About
This year, the UltraChallenge started at the northern trailhead in Forest County at 6:30 AM.
Runners followed the Baker Trail south for 40 miles to Summerville, then turned east to Brookville, and ended at the Evangelical Methodist Church.
The deadline for finishing was 8:30 PM.
Packet pickup was at the Evangelical Methodist Church, we camped out in the Jeep in the parking lot.
Food, dessert, water, and lemonade were provided in the church.
There were bathrooms inside of the church and porta-potties outside.
Stephen and I woke up around 4:00 AM the next morning to get ready to get on the school bus that would take us to the start line.
These point-to-point races involve riding a bus to the start. You can think of it as having to run back to your vehicle.
Learn more about the event here.
Rolling Pin award
3 years + 150+ miles = Rolling Pin Award!
The Baker Trail UltraChallenge is a three year commitment, involving running 150+ miles.
Bonus miles because you will miss a turn as you try to navigate the Baker Trail, following the yellow blazes, but while also trying to watch your footing on the technical and muddy parts.
Every year, the race course rotates, covering 50 miles of the Baker Trail. The courses are identified as the North, Central, and Southern sections.
Stephen and I completed the Central section in 2021, the South in 2022, and the North, this year, 2023.
My stats
52.43 mi
12:37:07
Avg. Pace: 12:26 / mi
Best mi: 10:24
Elevation gain: 4,652 ft
Overall: 51/96
F: 23/43
30-39 AG: 9/13
116 started, 20 people DNF’d
Race start
What an adventure this day would turn out to be!
This was my 12th official 50 Miler… It might have been the hardest 50 miler I’ve ever done?
Friends who have done all three of the courses say that this one is the hardest. Out of the Baker races, I agree, definitely.
The bus dropped us off on a back road that cuts through a forest in the middle of no where. Well, it was near the Baker Trail trail head.
The sun wasn’t quite ready to come up, yet. Runners were using headlamps and cell phone lights to see as we all got our timing chips scanned and we tried to figure out where the start line was.
We were eventually shown the line drawn on the road where we were all supposed to line up behind, according to pace.
People were curious about how far ahead the trail head was. It was darker in the woods. Would we need to use a light?
The answer was no, it was just light even to see the rocks and roots on the trail.
Cook Forest State Park memories
While I was running through Cook Forest, I felt incredibly happy and grateful because it brought back many good memories of visiting and vacationing at the park with family over the years.
My parents would take me camping there when I was a kid. We also went horseback riding.
After having my daughter, in the Fall of 2019, Stephen and I went hiking on the Baker trail, down that huge hill to the water, and then looped back up to the parking.
I carried my daughter in a wrap on my chest. I remembered how much hard work it was to balance on the rocks and make the steep descent, while having a tiny weight on my chest, and my body still recovering from pregnancy.
In a later summer, my daughter and I went up with my parents. We hiked on Liggett and Baker trail.
During my race, I felt physically strong going through these sections because of the positive memories.
This also allowed me to reflect on how much I have progressed and grown as an ultrarunner. I felt grateful.
Let’s race
Starting out, we ran down the road, and then onto the technical trail. The trail was damp and muddy.
Stephen and I have ran quite a few 50 milers together, including Baker, Badwater Cape Fear, and our first attempt at Oil Creek 100 together.
He was a few people ahead of me on the trail for the first 5k. He’s a mountain goat when it comes to technical trails, where that is an area that I’m constantly working hard on to improve.
I thought of him as my rabbit. To try to keep up and never let him out of my sight. Well, that didn’t work out, he pulled minutes ahead.
Recalling Baker last year, we were together until about 50k.
I was feeling strong and maintaining. His training, however, would allow him to finish the race, but it wouldn’t allow him to keep up with me the whole time.
I dropped him and finished well ahead.
That story went through my mind as he was putting more distance between us. Then, I thought, if I can catch up, then maybe we can run together.
If you know me, I’m a tad bit competitive, so this changed as the race went on.
Also, I knew that my friend Katie was ahead of me. We shared miles at last year’s Baker. It would be good to see her.
Mother Nature can be cruel
The area got some rain during the days leading up to the race, but it wasn’t supposed to rain on race day, which was nice.
Shin deep mud that suctioned you in like it was going to swallow you. Runners were concerned about loosing their shoes in the mud.
