CODY HANSEN WINS FIRST PLACE IN 50 MILE OUTLAW 100 TRAIL SERIES

By Norma Dittman Cody Hansen earned First Place Overall in the 50 Mile Outlaw 100 Trail Series on Saturday, February 14th. The ultramarathon consists of four 13mile loops - totaling roughly 52 miles. The course goes through very challenging, rocky and rooty trails near Twin Mountains in Kinta, Oklahoma.

“In 2019, my brother Zach and I had an idea to run a marathon. I did Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, and I was hooked. I try to run one or two each year,” Hansen explained. “An ultramarathon is anything that goes past 26.2 miles. We researched different ones, and the Outlaw 100 Trail Series has many different races, including the 50. This was my first go at an ultramarathon.”

On the day of the race, Cody and Zach (who Cody calls his ‘pit crew’) woke up at 3:30 a.m. “We needed to make sure that we were on time for the start. It’s about a 45 minute drive from McCallister to Kinta,” Hansen said. “The start time was 6:30 a.m. I finished at 9:02 p.m.” That is a total time of 15 hours and two minutes.

It began raining at 6:30 a.m., dropping over two inches of rain throughout the day. “I don’t like it hot, so I found that it was beneficial that it was a little cooler out. The high was about 60 degrees and they don’t get the wind like we do,” Hansen stated. “The rain did make portions of the trail have small rivers of water to run through, as well as very slippery terrain in other areas. There was one part of the trail that is called Anaconda. That was really rough to get through.”

The course that Hansen ran was a 13.1 mile loop, with a difference of 2,000 feet in the elevation from start to finish. “There is a time limit for all of the races. The cutoff was on Sunday night, but I wanted to push through and get done on Saturday night,” Hansen said. “You can change your shoes and socks throughout the race, but I opted not to do that due to the rain. As soon as you would put on dry shoes and socks in that weather your feet would have been soaked again. It just didn’t make sense to do that! Running uphill in those wet shoes was slippery – like walking on grease.”

Hansen admits to having a couple of difficulties during the race. “I started having trouble with my left knee in the third lap, so I taped it to avoid any further difficulties. I taped it up really good for the complete last lap. At one point, I did take a tumble and bruised my shoulder pretty badly.” Hansen wears a Garmin watch. He had set it so that his wife, Amber, and Zach could see where he was. “My watch ended up dying at 40 miles. I had called Zach and told him that I had 3 percent battery life left. I told him that I would be going “missing-in-action” and would be that way until I got to the finish line. Zach’s a great brother, and I appreciate him very much. He called Amber and told her what was going on so that she wouldn’t worry.”

Twenty-two men registered to run in the 50 mile ultramarathon, but only 10 finished. “The 50 mile is for both men and women. In total, thirteen finished the race. The guy who came in second place finished at 15 hours and 44 minutes,” Hansen commented. “I was really happy to make that finish line.”

Because the participants come to the finish line at different times, there is not an awards ceremony. Throughout the 50 miles, Zach had kept Cody apprised of what he knew about the various runners, and informed him at one point that he was confident Cody was the lead runner. At the finish line, Cody learned that he was definitely the very first to finish. He was presented with a large medal and a certificate.

“We packed up all of our gear, had some food, and drove back to our hotel because we wanted to get an early start for home on Sunday. Zach and I had left on Thursday, so my family was anxious to see me when I got home. We arrived home on Sunday night. Amber and I have two children. Lyra is 8 and Titan is six,” Hansen said.

A person does not run an ultramarathon without training for it. Hansen trains six days a week, with shorter runs during the week and longer runs on the weekends. “My peak week was 75 miles. One thing I tried was back-to-back long runs with the back-to-back runs at 30 miles and 16 miles on Sunday. Sometimes the morning runs start at 3 a.m. I want to get them in before the kids are awake. On weekends I just try to relax with the kids.”

If it is windy, Hansen runs within the city of Slayton. Sometimes he will run on certain roads that are south of town where he has memorized the mile markers.

When asked if he would consider running another ultramarathon, Hansen replied, “I would try to do it in different states. That way you get to see different places. Although this was my very first ultramarathon, I have ran races in North and South Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska, Texas, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. We are looking at trying to find ones that work with school. Perhaps a summer one. I was really glad that Zach went with me to Oklahoma. We had a good time.”

“It was quite an experience. It is a lot of physical ability, but physical can only get you so far. You have to have a mind set to make sure that you can go through it,” Hansen stated. “You learn how to adapt. Your brain knows what your body is going to go through, and prepares for what will come.”

Hansen is employed at Nobles Cooperative Electric as the Line Superintendent.