You may find it odd that a five-time Ironman Triathlon finisher, including one Ironman being held in a complete downpour, would claim that a 50 mile ultramarathon event was tougher. But trust me, it was! If one checks out the results of the 2009 Glacial Trail Ultramarathon 50 mile event you will see that it took me 11 hours 51 minutes and 42 seconds to complete it! http://www.badgerlandstriders.org/GT50/ At the finish line was the race director, an assistant, Marion (my wife), and her dad. That was it! You will also notice that there were only 39 registered for this race with 33 finishers (under the allotted time). What does this mean? It means that this race is harder than an Ironman! The Ironman races I participated in registered over 2000 participants!

Let me just say this from the beginning - I love the Ironman. It just requires a different skill set than the Ultramarathon. What I didn’t realize when I signed up for the Glacial Trail Ultramarathon (GTU) was that almost the entire race is held on the Ice Age Trail and that is a non-groomed trail. What this means is, as one competitor put it, “you can’t look up for a second or you’ll be face down on the trail!” Here is a little taste of what the race was like…

Ross checking out the trail on the day prior to the race...   hum, lots of hills, undulations, and cold!

The 50 mile event starts at 6AM when it is pitch black out, so a head lamp or flash light is required. The problem is those items don’t help you all that much on a non-groomed trail. Non-groomed means that rocks and struts are everywhere. Even when looking down at the ground in the daylight, a large rock could lurk underneath the leaves and if you don’t pick up your foot quickly enough, you trip and are face down on the ground! At about 10 minutes into the event I found myself face down on the trail and my bottles and other gear spewed all over the place! Several people stopped to make sure I was alright! This is typical of ultramarathons, people help each other!

Ross at the start w/ his headlamp on—and chilly!

While the weather at the beginning of the event was in the high 20’s, most of the day was sunny, slightly breezy, and about 40 degrees. So weather-wise great for running! The first aid station was at mile 7, at which time we all got rid of our head lamps! Each aid station was great with hot soup, Heed electrolyte drink, peanuts, cheese, M & M’s, sandwiches and a lot of encouragement from the volunteers. Marion met me just after the second aid station at mile 13.3. By this time I was grateful to get rid of my long pants and jacket! Wow, did it feel great to be running in just shorts and a long sleeve shirt! Believe it or not, the first few hours flew by because the course was quite interesting with all the climbs and technical descents. What I forgot was that once I reached the 25 mile mark (yeah), I had to reverse the course and run another 25 miles! The technical descents would not be so interesting on tired legs!

Beautiful, yet hilly course...

The race is held in the Kettle Moraine National Park. The northern section. The race starts in Greenbush, Wisconsin and ends at the New Fane Trail System. About 45 miles of the event take place on the Ice Age Trail. It would be a great trail to hike on, but run on? Man, is it tough! We accomplished 10,551 feet of climbing and descending during the 50 mile event. There are aid stations every 6 to 7 miles and for such a long event, that is enough. During ultramarathons, athletes are expected to carry some drink and nutrition with them. I wore my Fuel Belt and stashed it with food and beverages.

Marion then met me at mile 15, 20, and 25. She was such a great encouragement. She ran into the course a couple of miles each time and met me and then ran out with me. It was great to see her and she can attest that the inclines with the struts, rocks, and leaves on the trail made the foot placement very tricky. I felt that there was very little of the course that you could get into a groove running. I ran whenever I could, but I have run only one time on a non-groomed trail. So I was a complete novice. Early in the race, I was running with a guy who said he had trail shoes with a toe guard. At the time I am thinking, “What the heck does the guy need a toe guard for?” until I hit my left big toe on one of the many rocks! Wowwwww did that hurt! The body part that hurt the most after the race was my left big toe! I must have hit it a half dozen times on rocks! The other thing that could happen if you hit a rock not straight on but toward one side is that your twist your ankle. This happened about five times on each ankle. It is a miracle I made it through the race without an injury!

Gotta watch for these white arrows so as to not get lost.

There are cut-off times that a runner has to meet during the event (much like the Ironman swim, bike, and run cut-off times). I made it to the half way check point in 5 hours 33 minutes, so I had 27 minutes to spare, as the cut-off time for the halfway point was 6 hours! What I didn’t realize at the time is that I would need all of this time to finish before the final 12 hour cut-off time.

Marion had to pick up her dad in Fond du Lac, where he was staying with friends. I did not see her until mile 42, and boy was it brutal from mile 30 to 42. My plan going into the event, of course, was to run the flats and downhills and walk up the hills. This is typical for us "beginner" ultramarathoners. This is how you finish. Unfortunately, the footing for my amount of "balance aptitude" did not allow me to run down the downhills on the way back; I had to walk. Whenever I would get into a running groove something came up like another brutal downhill, an uphill, a sprained ankle, a left big toe smash on a rock, or something else. It was getting frustrating because I knew time was critical. When my Garmin 305 went out at mile 38, I wasn’t sure I would make it into the last aid station in time. Marion encouraged me at mile 42 and we ran a little together. I was so happy to get to the aid station at mile 43. When I arrived with a fellow named Tim, one volunteer said, “You guys just made it by 10 minutes!” What this meant was I only had 10 minutes to spare for the next section to be an official finisher. Fortunately, some sections of the last 7 miles were not so up and down so I could run. At mile 45 I had 90 minutes in which to finish and felt confident that even with some steep segments on the course yet to complete, I would finish. Marion again was there with camera in hand to run with me and take pictures at mile 47 and she then would meet me at the finish.

Ross at one of the last aid stations...

Ross coming down the trail near the end of the race...

The clock counting down...as you can see, not a lot of runners!

When I finally made it to Greenbush, a participant hopped out of his car and started clapping for me. I said, ”What time is it?” He said, “5:47” and then I started running pretty hard. I wasn’t sure exactly how much more I had to run, plus I didn’t even know if his watch was correct. About a half a mile up the road Marion met me and we ran in together. The clock registered 11 hours 51 minutes 42 seconds. I had completed my first 50 mile race! Wow and with only 8 minutes to spare!

Ross getting his medal from the race director...he was never so happy to finish!

Ross with his medal, and his wife Marion at the finish...LONG day!

What made this event so difficult was that I could not rest my mind. In previous races such as the Dairyland Dare or Ironman Triathlons there is always some time during the event that you can rest your mind. Whether it is during the descents on the bike or walking on the run, but during this event, I had little time to just stop and enjoy the scenery! Plus if you did, you might hit a rock and fall on your face (this happened to me twice). In addition, this race is held in a forest, so while it was sunny outside, I did not see much of the sun. The leaves were in almost full color, so that was great, but I would definitely not recommend this race to a “novice” like myself. For the athlete who runs a lot on non-groomed trails and wants the adventure of a lifetime, then the Glacial Trail Ultramarathon is the race for you! For me, I am still planning to do the Umstead 100 in 2010. I already checked, it has wide groomed trails without struts and rocks to trip you up!

While I have one more race to do this year, Bike-Across-Florida, with three friends, I have had an awesome 2009. Despite starting the year burnt out and not wanting to exercise, I am ending it having set my personal records for most miles cycled in a day (177), most cycled during an event (170), most climbing in a day (20,000 feet); as well as running PR’s that include finishing my first 50 mile ultramarathon, and looking forward to 2010 and doing a 100 mile event. I would say it has been a great year!

Ross