During two or three water crossings, I held hands with strangers. The water was up to my shorts and I could have been swept away.
Two guys were kind to help me across and then up the muddy, slick embankments.
Throughout the course, there are a handful of steep, long hills. They are slightly worse than what the elevation profile makes them out to be. However, I have been on worse hills.
Do you know what’s really hard though?
Being a short trail runner is really hard. I take two steps per every average height person’s one step.
One of the times that I found myself with a group of runners, there was another petite, short lady.
She came up from behind me and passed. Over the next few miles, we leap frogged. She is one of the runners I would gravitate towards and feed off of her skill and energy.
We trudged through the deep, sticky mud, climbed over fallen trees, and waded through streams.
After we crossed through some crazy mud, that almost caused a runner to lose his shoe, I caught back up to the lady and stated something about how the obstacles are harder for shorter people. At that exact moment, she says, “I was just going to say that!”
We began chatting about the subject. The guy running directly behind us was listening in to our conversation about being short.
He spoke up saying that he noticed that we were both short because he was paying attention to how we skillfully navigated the trail.
The guy mentioned how he felt like we were experts, that it looked like we knew what we were doing, so he decided to follow along.
– He also noticed that we take more steps than he does, lol. I believe he was newer to ultrarunning based off of a previous conversation that I had with him and Brandon.
I swear that all of my 50 milers should count as 100s because of all my extra steps, but it doesn’t work that way.
By the way, short people are awesome!
Twin-cable bridge?
Speaking of water crossings…
At mile 33 there is a twin-cable bridge. Runners had to decide whether they were going to use the cables or wade across.
While I was preparing for this race, I looked up this cable bridge to see what it was.
A memory popped up from years ago of a twin cable bridge when Stephen and I were trail running on the Lost Turkey Trail.
The cables were a little too far apart, making me have to stretch to reach. I was too short.
This bridge didn’t appear much different. Actually, it appeared a few feet above the water, triggering my slight fear of heights.
During this section of the race, I was running with a group. There were about seven of us. We were fighting a battle.
All of us had just gotten off course, adding on one mile, and that involved crazy amounts of deep mud and water.
Here we were, about to decide if we were going to stay wet or use the bridge. It wasn’t a hard decision. Everyone decided to get wet.
That bridge didn’t look like something we wanted to do. One man made a comment about how high up it was.
A few runners held on to each other for stability and to help fight the current. I held onto Brandon’s hand. He’s my friend Aimee’s boyfriend.
We helped each other stay stable since at the bottom of the streams were basketball to baseball-sized rocks to trip on or wobble under your feet. While also fighting the current.
The water was just over my shorts. We decided where we were going to come up the other side based off of what worked for the other runners. We came up near the cable.
Missing turns
Throughout the day, many of us missed turns, adding on distance. I added on 2 miles, 1 mile for each missed turn, lol.
But really, I missed 5 turns total, the others weren’t as bad, it got figured out right away.
After missing that last turn, it wasn’t much further and we were going to be with the trail sections. There would be a crushed gravel path and road leading to the end of the race.
I was still with Brandon when we finished the trail. I said to him, It’s not Baker if you don’t screw up. It’s easy to miss seeing the yellow blazes.
If you recall from my last water crossing story, Brandon was one of those strangers who held my hand while crossing deep water.
I said to Brandon that it’s things like missing a turn that make you mentally tougher.
You may want to feel angry at it or down on yourself, but instead, just work hard fixing it.
We earned some bonus miles. It wasn’t what we wanted, we wanted to have a better clock time, but it happens.
We acknowledged that despite the missed turns, mud, water crossings, and climbs, that we were still doing well.
My new trail buddy, Brandon. Also, magic mushrooms
Earlier in the race, we were running through a single track section that went past private properties. The area gave off a “no trespassing” vibe.
For a small portion of this, the trail was sketchy and it wasn’t quite like the rest of the trail because the path was a bit harder to make out.
There were also blue-ish purple mushrooms. I wondered what would happen if someone were to eat one of the magic-looking mushrooms, and imagined a psychedelic trip full of magical animals.
I also wondered if anyone else had noticed them. There were a dozen or so scattered on the edge of the path.
Anyways, there was a guy running in front of me. Our group of runners was slightly spread out. Everyone was running at their own pace.
