8d (edited) • 🏅 Races
Race Report - Elm Creek Backyard Ultra
Race info
- Elm Creek Backyard Ultra, Maple Grove, MN, USA
- April 24-25, 2026
- Last Runner Standing, 4.167 mile loops
- 17 hours (70.84 miles)
- Weather: Friday was sunny and got up to about 60F. Saturday night down to about 40F.
Goals :
- Stretch goal: 200 miles
- Realistic goal: 150 miles
- Minimum goal: 100 miles (to earn the buckle)
Training background
At least 2,000 miles per per year the last 4-5 years. For this block, I averaged about 63 miles per week. I did back to back 20 mile runs three times, I had a 70 mile week followed by a 74 mile week. I did a 4-hour Backyard simulation from midnight to 4am (16 miles), then slept 4 hours, got up and went for a 20 mile trail run. I was also walking 15-20 miles per week.
Pre-race:
I came into race day excited and confident. I was ready to run for 36 hours. No pre-race nervousness at all. I woke up about 530am and had a coffee and bagel with peanut butter and honey. The race allows base camp tent setup starting at 8am, and I arrived about 10 minutes later. I set up my tent, chair, table, got my gear into the tent. Then I went to a local brewery/coffee shop and sat with a coffee for about an hour. Came back to the race about 1030am to start prepping final details. Ate another bagel with peanut butter and honey. My Coach arrived about 11am and kept me company. There's a runner meeting at 11:30am, and I stayed in my tent to sit and to prepare. The race started at noon, so I got into the corral with about 20 seconds to spare, with my 12-ounce handheld water bottle with one scoop of Tailwind in it. I had my trusted road shoes - Brooks Launch (foreshadowing), a pair of ChicknLegs shorts with banana print, a long sleeve tech shirt, and a cap.
The Race:
I know the course - I ran 26 hours / 108 miles in this race last year, and I'd been to two preview runs in the weeks leading to the race. My target was 54-55 minute loops all day Friday, and the night also. My nutrition plan was a 12-ounce water with Tailwind every loop (25g carbs) and then another 55g of carbs from food.
The start line excitement is real - and in true Backyard form, when the gun went off, I walked for 1.5 minutes! It's easy to get caught up in the excitement of a race - but not if you walk. I small-talked with a few people - did this pretty much every loop. I came in at 54:15 - right on plan. It was warm, so I changed from the long sleeve to a racing singlet, and added a few squirts of sunscreen. I'm not sure what I ate, but it was probably sugary.
Loop 2, slowly getting into the flow. Reconizing some faces, the singlet feels good. I'm getting into a pattern of having 1/4 cup maple syrup as my food each loop - 54g carbs and it goes down smooth.
Loop 3-6, getting familiar with who is on my pace plan - they become familiar faces and voices. I'm more of a listener than a talker - I do small talk but not much in depth. I'm ripping off 54:xx loops every time. I know where the 1-mile mark is, the halfway point, and I know exactly where it's a 5 minute walk to the line. Those are good gauges of timing in a backyard - find your waypoints. My daughter had ramen ready for me after loop 6, so I came in about a minute quicker to have time to eat.
Loop 7-10, sunset and dark. Making connections with people, talking a little more to pass the time. Legs get tired, but I know from the past that they get to a level of tired and just stay there for hours. Somewhere in here I took off the singlet and put on two long sleeve tech shirts. I thought about pants a few times but never put them on. It was about 40F, so no hat or mittens either overnight.
Loop 10, I come in at 53 minutes to change socks and shoes. My tent was a little chaotic - at this time I had my Mom, wife, both kids, and dog out at the course. I changed and got my shoes back on, and something didn't feel right on my right heel. I took off my shoe again and peeled back my sock - and there was a pretty large blister. Shit! I've never treated a blister during a race, and never had a blister in this location. I own a copy of Fixing Your Feet, so had a little knowledge of what to do, and I had the supplies ready. So I barked out orders - get me this, get me that. I popped it, tried to drain it but couldn't get it all out, so I slapped on a piece of Leukotape and got my sock and shoe back on. In a Backyard, you only have a few minutes to deal with a problem, and then you're off again at the top of the hour.
Loop 11, stress is setting in. I know I have this bad, unmanaged blister and now I'm going 4.167 more miles on it. The whole lap my mind is racing about what to do next. And now I'm feeling something on my left foot in the same spot. I come in to camp and sit down to analyze the left foot - yup, big blister. So I manage that one, but I now have time to fully drain it before taping.
