The 2018 United States Centurion Qualifier at FANS in Minneapolis, Minnesota, June 2nd and 3rd.

I could not wait to return to the site of my First Centurion walk.  I had nothing but fond memories of the race and the people there. Three years later and none of that has changed. FANS is still a great race with wonderful people. Great to see U.S. Centurion John Greene and his wife Betty again. Also Centurion judge Bruce Leasure. David Holmen who I met in 2015 was back but this time to attempt a Centurion walk. I was as excited for David as he was nervous. It is the unknown aspects of a first Centurion walk that makes you nervous. After that first one it is what you know about a Centurion walk that makes you nervous.  Andrew Titley from the Isle of Man was there. I had never met Andrew but it only takes about one minute to bond with another Centurion. And we did. My Dutch friends Centurions Marco Bloemerts, Arie Kandelaars and Gertrude Achterberg were there. We have all four raced together in Holland, Africa, New Zealand and now the United States. Also were two Centurion hopefuls I know from facebook. Paul Terbrack and Radek Lopusnik. Both walkers have been past 80 miles at Centurion qualifiers.

The forecast for the race looked wet. An 80 percent chance of rain all day on Saturday. I walked in a thunderstorm there in 2015. While not impossible rain does make the race harder. The temps however were a plus. The weekend before Minnesota was in the 90’s. For our race a high of 70 and the low near 50 degrees. Perfect.

I was in a weird place for this race. After my failed Centurion attempt in New Zealand last October I had been walking around with a cloud around my head. I had lost my confidence. On New Years I got my head right and my Mom unexpectedly passed away. I limped through my 50K and Marathon season. Every attempt at saving the sinking ship just left me with more and more water in the boat.  Every week I kept skipping extra training days. Not how you want to arrive at a Centurion race. I came to FANS knowing I had not trained up to par. I could bail anytime because I was already a U.S. Centurion. I still had time to train for New Zealand and did not want to hurt anything here. Wow sounds like I should have stayed home.

On race morning I got a little caught up in all the race excitement. At a big race you don’t just feel excitement you can see it and taste it. I started dead last. No pressure on me. The packed dirt trail behind Lake Snelling was not packed. The rocks were larger than I remembered. Lucky for all of us there were enough feet and just enough rain to pack down the dirt during the race. During all the daylight hours of Saturday I made it my mission to kick every rock off the trail I could. Remember there was no pressure on me. I could kick rocks If I wanted to. In the first eight hours only Andrew passed me. I suddenly realized that I was on the same lap as everyone else and I still felt great. Kicking rocks gave me another advantage. I would not have to worry about stepping on them in the dark. Right before dark I told my Wife Brenda I would stop next pass to change shoes, socks and into a long sleeve shirt. If I am going to keep walking I am going to wear comfortable, clean, dry shoes. That decision changed my race. For the next seven hours my feet did not hurt. Did not hurt till I stubbed my left big toe on a root in the dark. I thought for sure my toenail must have popped off. Other than my toe and just being tired my race was going very good. When I finished lap 38 I realized I had just passed where I quit in New Zealand. And I was 15 minutes ahead of my New Zealand pace. At this point that cloud around my head for seven months started to breakup a little. After daylight I got a bonus. I saw David ahead of me leaving the tent city. He did not know it but I made David my target. I had been checking on his status every time I saw his Sister or Brother in-law John. I knew David was in second place. Just past the second feed station the course makes a sharp turn onto the road. I saw David go around the corner. When I went around the same corner he was gone. For a second I thought, What the ……. but right on that corner was a portable loo. I walked as fast as tired legs could carry me. I wanted as much distance between me and the door of that loo as I could get. When that door opened I wanted to look too far away to be caught. It all worked perfect except for one thing. While David was in my sites, I was in Marco’s. When Marco passed me I had nothing left. I coasted in for my second U.S. Centurion finish. The first American to finish more than one U.S. Centurion since Eric Poulsen in 2001. I finished my 100 miles at 23:29:40. Stayed on the short course and added 1.9 miles. I don’t know if I am more pleased with finishing another Centurion or the fact that the cloud around my head is gone. Either one it feels Great. I am back!

Five racers crossed the 100 mile mark on a much tougher Centurion course than I remembered.
1 Andrew Titley IOM new race record 106.9 miles New C89
2 Marco Bloemerts NLD New C90
3 Rob Robertson USA C78
4 David Holmen USA New C91
5 Arie Kandelaars NLD New C92

  Photo by Betty Greene

Me with NO Pressure.

At the100 mile mark. Finally the burdens from seven months gone!