By JoAnn Biren
Staff Writer
Why do people run? Line up 10 runners and surely there would be 10 different answers. This story is about one runner. Why he runs might even be unclear to him, but he is driven to lace up his shoes and take to the trails with an intensity that even surprises him.
Aaron Larson is a dedicated runner. He doesn’t run marathons, he participates in ultra-running. Larson works for Murrayland Agency with offices in Currie and Tracy; when he is at his desk in Tracy it isn’t unusual for him to slip into his running shoes and head for Garvin Park and run during his noon hour.
Ask him what motivates him and he struggles to find an answer; finally he shrugs his shoulders without answering. Later on, the name Patty Wetterling comes up in his conversation and instantly an image comes to mind of the kidnapping of her son, Jacob, and the two children that were with him on that October evening in 1989 as they rode their bikes home from a convenience store. A man, (identified 27 years later as Danny Heinrich) with a masked cap stopped the boys. He had a gun. The boys were told to lie down and then he asked their ages. Jacob’s brother, Trevor, was 10 and the man told him to run and not look back. The man then demanded Aaron Larson and Jacob show him their faces. They were both 11 years of age. He told Aaron to run and not look back. He took Jacob. Twenty-seven years later, the public, who continued to hold onto hope for someday finding Jacob, were told the truth. Jacob would never come home and he was buried not far from where he was kidnapped.
And now Aaron Larson runs; he is running forward not away. Running gives him peace.
UltraRunning-Superior
Fall Trail Race
Larson has always liked the Duluth area of Minnesota and it was natural for him to look into taking part in a Superior Fall Trail Race when the idea of running first presented itself to him. “Gooseberry Falls State Park is beautiful,” he said, adding, “I love the North Shore.”
Before we get back to Larson, a look at exactly what the Superior Fall Trail Race is that Larson participates in is a must. The following comes from the website for the race: The Superior Fall Trail Races 100MI, 50MI & 26.2MI are run on rugged, rooty, rocky, 95% single-track trail with near constant climbs and descents. The race is held on the Superior Hiking Trail in the Sawtooth Mountains paralleling Lake Superior in Northern Minnesota not far from the Canadian border. The race is located approximately four hours north of Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Superior Fall Trail Races are very difficult and challenging races and are probably not a good choice for your first trail or ultra race. The last sentence might be an understatement.
There was a lot of work to get a trail ready through the wilderness around and beyond the Gooseberry Falls State Park where the race starts. The first time the trail was put into play was in 1993. It’s a trail that takes you over and under, up and down. You cross water with beaver dams, run over trails covered with tree branches and rocks and find yourself above it all in a swinging foot bridge. The course record is 19 hours, 30 minutes and 40 seconds. This year 169 people finished the race. You must complete it in 38 hours or you are eliminated.
The race ends at Caribou Highlands at Lutsen Mountain. It is a single track trail. Larson finished the race this year, starting on September 8 and finishing on September 9 with a time of 33 hours, 51 minutes and 16 seconds. Two-hundred and seventy people had signed up, 237 started the race. Larson was 100th out of the 169 runners who finished. The race officially started this year at 8:01 a.m. and was completed by 5:51:17 p.m. Are you beginning to wonder why someone does this?
Larson’s running story
Larson explained that about five years ago he was talking to his wife, Renee Felber Larson, about a way to challenge himself. To be honest, she wasn’t really in favor of the time this might take from his family. Larson has a son, Anikan, 10, who attends school in Slayton. A couple of years after he started his pursuit of the 100 mile race at Superior, he and Renee had a baby, Theodore, who is now two years old. And then baby, Maverick, joined the family; he is now eight months old.
The conversation continued between the two and it was decided he would give it a try. “I explained that I wanted to do something really difficult.” He certainly picked a good sport for that!
His first trail race was a 50K on the trail at Lutsen. “I had no idea what it was all about.” “We drove up, no clue at all what we were in for,” he explains. He found running through the beauty of the nature all around inspiring. He felt good about it. Renee got into it too, running her own 50K. She has run a number of times, and has acted as a pacer for Larson.
This year is the first year he has solicited advice from a running coach. He is on a training schedule and he puts in between 60 to 70 miles of running each week. He never runs on a hard surface, it’s on a trail, solid ground; it’s important to look down because you can stumble on a rock or twist an ankle on an exposed tree root. It’s not unusual for him to be up and out at three in the morning to get a run in.
“Through the years I kept pushing myself, finding new limits,” he said of his running.
This is a sport the entire family can take part in. If they aren’t running they can cheer on those who are. This year the two youngest were in attendance at the race along with Larson’s parents and his sister and brother-in-law, Kala and Jarrod Larson. “Jarrod worked a ton at the aid stations this year,” Larson said of his brother-in-law. All of the adults have run with him at one time or another as a pacer.
Larson explained that after the first 43 miles of the race a runner can have a pacer. His Dad ran with him for about six miles. Over and over he extols the patience and the support he receives from his wife, his sister and brother-in-law and his parents. It would be a much more difficult task without the love and support of his running network.
He also speaks highly of the over 200 volunteers who man the course, helping out at the aid stations, making sure the trails are well marked, and giving encouragement when it is needed. Many a runner Larson said gives credit to the volunteers who cheer them on.
Larson doesn’t give up. The first time he tried the Superior race he finished 96.2 miles and had to quit because he was over the allotted time to finish. He doesn’t talk about a near miss or frustration at not finishing, rather the fact that he was determined the next time to make it the entire 100 miles. Since starting the ultra running, Larson has run Superior twice, that is finished twice, and ‘Cloudsplitter 100’ in Kentucky once. Throughout the 33 hours he will change shoes and socks multiple times at the aid stations set up along the route. His feet take a beating. The blisters are beyond description.
“You want to see something that might gross you out?” he asks. The photo he finds on his phone is one of his feet. His toes are blistered red and honestly, it doesn’t look like a normal foot. It takes time to heal, but that has never stopped him from putting on his running shoes and taking off again.
It might be interesting to note that Renee’ never ran in high school or college, but according to Larson loves it now. “She’s pretty dang good at it!” he said with a big smile.
Running is never lonely, even when you are out there alone. “There are times at night you won’t see anyone but when you stop at the aid stations you always see other runners,” he said.
“I love it!” he exclaims of the running.
Next year Larson turns 40 and he will enter the Master’s Division. Believe it or not he is looking forward to that!
