After several frustrating hours in the dark, soon the sun began to rise and also the trail began to level out and become more solid ground. That combination changed my mood, and I started to feel great and optimistic about the rest of the hike. As we hiked, we took photos, talked about all kinds of random things and then stopped at Cottonwood Camp to take a breather and refill water. The trail after Cottonwood was fairly runnable, so we started slow jogging along the trail. Our goal was to be at Canyon Ranch by 8:30a to avoid being in the heat for too long while hiking up the South Kaibab trail.

We made our goal and arrived at Canyon Ranch at 7:45a, refilled water and waited until 8a for the shop to open up so we could stamp and mail our postcards (the stamp says ‘carried out by mule’). At the bottom we also had a beautiful views of the Colorado River from the Black Bridge. It was such a pretty green color.

Then we took a deep breath and headed to begin the hardest part of the hike. This for sure was harder than the sandy rocky part at the beginning. It was just climbing, climbing and more climbing- in the heat and direct exposure to the sun. We both had sunshirts on and I pulled the hood over my hat as an attempt to stay cooler. We took mini breaks to catch our breath, drink water and refuel, as well as take photos.

On we went, on and on and on. Soon we were coming across more people that were coming down, so we knew we were getting close. Ooh-ah point was the next landmark and I kept swearing it was around the next corner…10 corners later we arrived! We only had 1.5 miles to go, ‘we can do it!’, I thought.

After taking a few quick photos, we pushed on to finish it out. It was a little frustrating as the trail became much more crowded and we had to keep stepping aside to let others pass if they wouldn’t step aside, we just wanted to get up to the top. However soon we could see the trailhead, and I was so happy to see it! We made the final steps to get to the top, stopped our watches (ha, of course we were tracking our time and other metrics). And gave each other a high five since we were so proud of ourselves for doing it! It took us 8 hours and 40ish minutes, well beyond our guesstimate goal of 10 hours.

We took the shuttle back to the Bright Angel lodge where we picked up the bags we had shuttled from the North Rim. I had shuttled a bag so I had some overnight items and well as to restock my nutrition for the second day. We hugged and she headed back to Phoenix and I headed to the Maswick Lodge to take a much needed shower and change. After the shower I went to get two giant pieces of pizza which in real life probably were not good at all, but at the time, they were delicious.

I went back to the room and washed my hiking clothes in the sink to wear the next day. The plan the next morning was to take the shuttle to the trailhead at 3:50 am, so it was an early bedtime again. I was up at 3a ready to go, and quickly headed over to the shuttle pickup. It was a short 15 minute drive to the trailhead and chatted with the father and son who were also on the shuttle as they were going to do a rim to river that day.

When we arrived, the driver said, ‘oh there’s a bus load of people getting off right now too’. With those words, I thought ‘oh hell no’, assembled my poles, tuned on my headlamp and scurried to the trailhead stat. I really didn’t want to get stuck behind a ton of people as I had a long day ahead of me and had to be mindful of the heat. The trail was still pretty crowded and once again I was a little clumsy but also just slow. People kept passing me by, the young son and the father, other random people, what was I doing wrong? I was moving as fast as I could to be cautious and then a guy running passed me by and on he went. I thought, well, why not give it a try on this one part, it looks runnable’, and on I went. I just kept going, thinking ‘well this looks runnable too’ until it all was mostly runnable in my mind. It seemed that it was easier to just run down the trail than delicately navigate it with poles. Using my arms for balance, I was good to go. It also felt good to get running again. Soon I could see the river! I took a few photos and headed to finish the descent and cross the bridge.

This time I arrived at Phantom Ranch a little before 7a, way too early to wait around for the shop to open so I refilled my water and headed on. Surprisingly I felt stronger than I did on the first day, maybe it was because I was more familiar with the trail, maybe it was the mac and cheese for dinner the night before (yes, pizza for late lunch, mac and cheese for dinner, carbs galore!), regardless I was in a happy groove while running and taking in the beautiful views. I stopped at Cottonwood Canyon to refill my water again and chatted with two guys that were going in the opposite direction. We talked about how our hikes were going and where we were from, after hours of mostly just the sounds of the canyon, it was nice to have someone to talk to. Soon we parted ways and I mentally prepared for the big climb that started in a few miles, right after Manzita springs. Manzita springs was the last water stop before the top, so once I arrived, I chugged one of my soft flasks to rehydrate and refilled everything so I had the full 3.5 liters for the final stretch. I’m not going to lie, I was nervous about the heat and if I would run out of water as it was getting pretty hot out.

I began the final stretch and was actually able to run a few parts and then it got steep and hard. The trail turned back into the sand with rocks which made it so hard to get good footing and felt like I was sliding around with each step. Bless my Black Canyon hiking poles, they saved the day both days, up South Kaibab and now up North Kaibab. I really don’t think I could have completed the hike without them. I passed a few people who were taking a rest in shady spots and thought it would be nice to do the same, but the longer I was out here, the hotter it would get. Plus I didn’t feel like I was overheating, if I was then the rest in the shade would have been the way to go. So I carried on, having some random songs going on over and over in my head to the rhythm of each time I stabbed the sand with my poles to push up or steady my footing. It got to the point that I was huffing and puffing, sweating like crazy and I was ready to be done. I checked my watch and it was most likely 3 more miles, which would really mean at least 1.5 hours with how challenging the trail was. Sigh. One foot in front of the other.

A photo I took while taking a breather

More stabbing my poles (probably not the right way but I was so tired, stab, stab, seemed like the way to go), taking deep breaths to not cry as I was feeling more than a little frustrated. Then I saw some people sitting on a rock on the trail. They said they were waiting for their friends, and the trailhead was very close. Hooray! I was almost there! That added a little pep to my step and I picked up the pace. Yet the trail kept going…and going. What exactly was ‘very close?’. To me, very close is like… 200 yards. This was like… forever. However soon I could see the clearing of the trail and practically had tears of joy. I did it! I made the final steps to the trailhead and stopped my watch, 7 hours and 30 minutes, I was really moving on the way back! I took a photo next to the sign and headed to the car to get back to the hotel to take a much needed shower.

I was so ridiculously sore several hours after the hike that I could hardly roll off the bed from the nap I took. Maybe the nap was a bad idea, but I was more worried how I was going to drive back to Vegas the next morning. However, I was in better shape (still super sore) the next morning, and the drive back to Vegas was uneventful. During the drive I was thinking that this was hands down one of my top three favorite trips, between making the new friendship, the challenge and the amazing views. I would go back next week but there are new places to explore first!

Nutrition on the Hike

South to North – apprx 2,020 calories

  • 7 Skratch Labs Hydration mix packets
  • 7 Untapped Gels
  • 2 Larabars
  • 1 Bobo’s Oat bar

North to South – apprx 2,030 calories

  • 8 Skratch Labs Hydration mix packets
  • 12 Untapped Gels
  • 1 Larabar

Update: I am so sad to see the sad news that the North Rim Lodge has burned down due to a fire started by lighting. That just makes this trip that much more special to realize how lucky I was to get to experience it.

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2025 Prairie Spirit Trail 50 Miler

Posted on March 28, 2025 by Anne-Marie

After Hennepin I took a few weeks of recovery and then focused on keeping somewhat of a swim/bike/run base (swimming was very lacking). I knew I wanted to focus on ultras again this year (maybe if Ironman race entry fees drop I’ll give a full another go), so I decided to kick off the season with the Prairie Spirit Trail 50 Mile race. I had raced the fall version of the race in 2020 – different name, same trail, same race company, the 100k in the spring of 2023 and also a 12 hour race on a part of the trail last summer. So I would say I am pretty familiar with the trail/area, making this race feel more low key/less stress.

Training went pretty well, since it’s the beginning of the season I didn’t have any crazy workouts like I did for Hennepin, just one weekend of 3 hours saturday/3 hours sunday, and the next weekend 5 hours. Yes, five, that was a long day. I’ve been running in a new brand of shoes, Topo, in search of a wider toebox to save my toenails. So far in training they felt great and toes were happy, and hoped they would work well in the race. I headed into the race with a relaxed attitude, no real goals (well fine, it would be nice if I PR’d but wasn’t going to kill myself) other than to finish to make the 4is hour drive worth it, lol.