Loop 12, still stressed because I haven't yet dealt with that poor treatment on the right foot. So now it's approaching 8.5 miles on it. Come into camp and it has gotten bigger in those two hours. I pop and drain it, put on two pieces of tape, and back out for loop 13.
Loop 13-16, the stress is building. It's 1am-4am, the night is tough anyway, and I'm getting worse by the loop. The foot situation has consumed my brain, and the stress has caused my digestion to slow or stop. I can feel the last several hours of food sitting in my stomach. My legs are feeling more tired than they should - my brain is allowing that creep. My youngest daughter and only crew member overnight is now sleeping in my tent, taking up 1/3 of the total space leaving little room to move. Somewhere in here I put in one earbud hoping music would calm my issues, but it didn't work.
Loop 17, downward spiral continues and accelerates. The thought of quitting is strong, and it's hard to get out of that. I get into my chair at 56 minutes, and a minute later the 3-minute whistle blows. And I think man, I cannot get this done. I've toughed it out with the blisters and stomach and brain for 7 hours now, and it's still another 7 hours to the 100 mile belt buckle. Two minute whistle, and I'm confident I'm out. One minute whistle - I stop my watch activity, which to me means I'm officially done. Bell rings, and runners set out for lap 18 as I sit in my chair. I put my head back and think about crying, but I don't. I get out of the tent and go tell the Race Directors that I'm out, that I've been toughing it out since 10pm (it's now 5am) - one of the RDs says "OMG, that was YESTERDAY!" My race was over after 17 hours and 71 miles.
I changed into warm street clothes, and sat in my chair and texted some people (race over, don't come, I just freed up your Saturday, etc). Now I have three car loads of stuff here (all my race gear, plus my mom brought food and chairs for the weekend, my wife and kids brought scooters and skateboards and dog stuff. It was overwhealming how much stuff was in and around my tent. My Mom had received the race-over text, and was already on her way driving an hour to help me clean up. I didn't get out of there for four hours - every loop I would take a break and go cheer incoming runners and then see them start the next loop. I got and gave a lot of fist bumps and high-fives - you create a bond with people in an ultra. Many of them knew my blister struggles but were surprised to see me out of the race.
Upon reflection, I realized what I think was my shoe problem. I've ran at least 5,000 miles in Brooks Launch shoes - they're my every day trainer for easy runs to workouts to long runs. But I've NEVER power hiked trails even one mile in them. Power hiking or walking fast is a different gait than running, and there's a lot of that in a Backyard. When I run or hike trails, I wear my trail shoes. But because of the great trail conditions on race day, I wore my road shoes. Lesson learned, and I'll be addressing my shoe lineup starting with a professional gait analysis tomorrow.
Despite my 2026 problems, I still love the backyard format. I tell people it's the most fun I'll ever have at a race. I knew as soon as I was out of this race that I'll be back in 2027 - I have unfinished business.
What went well: (See first image for details)
- I had a great training cycle.
- Planned.
- Treated my blisters.
What I'd do differently: (See second image for details)
- Solve my shoe situation for Backyard Ultras.
- Select a more focused and dedicated crew.
- Simplify my base camp and nutrition options.
Would I run this race again? Absolutely! It's on my 2027 race plan with a Sharpie marker!
Next steps:
I've just finished up with an entire week of no running or hard cross training - my first week like that in probably four years. (I did walk the dog for 27 miles last week though.) I'm about to go out the door right now for 20 minutes of slow running.
My next race is in 7 weeks - the 50th Grandma's Marathon in Duluth, MN. I'm going to run the unofficial Grandma's Double - a small group goes to the finish line at 230am and runs the course to the start line, then runs the actual marathon, so 52.4 miles! Then I'm going to take an easier, unstructured summer, hit the trails a bit more, and also not stress about always getting in the miles like it's life or death.
But I have a missed goal. A couple years ago I established a goal to run a 100 miler every year until I'm 60 (I'm 50 now) and this race was supposed to be my 100 miler for the year. There aren't any relatively local 100 mile races this fall with openings. So, my coach and I designed a 100 mile "race" of my own along the Mississippi River in Minneapolis and St. Paul. It's an 8.5 mile loop that I'll run until I get to 100 miles. Some teammates will come out and run with me, and we'll have some other fun with it too. I've dubbed it the Franklin-Ford 100 (those are the two bridges that cross the river), there's only one runner registered, and there's no cutoff time.
Note: I'm more than happy to answer any and all Backyard Ultra questions - here on this board or via email or text message.
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Race Report - Elm Creek Backyard Ultra
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