There were at least two water crossings ahead, where mud made getting in and out difficult. This is where I met Brandon.
Brandon figured out who I was. His girlfriend is my friend Aimee. I know Aimee through Oil Creek and Baker. Aimee and I have followed each other on Instagram for years.
Him and I shared some good stories and discussed our aspirations as runners. He brought up Leadville and Eastern States 100.
When the going gets tough
I wanted to be done around mile 30, but I knew that that wasn’t going to happen. One dude who is newer to ultras said that we were death marching as we were slugging our way up a long steep hill.
From aid station 8 to 9, 5.4 miles felt like an eternity. We were on a crushed gravel bike path. It was pretty, but the scenery didn’t change much.
My stomach was feeling a little sick, so I cut back on eating. I only drank water. I passed a man throwing up on the side of the path. His pacer was with him, so he wasn’t alone.
I almost wanted to cry.
I repeated several phrases to myself.
“Only ___ more miles to the aid station.”
“___ more miles left in the race.”
“I just need to see the aid station.”
“Get it.”
“Keep going.”
“You’re doing good.”
“You’re earning your rolling pin.”
“You don’t have to do this race ever again.”
Another boost
It was a huge boost seeing Aimee and Steve at the next aid station. It was also a boost seeing Katie leaving the aid station, knowing that I could catch up if I worked hard.
I used the porta pottie and grabbed what I needed from the aid station. I didn’t realize what direction I needed to go in exiting the aid station.
Steve helped me out. He directed me to go on the gravel path and to stay on it.
Reflecting back as I’m writing this, the aid station was the start of the central course, which was the first year that I did Baker. Except for this time, I was running in the opposite direction.
My plan was a run/walk, no particular interval, just what I felt like. The rule that I created for myself was that the run needed to be a moderate effort and last longer than the walk.
That moderate effort didn’t yield fast. My legs were maxed out, allowing me to run between a 10 and 12 minute per mile.
It is Katie!
I saw Katie ahead, but it was difficult to catcher her. She kept a steady, forward run. I struggled to maintain my run, my body was only allowing those moderate effort bursts of running.
I’d get steps away from her, and then walk, falling behind. Then, steps away from her, then falling behind. This was for the next three miles to the end. Katie knew I was there and would yell back to me.
I yelled up to her to let her know that I was guessing that Stephen was in front of her.
She knew that I was trying to catch up to him because I relayed my goal to her as she was leaving aid station 8.
When we were a mile and a half away from the finish, she yelled back to encourage me. Katie finished strong steps ahead of me, securing her rolling pin.
My mission: To catch up and to pass Stephen
Going back to about being competitive. I compete against myself, and sometimes the runners around me, including Stephen. It is fun to try to be strategic.
Can I keep up with this person?
Can I pass this person?
Are they good at ascending?
Descending?
Can I get in and out of the aid station faster than them?
All questions that are fun to consider. Stephen happened to become my rabbit for this race. I thought about how he runs 50 milers.
He pushes on technical trail and ascents. He is also kind of quick at aid stations. These are some of his many strengths.
His biggest areas for improvement are increasing his ability to hold his strong trail pace throughout the entire course (I’m still working on this ability, as well. It is one of my top goals.), not letting his pace drop off as drastic.
The other area that I feel he can continue to improve is running downhill.
Descending is something I’ve worked extremely hard at over the past three years. I needed to increase my strength and improve my eye for foot placement.
Confidence to catch up
Confidence was also a big issue for me. I was not confident, I was scared of running downhill.
We all have areas to improve upon. As David Goggins says, we never arrive. There is always something to work on.
Stephen says that he’s getting slower as he ages, I’m not sure that I agree with that. He does great!
Playing my strategic game, and trying to have an educational guess on his performance, I guessed that I would eventually catch up to him. Perhaps around 50k?
Then, we could either run together or continue to run our own races. Either way, I wanted to see him again.
So, Stephen pulled ahead of me on the trail section, he is a strong technical trail runner. He lost me at about 5k in.
Throughout the race, friends told me how far ahead of me he was. Megan told me he was a few runners ahead.
I mentioned that I guessed I could catch up to him between 50k to 40 miles. I had to maintain, and eventually, he might slow.
A mistake
Between seeing Megan and my next friend at a future aid station, I made a wrong turn. It cost me a mile.