Race morning I drove the 5 minutes to the race start, hung out inside the hall/building to stay warm and then lined up at 6:30a with the others running the 50 mile distance. Within the first five minutes I already found myself on pace with a small group of people and after about 2 miles we started to chit chat, asking where everyone was from, race goals, etc. The time flew by as we chatted, one of the guys stayed in a very seedy motel across the street from the race and was telling us the horrors of his room. When we hit the first manned aid station we ended up splitting up as some went to the bathroom, some stopped for refills, and I kept going still having plenty of hydration.

Everything felt good leg-wise, but my big problem was my hands. In cold weather they just struggle to stay warm, even wearing mittens and having hot hands inside them, they get stiff and claw-like. When they do finally warm up they are still claw-like for quite awhile and I can’t grip anything. It was (not very) amusing after some longer runs in the winter trying to pry my key out of my pocket and using two hands to try to put it in the lock. Taking gels was even worse and I struggled getting them open and when I did, I usually got some of it all over me. However, I expected this and knew that’s how the first few hours of the race would go… but it was still frustrating. Meanwhile some of the people in our group didn’t even have gloves on and were in t-shirts! It’s official, I cannot do cold-weather/winter ultras.

Frozen hands and face! Photo credit: Mile 90 Photography

Finally around the 3 hour mark when the sun was really out and coming over the trees, I felt like my hands were getting their mobility back. It was also around this time I decided I would turn my music on since everyone was pretty spread out and I was mostly running solo. The music was a good distraction for the miles still to go, and I tried to stay relaxed and remember to take my nutrition every 30 minutes.

Getting a little warmer! Photo Credit: Mile 90 Photography

I looked up ahead and noticed a big white lab running along with another runner. I wasn’t sure if this was his dog that decided to hop in at an aid station, but then he ran back towards me and ran with me for a bit, and then back up to the other guy. There have been stray dogs on this trail that run along with people for a bit, so it wasn’t a huge surprise, however this dog was logging some miles. On and on he followed us, running back and forth between us, no barking just panting happily. Since I had been running solo for a while I decided to talk to the dog and ask how their day was and a few other random questions I would ask my dog.

Soon I was approaching the turn around in the town of Garnett, this was where my 12 hours night race was and I reminisced about running that night on the trail: the coyotes howling, seeing the stars, hearing the noisy tractor pull happening in the nearby park (learned something new!), doing bad running math, ah memories. When I reached the turn around at the train station I grabbed my drop bag – a ziplock gallon bag so I could toss after and not wait for them to drop it back at the start, stuffed my pack with nutrition and filled my bottles. It was a quick pit stop! Note the dog followed me into the train station but decided to stay and not follow me out. I was a little sad he wasn’t coming back with me.

I was off and back on the trail, however ten minutes in these two little boys rode up on their bikes and told me I left something at the train station – the handed me four of my gels! I was rushing too much in there and must have completely missed they were still sitting on the bench. I told the boys they saved my race and thanked them for coming to find me. Phew! I could have improvised with aid station food, but I’d rather stick with what I know my stomach can handle.

Once I hit the 30 mile mark I could feel my legs getting heavier and holding a ten minute pace took some effort. I kept trying to hang on, but the pace was beginning to slow. Then I realized I had tylenol with me and decided to take it to see if it would help with my aching legs, and after about 15 minutes they were feeling better and I was back to running closer to a 10 min pace. I ran through the next manned aid station as my bottles were still pretty full… but I wasn’t sure if my stomach was still in a good spot and slightly regretted not stopping at the bathrooms. After a few more miles I realized it was in fact, a bad decision to have skipped it, and started to desperately search for a big bush or some foliage on the side of the trail that would hide me. I finally found one, climbing over branches and almost falling. I could see a runner coming but knew he wouldn’t see me when approaching but if he turned around after passing, well, he would see everything. As he passed I kept thinking ‘don’t turn around! don’t turn around!’ and fortunately he did not and shortly after I was back on the trail. I did manage to get the Ace of Base song ‘Don’t turn around’ stuck in my head on and off for the rest of the race. How I remembered that song is a little baffling. Things get a little weird in the later miles.

The sun is out, taking off the layers and feeling good. Photo Credit: Mile 90 Photography

I reached the last manned aid station at mile 42.5, refilled my water and was off to finish the race. I texted my coach that I was at mile 43 and had 7 to go. Then I went into focus mode and tried to get the pace back to sub 10 the remainder of the miles. I was mostly successful and soon I could see the highway where the trail ended and that I was close (a mile?) to the finish. I kept pushing and wondering if I pushed too hard too soon and if I was not going to make it. That sounds dramatic but it really did almost happen during a 50k, I was wobbling and could barely get to the finish line, yikes. But my legs held up, I could see the orange cones where we turned to the finish, and tried to finish strong. I could see 8:39:07 on the clock which was less than 3 minutes off from my race in 2020. I had trained really hard for that race being my big goal of the year, so with this just being a season starter, I was pretty happy. I also managed to get 3rd place female, so that was exciting to take home a little hardware.

Finisher Medal and 3rd Place Female Railroad Spike Award

I headed to the hall to hit the bathroom and get some water, and ended up chatting with a guy that was in the initial group I ran with at the beginning and we had also passed each other several times during the race. After sitting for a bit and getting a little pep from a Diet Coke, I hit the road for the 4ish hour drive home. Another fun race in Ottawa, KS, and I’m sure I’ll be back again. I am also happy to report my toes were happy, no blisters, that seems to be a win in itself for me!

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The Hennepin Hundred – Race Recap

Posted on January 31, 2025 by Anne-Marie

Hennepin Hundred Pre-Race

Once we were running I remembered to switch the power mode on my Garmin to the one I saved that would have 29 hours of battery. I also had a powerbank in the mile 88 drop bag in case I was running low and would need to charge but was hoping 29 hours would be enough! Then I focused on running and not going too fast, which wasn’t too hard since it was very crowded on the trail. After a few miles it started to spread out and I ran with a couple of different groups of people, and around mile 8 I settled in with a few runners that were running similar paces. The miles flew by as we talked about previous races, race nutrition and other random topics like pets. One thing I noticed was that my legs felt a little off, almost wobblily and unsteady, and I wasn’t picking them up enough so I kept scuffing my feet and sometimes almost tripping.. until I actually did at mile 15. I did a quick drop and roll (like a ninja) and then was back up, frustrated and a little embarrassed, wondering how I managed to do that. Also, it was really early in the race and I was hoping this wasn’t going to be a thing during the rest of the race.

My little running group early in the race – photo credit: Jennifer Thorsen

I approached the mile 20.4 Aid Station (AS) which had our first set of drop bags. I quickly found my bag, stuffed my vest with gels and skratch and was off. After that I got separated from my running group and was running solo. The next couple of aid stations were uneventful, just a quick bottle refill and I was off. However around mile 28 my mind went into a negative space and started thinking ‘Why am I doing this?’, ‘Do I really want to do this?’. My legs were starting to feel heavy and the thought of going 70+ more miles sounded daunting and a little impossible. I decided to focus on just getting to the next aid station at mile 32, which would have my next drop bag and I was going to see JMR.

AS 6 Tunnel – photo credit: Jennifer Thorsen
AS 6/Mile 27 – photo credit: John Knepper

I was thrilled to run into AS 7 – they had loud music playing and ton of positive energy. I grabbed my drop bag and stuffed my vest, refilled my bottles and also drank some ginger ale and coke. I looked around and could not find JMR. I quickly headed to a porta potty as I sort of had to pee, and then was off. I pulled out my phone and texted JMR to let him know I just left AS7 and was headed to AS 8. He said he was just pulling into the Aid Station 7 lot, that I was way way way ahead of schedule and he would meet me at AS 8.

