Kettle Moraine 100 Endurance Runs

The original 100-mile course had been reconfigured several times, but has remained essentially unchanged since 2002 or so. The backbone of the course has always been and will be the Ice Age National Scenic Trail in Wisconsin’s Kettle Moraine State Forest. The description of the course by Peter Gagarin, reported in Ultrarunning Magazine in 1996, still rings true:

“The Ice Age Trail rolls and turns and twists through southeastern Wisconsin, in places a bit rocky and rooty and nasty, in places the most beautiful pine-needle-covered trail you could ever hope for; in places a steady progression of short, sharp ups and downs, in places very gently rolling. There are no deep canyons, no mountain passes, no thin air, no claim to be the toughest 100-miler. But 100 miles is still 100 miles. You still have to deal with Mother Nature, with the night, with blisters and chafing and sore muscles, with trying to keep eating and drinking and running. These factors are always there.”