Along the streams and waterfalls, I was stopping to dunk my hat in. It was a brilliant idea, very refreshing.
Well, after stopping this one time to get my head cool, a relay runner passed me. After I stood back up to continue running, I saw that she went left, so I automatically did, too.
I connected with her down the trail. There was a trail sign that pointed Baker trail was to the left, but we just came from that direction.
There was a wider path going along the water to the right, so we decided to go that way to see if it was correct.
We looked to the yellow blazes, but didn’t see any. The young lady then spotted a very faded yellow blaze on a tree. We questioned it, so we went back to the sign. Nope.
We went back to the faded blaze and decided to follow the wide path. It was easy running, so we kept our pace up to not lose as much time if we happened to be wrong.
These things happen
The lady apologized for potentially causing me to make a wrong turn. I assured her that it was okay and that these things happen.
Feeling kind of bad, she said that she would run ahead to see if the path goes anywhere. She didn’t want me to have to run any further. She knew that I was running the 50 miler because we have different bibs.
I still stuck with her because it really wasn’t a big deal. Inside, I was feeling frustrated that there was a mistake made because I was working hard on chasing my rabbit. That work was lost.
Private property. The path led to two houses. Running back, I suggested that we go back to where I was putting my hat in the water, so we did. We should have done that in the first place.
Using the power of observation
There were other runners crossing the water and heading up a hill between some rocks. I noticed the yellow blaze on a rock. Darn it! I pointed it out to her.
Going up the big hill, I used my frustration to propel me. I checked behind me to see if she was still with me. She was not.
Still feeling frustrated, I used that during the rolling hills and for the big downhill. I passed all of the runners who began up the hill by the rocks first. The next aid station wasn’t far.
Seeing Mike and Aimee
Then, mid race, Mike said that Stephen was 20-30 minutes ahead. Mike chatted with me as I got what I needed and then left.
He asked me if it would be okay for him to pace me if his runner dropped. He was there to pace another friend.
I said that it was okay with me. mike and I have shared several miles together at other races and run club events. He is good company.
Mike told me that he would try to make it to one of the later aid stations. I believe we were currently at six of nine.
– I never did see mike again. Later, I found out online that he found another runner to pace. I went through too quickly.
Then, at aid station 8, Aimee said that Stephen was about 13 minutes ahead. When she said 13, I perked up like a little kid given a lollipop and clapped my hands. “I can catch him!”
Aimee said that she looked at her watch when he came in because it would be good intel. It certainly was. I thanked her for that.
I’m gonna catch you!
Within the last mile, that grind paid off. I yelled up to him, “Stephen, I’m gonna catch you!”
I was so happy to see him, and he was happy to see me. He cheered “woohoo!” and pumped his fists up in the air.
I caught up with him, and then, with 100 yards to the finish, which was downhill, I passed him and flew to the end of the race.
– Mission accomplished! I was so done though, what a day!
Finish line
Thank you, everyone for your support and for seriously pushing me. I appreciate you.
I love my friends, family, and the trail and ultrarunning community. And all of that good mushy-feeling stuff.
The Rolling Pin award
Each award is unique. It is made from marble and wood. Each year’s medal strategically fits together, like a puzzle, forming a pie.
Before your third race, at packet pickup, you hand in your previous two medals. They are then placed into a box with what will you your rolling pin. Your name is on your box.
After crossing the finish, you receive your beautiful award. It is a crazy, awesome award.
Weeks later, a little plaque with your name, the years that you ran, and your finishing times will arrive in the mail. It sticks to the front of the wooden base.
The award represents fond memories, hard work, and dedication.
Post race feet that were still recovering from Burning River 100 four weeks prior
I had trench foot from Burning River. My feet were recovering, in the itchy stage. Baker didn’t make them much worse, they just got muddy and kind of sore.
Around mile 10 or so, my feet could tell as I was running over rocks and roots that they weren’t 100%. But, it was okay, I wasn’t worried.
Also, mind over matter.
Read my other two Baker Trail UltraChallenge race reports
Only Eye Athletics Podcast with Dean Banko 09/04/2023
Baker Trail UltraChallenge 50 Miler Stories and Memories (2021)
Baker Trail UltraChallenge 2022 Race Report
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Glacier Ridge Trail Ultra 50 Miler Race Report (2022)
Get Lucky 50/50 50 Miler Race Report (2022)
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