Hearing the news that I was ahead of schedule was good and bad, good because even though I didn’t feel great, I was still doing ok, but bad because I was worried I went out too fast. By now the sun was blaring and it was really getting hot out. I pulled my sunshirt hood over my hat to help provide more shade, but it was also very windy which made more of a sail. I decided it was time to turn my iPod on for a little boost. I had decided to use my playlists from the KS 50 mile race in 2020, and hearing the old but familiar playlist’s definitely pumped me up.

I kept pushing, excited to see JMR, and finally reached AS 8. I was SO thirsty. I drank way too much water and also had water dumped on my head (they had a water tank and were offering). I sprayed some sunscreen on my legs and neck and chatted with JMR saying something along the lines of ‘it was hot and I was thirsty and it was hard’. I asked him to walk a little with me out of the aid station and then we parted ways. 5.6 miles to the next aid station and 8.8 until I saw JMR again.

This was a long stretch, with the sun blaring and the heat it zapped my energy. I started doing some walk breaks, trying to ‘walk with a purpose’ though (what I learned from the race director at the 12 hour race I did), swinging my arms and taking big steps to try and stretch my legs while walking. I had my watch set to remind me to eat every 30 minutes, so that also provided a good distraction focusing on the next gel and which one would I take (I was alternating between Sis, Maurten and Endurance Tap). At the next aid station I refilled my water and was off.

After what felt like forever, I reached AS 10 (mile 47.5) and saw JMR, but I had decided prior to the race I wasn’t going to stop for my drop bag until I came back around at mile 54. So I gave him quick kiss (he was like.. ‘you are so smelly, just a high five is ok’) and kept going. Then I saw a sign that said the out and back was for all runners. I was very confused. I thought this stretch kept going until the 50 mile race finish line and we turned around. However the 50 mile finish line was near Aid Station 10/12. I had no idea how far we were running on the out and back as I wasn’t sure if my sheet was correct (even though with simple math knowing it was the difference between 47.5 and 54, but my brain couldn’t compute). I lost steam, I walked. I started to feel nauseous. I decided to take a zofran to see if that would help and after a couple of miles I felt better, but I also saw the sign for where the 50 milers turned around and we kept going. Ugh. I slogged along until I saw Aid Station 11, thinking hooray! But they told me to keep going, ‘not very far, turn around and then come over for water’. I sadly kept going, hit the turn around (it really only was like 200 yards away, not far, they didn’t lie), and then headed to the aid station to refill my water/skratch.

I picked up the pace a little, now knowing the route I was going and knew I would get a little break once I hit AS 12/mile 54. There was a tunnel we ran through on the way out and ran back through and it was during this time in the ‘dark’ tunnel filled with lumpy gravel and that footing felt off again. I decided to walk through it this time (I tried to jog the first time through) which was better and thankfully I felt more balanced when I came back out. The leg thing was super weird.

I was thrilled seeing the aid station coming into view, waved to JMR, then headed to the porta potties for a quick pit stop. Next I grabbed my drop bag and pulled out all of my gear and nutrition. I had thought I’d be coming into this aid station around 7p and it was just before 5p. It was also still hot, and my plan was to change into a long sleeved shirt thinking I’d be a little chilly but that was certainly not the case. I also had a wind jacket and gloves, lol. After chatting with another girl who had similar original plans, she said she was going to put her headlamp on (we were going to need that regardless) and then stuff her dry clothes in her bag for later.

I grabbed the gear but my hydration pack was already pretty stuffed. I headed over to JMR to see if he could bring it to the next Aid Station 14 (no crew allowed at 13) which was mile 62. He said he was planning on going there (it was a long day so I wasn’t sure when he was going to head back to the hotel), so I gave him a high five and headed out. I was feeling ok, but my legs were starting to get achy and was considering taking some tylenol. Doing the math, I had 4 tylenol so if I took 2 now, then the soonest I could take them again would be at the 16 hour mark… and by the next time I could take 2 more (even though I wouldn’t have any more) I would hopefully be close to the finish and it wouldn’t matter, so I decided to take them now and not save them. I don’t know, I was doing a lot of running math that seemed to make sense at the time.

I noticed that at this point I was running a decent comfortable pace, and the head games I was battling around mile 30 had disappeared. I guess once I hit the 50 mile mark I knew I was halfway done, and running 50 more miles seemed more do-able in my mind. Plus the visit down memory lane with my Tritonia podcasts (trance, EDM) really brought up my morale. The next aid station I went to get a refill and realized I had only drank half of my skratch and none in the other bottle. I needed to pay better attention to hydration since I didn’t really have an alarm or reminder to drink, just to thirst. I knew the next stretch until AS 14 was going to be long and lonely since it felt that way on the way out, but this time in the dark especially, 6.6 miles and then I would see JMR again.

Getting ready for the sun to set and feeling good – photo credit: Jennifer Thorsen

It was starting to get dark so I turned my headlamp on and noted which time I turned it on to remember that it only lasted around 8.5 hours and when I would need to swap batteries. It blinks to let me know it’s running low, but still wanted to mentally be ready. I also decided at the next AS I was going to swap from my iPod/wired headphones to my phone/bluetooth headphones for music since the bluetooth are bone conducting and I can still hear things around me which seems safer especially at night.

On I trudged, still feeling pretty good, readjusting my headlamp a few times and decided I was also going to ditch my hat at the next aid station since it cut off some of the light from my headlamp. I was going to give JMR a ton of stuff, lol. Soon I could hear the music and see the twinkling colored lights at AS 14. I saw JMR right away and chatted with him while swapping my long sleeved shirts, taking off my hat and putting on a buff, and changing the music situation. He told me he was planning on seeing me at the next 2 aid stations at miles 69 (AS 15) and 75 (AS 16) and then was going to head to the hotel. He took a quick photo of me and I headed off for the next 5.7 mile stretch.

I was still taking a gel every 30 minutes but I noticed it was getting a little more challenging to force them down, especially the Endurance Tap which were really sweet. I decided I would take the 2 extra Maurten I had in my bag at the next aid station and swap those with the planned Endurance Tap. Hooray for packing extra! I also noticed a little rubbing/pain on my right toe and wanted to take a look to see if there was a blister and/or it needed ktape to prevent it from getting worse. Between the nutrition and my toe I was pretty distracted and soon I could see the colored glow sticks (so cool looking!) lining the path to AS 15.

When I got there a volunteer asked me what I needed and I said ‘I think I have a blister on my toe’. I was hoping they would say ‘oh ok! take your shoe off and we will take a look/patch it up!’, however of course they did not but he offered to help take my shoe off, which was a big help! After I took my sock off I saw a small blister forming and then got out my blister kit and took care of it. I love being prepared! After what felt like forever I finally got my sock and shoe back on, refilled my bottles, grabbed more nutrition (with extra Maurten) high fived JMR and after getting all turned around (I started to head out of the aid station backwards…I was starting to get a little loopy), I was on my way again.

During this stretch of five miles, things started to get rough. My legs were feeling heavy, I was unsure if my taping job really did anything for my toe and I was also really nauseas again. I took my second zofran hoping it would help, however it did not. Despite not feeling great I tried to keep up with my nutrition, but even with just the mild Sis gel and practically unflavored Maurten, it was getting tough to swallow. In fact, I was starting to get mad at my watch when it would beep every 30 minutes to take a gel, swearing I had just taken one and surely it was too soon/hadn’t been 30 minutes. It made me laugh because I remembered reading about runners getting mad at their pacers when they told them to eat/drink and they didn’t want to, which sounded silly, but I was having a similar irritated exchange with my watch. However I knew how important it was to keep the nutrition going, especially since I was on the lower end per hour so I begrudgingly kept grabbing out gels from my pack every time it beeped and forced them down.

When I finally got to the next aid station (AS 16, mile 75). I felt like garbage. The nausea was really kicking in and I felt a little panicked on how I was going to run another 25 miles when the thought of another gel or any food was making me queasy. When I found JMR I just said I felt really sick then my eyes got watery and felt like I was going to cry (dramatic? probably really tired?). I did not cry, but when the volunteer wearing a big yellow pineapple-shaped hat asked me what he could get me, I told him how terrible I was feeling. He asked if I had been eating mostly sweet stuff and I nodded my head. He said ‘You know at this point in the race, it’s just an eating contest. You’ve got the running down. You’ve got to eat something’. He rattled off a few different salty items…PBJ, Pretzels, Mashed Potatoes, Chicken broth.. I just looked at him and said ‘It all sounds terrible’. He finally convinced me to try some mashed potatoes diluted with chicken broth, and to just ‘take a bite every mile and I would be ok’. I nodded and thanked him, thinking it was all lies and I was going to feel horrible until the end, but headed out.

