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The journey to breaking the tape at the Hawk Hundred started with a bit of adversity. For Nicole Fleming of Springfield, Missouri, it was physical—a broken calcaneus (heel bone) threatened to derail her goal of finishing her first 100-mile race in 2018. For Mark Pecaut of Leawood, Kansas, the adversity was psychological.
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There was a surpassing amount of unbridled happiness on the trail that weekend, as runners from near and far descended on this scenic jewel along Lake Superior in pursuit of 100-mile, 50-mile or marathon glory.
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This year every runner got to experience the clockwise direction of the course, as this was the first time this race didn’t run the familiar counterclockwise route. The race also played host to the USA 50 Mile Road Championships.
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The push to get more women outside has never been stronger. Still, being a female athlete in the ultrarunning world, the gender imbalance is obvious. I asked myself, what could one person do to address this issue? The answer came when I decided to momentarily shift my focus from hosting races to create the STL Women’s Trail Summit.
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In this era of 200-is-the-new-100, it feels almost inevitable that many runners and race directors will super-size perfectly good and satisfying ultra routes, and we ultrarunners will feel compelled to choose the longer option or feel slightly guilty or less accomplished if we take the shorter route.
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While running the McDonald Forest 50K, my first ultra, I met a guy named Michael. We exchanged stories as I talked about my young twins and he told me how he’d run this particular race several times in the past. His training had recently taken a backseat because his wife was battling cancer.