MANKATO — For mere mortals, the concept is almost ludicrous: strap on a pair of running shoes and run 100 miles across rocks, hills, streams and valleys over a span of a day and a half.
It might be fine for antelope and sled dogs, but seems absurd for humans. And yet a small class of humans do it on a fairly regular basis. Mankato’s own Emma Sill joined that class last weekend when she completed the Superior 100-mile endurance run in northern Minnesota.
The 35-year-old teacher and mother of two laced up her sneakers at Gooseberry Falls State Park near Duluth and set out at 8 a.m. Saturday to traverse the Superior Hiking Trail for a 100-mile trek. It is officially billed as the Superior Fall Trail Race and covers 102.9 miles of often grueling terrain along Lake Superior. The course includes 1,750 feet of elevation gain and loss that ends in Lutsen.
Still accomplished the feat in about 34 hours. It was, to say the least, challenging.
“I knew it would be long and arduous but you don’t realize how difficult it is until you’re in it,” Still said. “There were numerous times when I wanted to stop but my support crew encouraged me to keep going. I’m very thankful to them for doing that.”
Her three-man support crew included TJ Jeannette, Dave Sandry and her husband, Kai Sill, himself an experienced distance runner. For the part of the race the crew took turns pacing Emma. Kai paced her for the final 12 miles.
“That was by design,” Emma said. “I knew it would be tough going near the end and I knew I could be myself with him.”
Herself at that point probably wasn’t very pleasant to be around, but Kai helped her through it.
“Generally speaking her mood stayed pretty positive,” Kai said. “You’re physically exhausted at that point, your feet hurt, your whole body hurts. She kept saying ‘I want to be done, I want to be done,’ but you just do it one step at time, one mile at a time.”
Kai said it helped that when he joined her she was close to the finish.
“When you’re near the end there’s hope,” he said. “If you’re struggling at 50 miles and you still have 50 miles to go there’s a lot less hope.”
Born and raised in Mankato, Emma was an accomplished swimmer at Mankato West and then at the University of North Dakota. When she realized she wanted to get into nursing, she transferred to Rasmussen Business College in Mankato and got her degree. She worked as a nurse in pediatrics for six years and then became a school nurse for three years at both Le Sueur-Henderson and Mankato West.
She slowly gravitated towards teaching and has been doing so for the last 11 years. “I wanted to encourage students to get into health care, whether it was nursing or going to med school or whatever.”
She met her husband Kai about 11 years ago when some mutual acquaintances set them up.
“I was into swimming and he was into running and some friends thought we might be a good fit,” he recalled. “She began running and took to it quickly, competing in half-marathons and full marathons and even did a half-ironman.
It may seem incongruous, but Emma said she became attracted to trail running because her body needed a break.
“When you run trails you run a lot slower,” she said. “It’s a lot more social, you can talk along the way, you can admire your surroundings. In marathons you’re pushing yourself to run faster. To me it’s more stressful.”
Over the last four years she’s run a 50k, a 50-mile, a 100k and now a 100-mile. She trained for the Superior endurance run as best she could on trails in the area, such as 7-mile creek, but she’s learned that really doesn’t prepare you for the Superior Hiking Trail.
“The Superior trail is a beautiful place to hike but it’s a whole different animal to run it,” Kai said. “It’s ruddy, it’s rugged, there are sections that are unrunnable so you just power hike over the rocks and up the inclines. You’re in pain at the end of the race but it’s a pain that’s earned. There’s a special spot in your mind when you reach your physical limit and Emma has experienced that.
“I’m very proud of her.”
At the end of her run, Emma collapsed into a chair under a blanket and embraced her daughters — 8-year-old Svea and 5-year-old Linnea. She was glad to have been able to show them that even though what she did was very difficult it was worth trying.
It’s the same for her high school students. Being able to show them that they should embrace challenges rather than shy away from them is rewarding. Of the 254 runners who began the race, about 70 were women. Of those 70, 37 finished. She’s proud to be one of them.
“It would be nice to see more women get involved in endurance racing,” she said. “It’s not just for men, anyone can do it.”
Will she do it again?
“If you had asked me Saturday night I’d have said no way, but now that my legs are feeling better and I can actually walk up stairs again, it doesn’t seem so unrealistic,” she said. “I guess we’ll have to see.”