I managed to take a spoonful of potatoes and after a slight gag reflex, I was able to get them down, and then another bite and a third. I didn’t feel completely better but I did feel considerably better than before eating them. I tried to eat more since I knew it was probably only 100 calories at most in the cup, but my stomach wasn’t ready for it. Then I distracted myself with my pace/ time, and started doing math to see what pace I needed to keep to finish under 30 hours.. could I walk it in? But then that would take forever and walking hurt too, so I might as well run.

The next time my watch beeped I took a gel, but chased it with a spoonful of mashed potatoes and it went down great! The potatoes were a miracle! I caught up with another lady for a bit before she picked up the pace, but she was very encouraging and it was nice to chat with someone for a bit since I had been running mostly solo since mile 20. Soon I came to a road underpass that was filled with mud and water. I was very confused, were we supposed to go through this muck? I didn’t see any shoe prints so I turned around and started to see if we could run up the hillside to the road and back over, but it was way too steep. I think it was partly due to fatigue, but I started to get totally freaked out about going under this overpass…. and then worried maybe I took a wrong turn…. and wasn’t on the right trail (how that’s even possible on a trail alongside a canal is beyond me, but at the time it seemed like a possibility). After standing there for a bit, soon I could see a headlamp coming in my direction so I knew I was on the right path. Ok! I moved forward and tried to carefully hop through the water and mud with not much success, my white shoes were no longer white (dangerous color to run in anyways). When I finally came to the other side I wiped my shoes in the grass on the side of the trail and kept going.

Soon I approached AS 17 where I refilled my bottles and got another cup of mashed potatoes, and quickly headed out. After taking a bite I realized they had dumped salt on top of the potatoes and holy cow it was salty! Since I had been doing a good job of taking in salt/electrolytes having this much extra salt made me nervous, so after taking another bite I pinched the top of the cup and stuffed it into my vest.

I looked at my watch and saw I was at 16 hours and 30ish minutes. Having 20 miles left, finishing in under 24 hours seemed do-able in 8 hours. I started doing running math to see what pace I needed to finish under 24 hours and figured with my walking pace close to 20 minute miles, if I walked the whole way I would finish in 6 hours and 40 minutes, well under 24 hours. Wow! However that sounded like a long-ass time to walk so I kept trying to pick up the pace and do some running. I would run half a mile and walk half a mile, running a pace around 13 minute/mile and walking a 19 minute/mile. Then run .75 mile and walk .25 depending on how I was feeling each mile. Soon I was approaching AS 18, once there I refilled my bottles, got another cup of mashed potatoes and was back on the trail.

These mashed potatoes were a combination of chicken noodle soup and mashed potatoes, when they offered that combination I thought ‘why not!’. They were amazing, I think the noodles just added a nice change of texture. Then to distract myself I started doing math again to see what pace I needed to keep to finish under 22 hours. I realized that if I kept up this walk/run combination pace, I could do it! That gave me some extra energy to keep moving. I also saw the lady I chatted with earlier and we exchanged encouraging words and a little chit chat.

After what felt like forever I finally reached AS 19 (mile 88ish) and the nice guy who helped take my shoe off from an earlier aid station was there. He said he wasn’t really a volunteer, his wife was racing and he was just helping out at the aid stations while he was waiting for her. What a nice guy! I refilled my bottles and took more potatoes and he said ‘Only a half marathon to go!’ I thought… only?!?! That sounded really far given my walk/run pace. Then he told me I was 4th or 5th female which shocked me and also put some fire in my feet to do less walking. Not that I cared what place I was in, I just wanted to finish, but finishing 4th or 5th female sounded really cool!

Soon I got to the point where walking seemed to make me sleepy, running was painful but the pain kept me awake so I kept trying to run. I looked at the time of day and saw it was around 3a, 20ish hours. I was surprised I hadn’t felt tired until now, during the 12 hour ultra I was sleepy around 11p and then at another point around 3a. However I knew I was getting closer and just needed to focus on getting to the next aid station. Once I made it there, it would be the final push to the finish..or shuffle…or crawl.

I made it to AS 20, which was manned by several chill guys that seemed to be having a blast. The energy was contagious and I chatted with them about how this was my first 100 and how much fun (ha, type 2!) was having. They gave me encouraging words while I refilled my bottles and sipped on some coke. Of course I asked for a cup of potatoes. Then as I was heading out, one of them offered to walk with me for a bit while I ate some mashed potatoes so I didn’t have to run the last leg with the cup. After a few minutes of walking I asked him if he would be sad if I didn’t eat all of the potatoes, and he said of course not, took the cup, and I was off! I pulled out my phone and gave JMR a call to let him know I was about 90 minutes from the finish.

I picked up my pace and was doing more running than walking and felt re-energized. And then… I felt a familiar sensation on my left pinky toe, a sharp pain and then more pain. It was a blister under the toenail. Ugh. I had been here before and knew that eventually the pain would fade and I just needed to keep moving. I also hoped it was just that toe and not the right one too like what had happened the last time I got one. After focusing on doing some deep breathing, after about ten minutes the pain finally subsided a bit and I could focus on running with a more natural gait. I decided to pull up my spotify playlist which I save for fun easy runs, and was going to be my last secret weapon to keep moving forward. Immediately my spirits were lifted and I felt a surge of new energy. On I ran, singing out loud and semi-running (what felt like a 9 minute mile was more like a 13 minute mile), trying to distract myself from my still pretty darn painful toe.

I kept doing more bad running math, trying to see how much I could walk to finish under 22 hours and realized I needed to keep up with the slow running rather than walking if that was my goal. Also, as I said before, walking was going to take a lot longer which also motivated me to keep ‘running’. I checked my watch and saw I had about 3 miles to go. That seemed like forever with my current pace. I kept moving forward and after what really did feel like forever (longest 2.5 miles of my life), I saw the sign that the finish was up ahead. I had about a mile on my watch before I hit 100, so I knew it was close. I passed a guy running backwards from the finish to meet a runner and thought ‘surely he didn’t run more than a mile to get out here’ (not sure of my logic) it has to be close! I kept seeing signs pointing the direction to the finish and kept thinking it was almost there. And then, it was. I could see the place in the park where packet pickup had been and knew the finish was just to the left of it. And then I could see the finish. I kept going, picking up my pace a bit and thinking ‘holy sh*it, I cannot believe I am doing this’. I saw the clock and saw I was under 22 hours, I saw JMR and shouted ‘holy sh*t!’ to him as I ran under the clock/across the finish line.

photo credit: John Knepper
photo credit: John Knepper

I did it. I couldn’t believe it, I did it. I also finished much faster than expected and ended up coming in 4th female. Wow. The only goal I had was to finish (and not crap my pants), so this was just awesome. The race director walked towards me with my sub 24 hour belt buckle and gave me a huge congrats. I was practically speechless and couldn’t think of what to say except ‘wow!’ (In retrospect I wish I had thanked her for putting on such a great race). She also gave me my finisher flannel shirt and I got a few photos taken at the finish line under the clock. I walked over to JMR and was again at a loss for words. He took a photo of me with my buckle, I chatted with another guy who I had run with earlier in the race, who had finished just before me. The volunteers let me know there was chili and soup and other food in the tent nearby but I sadly declined as my stomach didn’t want anything else coming in at the moment. I hobbled to the car with JMR…and couldn’t believe how sore I was already. I had just finished…and the next day is always the worst, oh boy.

Talking to the Race Director after getting my Sub 24 Hour Finisher Buckle – photo credit: John Knepper
Finisher Buckle and Flannel Shirt – photo credit: John Knepper

We got back to the hotel around 5a, I showered, JMR went back to bed and I spent the next three hours unsure if I was going to puke and sitting upright as laying down (legs flat) hurt too much. My feet. Those were a mess too, so many blisters. Ugh. Finally around 10a we headed back to the finish line to get my drop bags and then after getting some food from the finisher tent we were on our way home. I managed to sleep on the drive home. Once we arrived home I didn’t even unpack, I climbed out of the car and walked directly into bed. I woke up at 8p and did a little unpacking/laundry and was back asleep at 9p until 7a the next day. I was tired!

This recap took me several months to write, not surprising given how long the race took 🙂 I will also say this was the MOST sore I have ever been after a race. After a few days I was walking around like an 80 year old vs a 90 year old, but continued to improve as the days went by. Today my toes have finally healed, six toenails lost and I’m back to running 🙂

Was it worth it? 100% Would I do it again… not ruling it out. I’m signed up to run it again this year with some new goals. I still have a triathlon planned to do in June but this year is another big focus on running and I’m loving it so far!

By the numbers (for future reference for me!):

Nutrition: (excluding the few cups of coke and mashed potatoes):

Sis gels 18 – 1620 calories

Maurten gels 17 – 1700 calories

Endurance Tap gels 6 – 600 calories

Skratch 10 pouches – 800 calories

Medication timeline

6a 1 Immodium (at start)

6h (12p) 1 Immodium

9h30min- (4:30p) 1 zofran

10h30min (5:30p) 2 tylenol

12 (7p) 1 Immodium

15h (10p) 1 zofran

16h (11p) 2 tylenol

18h (1a) 1 Immodium

20h (3a) 1 Immodium

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The Hennepin Hundred – Pre Race

Posted on January 31, 2025 by Anne-Marie

Running a 100 mile race has been on my list of goal races for years, at first as a ‘probably-not-possible-but-don’t-rule-it-out’ goal, and then after running a 100k in the spring of 2023, it turned into a ‘maybe-possible(?)’ goal. Another reason it didn’t seem feasible was because I kept signing up for another Ironman hastily post-race, seeking redemption, lol. Even with my crazy race ideas, I knew doing a 100 mile race and an Ironman in the same year would be tough (especially all of the hours of training) and wasn’t something I wanted to attempt. However after racing Kona last October, I decided no Ironman in 2024, it was going to be the year of the 100 mile race attempt.

Since my running volume is generally pretty low with Ironman training, I knew I would need some time to build up a decent base for ultra training. Also, after a surgical consult in December, I had surgery planned for a hernia repair at the end of January, so the race would need to be in the fall. Hennepin Hundred was on my list of possible races as I was familiar with rail-trail terrain from previous races and it fit my timeline as it was in October. Recovery from the surgery went well and I ran a half marathon in early April, Ironman Chattanooga 70.3 in May and Ironman Des Moines 70.3 in June. Then it was time to switch over to focusing on running! I ran the Get Your Butt Kicked 6 hour race in July and Night Train 12 Hour race in August to help prepare for the race.

One of the toughest things I discovered with training was that my stomach was extra picky after 3 hours of running. I was able to get away with it on the run during an Ironman (usually with a quick porta potty stop), but going this long and far, that just wasn’t going to cut it. I needed to figure out what would work best for my stomach and not make it angry. So after lots of research I found several types of ‘real’ food that would be easy on the stomach. I tried PB&J, boiled potatoes, peanut butter pretzels, gluten free pop-tarts, Bobo’s Oat bars, to name a few. My stomach did ‘ok’ with those things, but it never felt like it was digesting, and usually by the 3 hour mark I still ended up with stomach issues. I finally gave in and tried Immodium before a run and it actually worked! I didn’t experience any nausea as a side effect (aside from feeling like the food just sat there) and decided that was going to be part of my race plan.

However I was still on the hunt for nutrition that wouldn’t feel like it was sitting in my stomach and decided to go back to the gel route. After more research I settled on Sis and Maurten gels as both had strong reviews for being gentle on the stomach. I tested both on a few runs and to my surprise, they worked really well, and I did not have any feeling of fullness in my stomach as I kept taking them. Hooray, four weeks before my race, I finally had figured out my nutrition (cutting it close!). I knew a race nutrition plan consisting of all gels sounded dangerous (on the stomach) however I thought it would be the best plan for me based on all of my experimenting. However I had only tested it on five hours of running so I wasn’t sure how it would go as the race went on, but regardless, I had a plan. I also knew as a back up plan what foods that worked ok, even if they didn’t settle well knowing at least they wouldn’t send me running for the bathroom.

After many miles and hours logged, it was finally time to race! JMR and I drove to the race Friday, went to the bib pickup, dropped off my drop bags, and then attended the pre-race meeting. It wasn’t until I was sitting in the school gymnasium with ALL of the other runners that I started getting nervous. It was my first ‘big’ ultra race, usually the ones I have done have been pretty small which seems to keep my stress levels low. Also when they had people raise their hands if this was their first 100… not very many raised them Oh boy, I really felt like a novice. I kept telling myself that I had put in the training, my body was ready, and tried to stay calm.

That night I ate my usual pre-race chicken and rice, and was so nervous I even skipped my usual evening M&Ms just to be on the safe side with my stomach. I also spent time taping my left big toe as the outside of it has been sore during runs and I was afraid it would get a blister. My alarm was set for 3:45a and it was go time. I ended up spending too much time re-taping my toe as it felt like with my first taping job the tape was pulling on my toenail. I had visions of the toenail getting a blister under it from the tugging, and after that experience happening during the 100k, I really wanted to avoid it. We headed to the race start at 4:50a where JMR dropped me off and I walked to the bus pickup line. I nervously chatted with other runners as we waited and soon the buses arrived for the hour-ish drive to the start. Once we arrived I headed to the porta potties, then headed to the grass to stretch and finally got my big baggie of nutrition and loaded up my vest with gels and skratch.

With ten minutes to go I headed to the start, pulled my gaiters down, and got ready. Then we were off!

Hennepin Hundred Race Report

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Night Train 12 Hour Ultra

Posted on August 8, 2024 by Anne-Marie

I signed up for this race as a mini dress rehearsal for Hennepin Hundred as well as a long (very long) training day. Two weeks prior to this race I had also run a 6 hour race for a long training day and to practice nutrition. Due to the heat, I failed at trying anything other than gels and did a lousy job at taking in enough of them. So I really needed another shot at a race simulation to practice that important piece of the race. I had also gotten a new vest in June as the straps were starting to fray on my previous one and also the bottles were impossible to get in and out, so I was wanting to try a different brand/model. However the straps on this new (12 liter) vest were rubbing my neck during the two trial runs, which was frustrating and had me stressed about how that would work for 24+ hours of running. After talking to a friend who had the same issue, she had switched to the 5 liter version of the vest with no issues, so I quickly ordered one which arrived Thursday before the race. I tried it on and the straps did not come in so close and rub my neck, hooray and phew! However I was trying this out without any practice runs, so I was still a little nervous about chafing.

The race started at 8p (finishing at 8a) and was located about 4.5 hours away in Garnett, Kansas. It is on the same trail I had run my 50 miler in 2020 and 100k in 2023, so I was pretty familiar with the surrounding areas. I booked hotel about 30 minutes away (not many places to stay in the actual town of Garnett), so I would have a place to hang out and relax before the race, and then also could shower/nap post race before driving back home. I checked into the hotel around 3p, plenty of time to relax and rest up before the race, however my nerves were rattled! I kept trying to use logic to get myself to calm down, knowing this wasn’t really a ‘race’ for me, it was a long training day (well night!) and it was a very small race, so super duper low key. However, fear of all of the unknowns had me feeling out of control and anxious. This is something I’m trying to work on, remembering there are many things I cannot control, control what I can and what will happen will happen, but my brain doesn’t like that answer.

I headed to the race site around 6p, stopping for more bags of ice for my coolers. After having issues with figuring out where to enter the park (there was a tractor pull event going on in the original entrance we were supposed to use, I still need to google what that is, lol), I finally found it. I quickly got my spot all set up with my chair, bag of supplies, 2 coolers (one with water and pre mixed Skratch, and another with an extra jug of water and more ice), and my chair. As people arrived and set up they were just hanging out in their chairs/areas so I tried to relax and do the same. I pulled up my phone to get my spotify playlists pulled up when I realized I hadn’t downloaded any I had wanted to listen to. I had them on my watch and also on my ipod, but this was the first time I was using my phone for music and totally forgot. Ugh. I had a few other playlists and podcasts downloaded, so I had some things to listen to if I needed the distraction or motivation but I was a little bummed. The reason for the change in electronics was that I wanted to wear my shokz headphones so I could hear what was going on around me (they are bone conducting so nothing goes into your ears), but bluetooth uses up the battery in my iPod and watch way too quickly, so using my phone in airplane mode was going to be the plan. I will be better prepared for race day for sure!

My setup in the middle, a little farther ahead you can see the turnaround cone for each lap.

Soon it was time for the pre-race announcements and then we gathered at the starting area and after a little countdown, we were off! I tried to take the pace easy, but was feeling excited since I had fond memories of running on this trail and was happy to be running on it again, even if it was just a 2.5 mile stretch of it. I glanced at my watch and saw 9:45 pace and thought I needed to slow down a tad, but the first mile ended up being around that pace, however the next mile was a little slower. When we hit the turn around I saw 2.7 miles on my watch and made note since the loops were advertised as 5 miles, but would really be 5.4ish miles. As I made my way back to the start it was already getting dark, I had my headlamp on ready to go but didn’t need to use it just yet. Once I got back to the start/finish I grabbed my PB&J, refilled my bottles and was back on the trail. I was determined to practice eating real food, so after the gel I took at mile 4, I was team ‘real food’. I took my first quarter of my PB&J sandwich and happily ate it, feeling like a kid from the nostalgia. As I got near the turnaround the sun had set and it was finally getting dark so I turned on my headlamp and quickly noticed bugs and creatures I hadn’t seen in the daylight. What looked like diamonds on the trail were little spider eyes, and what concerned me more was how many of them there were, lol, all over! I made it to the turnaround and headed back eating more PB&J quarters and looking for the spiders.

Back at the start/finish, I grabbed another PB&J, a gel for backup, refilled bottles and started loop 3. I took a bite of my first quarter of the PB&J and suddenly it was not appealing at all, too much bread and it no longer sounded good. Oh boy. I had planned to eat them at least for 6 of the 12 hours, this was a plan change early into the race. I knew each quarter was about 50 calories, so if I could at least eat one plus a gel each loop, I would be getting close to my calorie goal for the hour, so that was the plan. I also decided to find something to listen to because my brain was struggling accepting that I still had over 10 hours of running ahead of me and that….well, it sounded long, very long. The one thing that was really keeping me going was that I drove 4+ hours to do this race, so only doing a 20 mile run was not going to cut it for such a long trip. Doing more math I thought even a 50k (31 miles) wasn’t really enough either. Ugh, ‘I just needed to focus on the loop I was on’ I told myself and just keep moving.

At the beginning of loop 4 I noticed I was starting to get tired since my usual bedtime is 9pm so being up past 11 felt late. I was worried how I would do as the night went on, but was hoping it was just a tired slump and I would get past it. I did have some mini cokes back in the cooler and decided maybe it was going to be time to open one before the next loop. I drank 1/2 of a mini can before loop 5 and definitely felt more alert. Loops 5 & 6 I followed the same strategy as loops 3 & 4 – taking a few walk breaks, and eating 1/4 of PB&J and a gel. I was getting excited to hit the six hour mark, which meant I was halfway through. I managed to hit 30 miles right at six hours. I knew I wouldn’t be able to double that as my pace had significantly slowed from my earlier loops pace, but thought 50 miles was definitely in reach, so that became my new mileage goal. My stomach was getting a little grumpy so at the end of the loop 6 I stopped by the bathroom before refilling bottles and opted for just gels on this loop in hopes that it would be easier on my stomach.

On loop 7 I could to hear coyotes howling back and forth and hoped they were not nearby. That was motivation to run the whole time! I also saw a possum scurry across the trail and little raccoon eyes in the bushes. These critters were fun to see, and I would be happy as long as I didn’t encounter a snake. They sleep during the night I told myself (I don’t think that’s really true). Another thing I didn’t expect were the amount of spider webs I kept running through. Those spiders were fast! The runners was pretty spread out running on the trail so I did not expect the spiders to get enough time in between runners to create a web, but they did. There were a couple of huge ones I had to veer to miss, scaring me every time in fear I’d run into it and take the spider with me! As I finished this loop, I decided I was going to walk the next one in hopes that I could eat more solid food and keep my stomach happy (it was getting angry), as I had enough time buffer to still finish 50 with a loop of all walking.

Back at the start/finish I refilled my bottles, grabbed peanut butter pretzel bites and a gel. I headed out for loop 8 and ate a couple of the pretzel which my taste buds seemed happy about and so far stomach felt better. I really tried to focus on walking fast/with a purpose as my usual every day pace is pretty slow. I had good practice during the month of light activity post-hernia repair and all I could do was walk, and by the end of the month was averaging a 16ish mile walking pace. I was listening to a Rich Roll podcast that had me entertained, however it probably didn’t help me with keeping up a good pace, so I was averaging closer to 18 minute miles, but I reassured myself that I still had plenty of time. More coyotes howling and many, many more spider webs.

As I came back to the start/finish area I had another quick dash to the bathroom and then I knew with it being close to 9.5 hours, this might be my last big loop before I started the mini 1 mile loops (during the last hour, we switch the running .5 mile out and back). I chatted with a guy who was also starting his next loop and he said this was probably his last loop too. I wished him luck and told him I was going to get back to running for ‘the final push’. I found my Moby playlist and was off! I felt a wave of motivation and also could see that the sun was beginning to rise. It was weird realizing it was 5:20a and I had been running since 8p, I couldn’t get my head around that. The rising sun gave me another wave of energy and gratitude to get to do experiences like this. As I neared the turnaround I turned off my headlamp and thought, ‘I think I have another big loop in me if I can run it the whole time’. I kept running at my ‘fast’ 11:30 min pace until suddenly my stomach had other plans. Maybe the pretzels made it mad (probably not though) or it was just tired of the jostling (most likely), but mission aborted with running. I almost ducked into the woods as it was still semi dark from the sun still rising and I would be slightly hidden, but I could see someone coming towards me in the distance and thought I might not have been fast enough before they came by. Ugh. Deep breathing exercises and no music to keep my mind chill and I tried to relax. Finally I was able to resume running, but had to keep staying calm to try to keep my stomach relaxed until I could get to the bathrooms. Those 2 miles felt like the longest 2 miles ever. Finally, *finally* I made it back to the start/finish and made a dash for the bathrooms. All I kept thinking was ‘I should have taken the Imodium!’. I tried it during the 6 hour race but had some nausea and thought it might have been from taking it, so I was opting out this race. Lesson learned.

Once I got back to my chair/coolers, I saw it was 6:35a, and if my stomach had been happy, I could have gutted out another loop despite my legs being tired. However, I didn’t want to risk it with my finicky stomach and decided to hang out at the start until 7a when we could start doing the 1 mile loops. I ate a banana, sat in the chair and texted updates to JMR and my coach letting them know I was almost done and probably finishing with 50+ miles. Once it was 7a, myself and another guy who was also waiting headed back out for our 1 mile loops, mine being just one to get myself to the 50 mile mark. Sitting in that chair and not stretching were terrible decisions as my left hip was so tight I couldn’t walk without limping. I ended up running a super slow pace (it would have made more sense to walk pace-wise) because it felt better than running. This was for sure the longest mile ever. I kept going though and made it to the turn around, very happy to almost be done but also a little sad that I still had so much time on the clock and was really going to just stop with 45ish minutes left. However I knew I didn’t want to risk injury or go that deep into the well for just a training run in case it really hindered my recovery for the final big training block.

Once I ran back to the start/finish, I officially stopped my watch at 11 hours 15 minutes and sat in my chair, phew. I sent out more texts with my final stats, and after more sitting I decided to start hauling my stuff to the car. At 6:50a the final female said she was finished doing her loops, and they tallied the women’s (of 5, lol) race. I managed to come in first female and got a cool wood plaque, which I thought would be a great addition to out little trophy shelves at home. I finished packing up the last of my gear, thanked the race directors and volunteers for putting on such a great race and headed back to the hotel.

Once at the hotel I showered, attempted a nap and just decided to hit the road. On the drive home I reflected on what a great race experience I had- from the cool sights and sounds during the night portion, to the recharging sunrise, chatting with runners from all over the midwest, and also testing out some new gear. Even if it wasn’t the mileage I had hoped to complete, it was still a definite win and a great experience. I kept thinking ‘I’m so lucky I get to do things like this!’

Now it’s the final big training block before the Hennepin Hundred, boy am I nervous!! I think this is the first race in a long time where I’m thinking… am I going to be able to finish this?! Which is scary but also extremely motivating!

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2024 Ironman Des Moines 70.3

Posted on July 8, 2024 by Anne-Marie

A little delayed race recap, but figured I’d better get it done with another race coming up on July 20th! I had just finished up my recap from Chattanooga right before I headed to race Des Moines on June 9th. The last time I raced 70.3’s so close together was back in 2016, which went ok, but being a few years older now I wasn’t sure how my body would feel. My coach added in a few intense workouts in between the two races, but nothing too crazy. I had raced this course last year so I knew that the bike course would be hilly (that was such a surprise last year and I was annoyed the whole time while riding thinking it would be flat) and the run course would be flat.

JMR had a work deadline so I made the trip up solo. This time I was really trying to work on keeping my nerves calm and staying relaxed as I was mess before Chattanooga. One thing that really helped was that the size of the race was about 1/3 of Chattanooga, so that already made me feel better knowing the bike course wasn’t going to be so crowded. The smaller transition area also gave a much more chill vibe. Saturday I did race check in, walked around downtown for a bit, dropped my bike off in the afternoon and then settled in to stay off my feet.

Race day I was up at 3:45a and out the door to transition at 4:30a. I arrived in plenty of time to get a great parking spot and was actually lined up outside transition waiting for it to open. That was a first! I was able to get set up pretty quickly and was racked right next to my buddy who was also racing, which helped keep my nerves calm. We then headed to the swim start and hung out, took forever to get our wetsuits on, and then finally lined up for our swim corrals. My mind was in a much better space than it was in Chattanooga before the swim, I still had some race nerves, but I didn’t feel that fight or flight feeling. I just told myself to focus on the swim and worry about the bike and run when I was doing them.

I hopped in the water and seemed to find an ok rhythm, I wore a sleeveless wetsuit this time since I felt like the sleeved restricts my arms and I wanted to make the swim as comfortable as possible, especially since the water wasn’t freezing. I noticed my goggles seemed to be a little loose and wasn’t sure if water was going to leak, but decided to leave them be and keep going. I liked this swim course because the three left turns and two right turns really kept my mind busy, focusing for the yellow buoy, then the red where we would turn and repeat. I was a little frustrated as it seemed everyone was swimming past me quickly and thinking ‘why can’t I just swim faster?!’, but I kept pulling myself back into the moment and remembering I was doing the best I could. I made the last right turn and tried to push a little harder as I swam to the finish. When I got out of the water I saw 39 on my watch and was like ‘well it felt slow, seems about right’, and moved on.

I ran into transition, got my shoes, sunglasses and helmet on and was off. The first part of the course goes through a park and last year I was super annoyed with the loops on the small path and feeling like I couldn’t pick up the pace, but this year I was familiar with the loops and was able to push a little harder. Although once we left the park portion I was happy to be out on the roads. That was until we hit this stretch that had huge seams every five feet that just rattled the crap out of my bike. I was prepared for a tire to pop and was also annoyed as it didn’t seem to bother everyone else as they passed me. I looked down and saw my front hydration was about to fall off, so I pulled over and fussed with it until I got it all back together and got back to it. I noticed my watch and cycling computer times didn’t match and realized my watch probably auto-paused when I stopped, oh grr.

The next part of the course was on really nice roads, and I was able to push the pace and was feeling great. I saw my friend on an out and back around mile 30 and cheered as he rode past. We had two more out and backs and was able to hold a good pace, but I could tell I was fading a little. I tried to keep taking in my nutrition in hopes that it would help keep my energy up and from fading. I was using a little bit different of a nutrition plan, adding more sodium to my drink and also increasing my calories from 200 to 250 an hour on the bike and it seemed to be working! Finally I approached the last out and back and headed back into the park, this time a little slower as it was more crowded and I didn’t feel comfortable passing on the turns on the narrower path.

As I pulled into T2 I was thrilled to see 2:54 on my Garmin computer, a little better than last year and I also felt much stronger. I quickly swapped into my run shoes, belt, hat and grabbed my handheld and ran out. My legs were feeling good and I used the same mentality as I did in Chattanooga, to just relax on the first mile, don’t stress about pace and just let my legs get used to running. Surprisingly my first split was in the 8’s, and I just kept sticking with that pace. I had decided to change my nutrition on the run a little by adding more salt and 1-2 more gels, which also gave me something to focus on for each mile, either just water on head and around neck, or salt or taking a gel. I really tried to stay in the mile I was in and not get ahead of myself stressing about ‘how much farther’, and it seemed to help me stay relaxed and keep a steady pace. When I made the turn for the second loop I was still feeling good, a little tired but ok. I saw my paces were slipping to the higher 8’s, but I just told myself as long as they were under 9 that was close to my goal and just stay relaxed. Once I made the final turn at mile 10.25 to head downtown I felt both relieved and tired. I also mixed up when I was taking my next gel and took it at the 10.4 aid station, a mile early and my stomach felt a little angry after. At mile 11 I decided to take a look at my watch again and saw I was going to possibly come in a little faster than my run time at Chattanooga if I could just stay under a 9 min pace. ‘I can do it!’ I thought. I was able to pick up the pace just a little bit and when I hit mile 12 I thought, ‘I can do one more mile’. (well 1.1 miles). I was in the zone and focused, I could hear the finish line music. I made the turn for the finish and was feeling so much relief that the finish was steps away.

I ran under the chute and saw 5:33 on my watch and figured maybe I came in around 5:34 (adding 90 sec for the bike hydration fix autopause), but regardless I had run my fastest 70.3 run ever! I was thrilled. I will say, knowing that this is my last triathlon for the year (very short season for me, lol), it gave me a little boost on the run to finish out strong. I was also just so surprised how well Chattanooga and Des Moines went on such low volume training, I guess the years of training definitely builds a strong base. I hung around at the finish and waited for my friend and after he finished we chatted about our races and then I headed out to hit the road for the 5ish hour drive home.

That’s a wrap on the 2024 triathlon season, now on to ultrarunning training!

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2024 Ironman Chattanooga 70.3

Posted on June 13, 2024 by Anne-Marie

I signed up for this race a little optimistically in late October, off the still slightly lingering adrenaline from Kona and the fear of the race selling out and missing the chance to race. However, after having double hernia repair surgery in January and taking a full month off after of no activity, I was more than a little concerned that I would not be ready to compete, let alone complete this race! My coach had me slowly building the swim/bike/run back up, running feeling the best first, the bike slowly coming back and the swim feeling pretty awful. Finally, two weeks before the race something clicked and my swimming was back to my usual pace which was a relief as I was worried it was lost for forever, lol. I had also run two half-marathons, while not super fast compared to my previous times, I was happy with where I was and felt confident. The bike though, with the limited time before the race, my longest ride was 40 miles outside. I was hoping my bike fitness was good enough so I could ride the 56 miles feeling good, but suffering through it might be a possibility also.

Race week arrived, and earlier in the week I had zero race nerves and kept forgetting I was racing that weekend. I was blissfully hopeful that I would just coast into this race feeling carefree and relaxed. I was so wrong. Thursday the race nerves appear and my stomach was very unsettled, and it remained feeling that way all weekend (I finally took pepto bismol Saturday afternoon and race morning). Race morning I felt way more pre-race nerves than usual, I had to keep talking myself down as I did NOT want to race. Sometimes I feel that way for a tiny bit before a race, but this was lasting much longer, like from the minute I woke up. I told myself that we made the long drive, my bike was racked, I just needed to do what my coach said on Saturday, which was ‘Just swim, bike and run!’. It is that easy, I told myself as I jumped into the river.

Once I was in the water, it was a challenge to keep my head in the game. I was wishing the water was clear and had tropical sea life like Kona instead of the murky river water. I tried to follow the buoys but as usual I wasn’t super close to them and was probably swimming a bit more than I should have. Also the last time I swam in this river the current was strong, and while I was seeming to be moving faster than my non-current assisted pace, it wasn’t crazy fast which was disappointing, lol. I kept plodding along, trying to focus on my stroke and keeping the buoys in sight. Finally I could see the red turn buoy and was relieved to almost be done. I made the left turn and swam towards the stairs. I was extra wobblily coming out of the water and had two volunteers help me out and up the stairs. I hit my watch and saw 35:xx and couldn’t decide if that was extra slow or good considering the course was 1.4 plus the current. I decided to move on, the swim was over, focus on the bike.

T1 was pretty long, so I ran/walked the long journey to the wetsuit peelers (so much help!) and then hustled into transition. I switched into my bike helmet, sunglasses and shoes and was off. The bike course was super crowded the first 5 miles, I didn’t even bother looking at pace or watts, just focused on not crashing. After it thinned out (by ‘thinned out’ I mean compared to the first 5 miles, the entire race the course was crowded and was passing or being passed, sometimes three wide) I tried to get into a rhythm and focus on pushing the pace a little. I wasn’t trying to go crazy since I wanted to have something left in my legs for the run. We had good weather, such a difference compared to the last time I rode the course during the full in 2023 when it was windy and poured almost the entire time. So I was trying to focus on enjoying the nice weather and not stress too much about pace.

When I saw the 50 mile marker I was quite relieved and felt like I had held back enough that hopefully my legs would be feeling ok on the run. The last 6 miles were a bit slower with some turns and bad pavement, railroad tracks and narrow lanes, but was happy to finish under 3 hours. I hopped off the bike and headed into transition, quickly swapped into running shoes, hat and race belt and was off. My legs felt pretty good and I saw JMR and gave him a high five. The plan was to ease into the miles, not go nuts on the first mile and just try to stick with a 9 min pace or a bit faster. The goal was to finish feeling ok.

The first couple of splits were hovering around a 9 min pace, I focused on dumping water on my head and neck (I had a cooling towel around it) at each aid station and it seemed to help me keep me from feeling the increasingly warmer temperature. Around mile 4 I thought, ‘I am actually feeling really good!’. I remembered struggling on the run course during the half when I raced it in 2019 and really wanted redemption. On I went seeing splits drop to the mid to low 8’s the next few miles and was thrilled. I headed back over the bridge to begin the second loop feeling strong.

I started loop two and could feel the sun beating down as there isn’t any shade on this part of the course which is exposed road, but dumping the water on my head and neck and grabbing ice seemed to help. I was holding a good pace but it was a little frustrating when we headed to the pedestrian path because the run course was also so crowded that several times I got stuck behind people and had to wait a bit to get room to pass. I’m sure it didn’t slow me down that much, but it was a little frustrating.

When I saw the mile 10 marker I thought just a 5k, I can do this! I also decided to take a peek at my watch to see where I might finish timewise and saw sub 6 was definitely achievable and most likely in the 5:40’s. I had not felt this good on the run in a race in a really long time and was just thrilled. My legs (and stomach!) were feeling good! I passed the mile 12 marker and headed over the bridge, elated to be close to the finish and feeling so good, when I had been so scared and anxious about this race hours ago and did not want to toe the start line. I made the turn to run down the stretch to the finish and saw JMR and gave him a high five, feeling strong and passing under the arches right at 5:40:20. I just could not believe it given my lighter training post surgery, but I guess my body still knew what to do after many many years of these races 🙂

Next up is one more 70.3 and then I’m switching my focus on ultrarunning races!

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Naples Paradise Coast Half-Marathon

Posted on April 15, 2024 by Anne-Marie

This was an originally planned long-run that turned into race report! The Naples Paradise Cost Half-Marathon wasn’t originally on our radar, but JMR had a half-marathon on his training schedule while we were on vacation in Florida and happened to find this one near my parent’s condo. Since I had just returned to activity at the beginning of March, I figured I would also sign up and just run it for fun. While my runs have been feeling ok, I had only worked up to two 8 mile runs, and I wasn’t sure how things would feel after 8 miles. My coach reassured me that I would be fine, so I went into the race with a positive mindset and the goal to stick to my planned pace (8:20) which seemed realistic but might require some deep digging the last few miles.

The race had a very early start at 6:30a, so I was up at 4:45a and we all headed out the door at 5:30a. We arrived around 5:50a with plenty of time to hit up the rec center bathrooms and for JMR to warm up. Around 6:15a we headed to the start line and also met up with my Aunt and Uncle who came to spectate too. Soon the national anthem was played, last minute pre-race instructions were mentioned, and we were off.

The race start included both the 5k and Half-Marathon, so even though there were only around 150 running the half, the start was pretty crowded. After a few minutes I was able to find some space and tried to settle into a pace, but the first few miles felt tougher than I would have liked them to have felt. Finally by mile 4 I was able to settle into a pace that felt more comfortable (even though it was a bit faster-I just take some time to warm up these days) and around this time I saw my family cheering in mini lawn chairs along the course shouting words of encouragement to me and other runners. Seeing them gave me a boost of energy as I prepared for the 2nd loop of the 3 loop course.

By Loop 2 I was feeling pretty good, and it was nice to be familiar with the course after having run the first loop, except the out-and-back portion which was only loops 2 & 3. As soon as I made the turn for the out-and-back I could feel some tailwind and knew the way back in might be a bit rough. I also saw JMR coming back and he looked focused, so just I got a very small wave from him, lol. When I hit the turn around sure enough there was some headwind but not terrible. As I made the right turn to finish the loop I felt relieved knowing I only had one more loop to go.

Starting loop 3 I saw my peppy-family still cheering strong, I could even hear them from afar cheering others on. Their cheers gave me another boost of energy and I picked up the pace a bit. However around mile 9 I started to feel the fatigue setting in and was just hoping my legs could keep up the pace. Mile 10 I had to really start focusing as the effort to hold an 8ish pace was really feeling tough, but my legs were able to stick with it.

As I neared the out-and-back I was officially beginning to run out of steam. Come on legs! When I hit the turn around I knew it was only a little over a mile and a half to go, but boy did that sound far at the time. My pace had started to slow a little, but I kept pushing and made the right turn to the final stretch and could hear the finish-line announcer. Once I saw the 13 mile marker I thought, almost there! I upped the pace a little and as I finally crossed the finish line I saw 1:47:xx and was pleasantly surprised. I had looked at my watch during the race, but was just looking at pace and not worrying about time, so I was happy that those splits got me under 1:50.

Almost there

JMR met me at the finish, he had a good race also, finishing 8th overall (he said there were some course cutters and should have been 5th) and I finished 7th female, got to love super small races! We took photos with my parents, aunt and uncle, as well as finisher photos and then headed to breakfast.


Overall I’m glad I signed up to do this race and was pretty surprised that my body was able to hold the planned paces fairly consistently throughout the race. Even though the race was on the pricier side for a half, it was well organized and had several timing mats (although I think they should have included one more on the out-and-back as that’s where several people ahead of me cut the course), and had great shirts and medals. I was a little less than thrilled that there were zero porta-potties on course, but fortunately I didn’t need to use them. Next up is the Illinois half-marathon, but since it’s so close to this race I’m not expecting much of a time improvement but excited to line up at another start soon again!

While we were gone Charlie and Penelope got to play at day camp during boarding, here are some action shots of how the first day went….

Penelope looks like she’s thinking ‘Help Me’
Then Charlie made a friend.
Everyone looks happy now!

After a lighter recovery-focused week last week, now it’s back to business as usual to keep building back my base and start gearing up for my first race of the season. Happy Monday!

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