Kremer takes second at trail running championships

“I think the boots go on now”

Crested Butte Community School second grade teacher Stevie Kremer closed out her 2011 distance running season Saturday, November 5 placing second at the Lithia Loop Trail Marathon, in Ashland, Oregon. The Lithia Loop course is 26.2 miles long with just two miles of pavement, climbs over 4,000 vertical feet before dropping down, and is the USA Track & Field’s Trail-Marathon Championships.
Kremer’s racked up a number of podium finishes this summer on the trail-running circuit as well as a course record at the Lead King Loop in September.
At the advice of friend and co-worker Shari Sullivan Marshall, Kremer decided to step outside the confines of the Colorado trail running circuit and head to Oregon for a glimpse at the big time.
Included in the field were current U.S. trail running team member Megan Lund-Lizotte—the U.S. 50-kilometer champion—and two other runners who have posted sub-2:45 (2 hours, 45 minutes) times in previous marathons.
“I did a ton of races this summer and I knew there would be a lot of strong competition at this race,” says Kremer.
Kremer entered the race hoping for a top-five finish and a plan to keep Lund-Lizotte in check.
“I knew going into it that it would be borderline impossible to keep up with her,” says Kremer. “I just wanted to keep her in sight.”
Runners were met with classic Northwest rain at the start line on Saturday and as they climbed for the first eight miles of the race, they were soon running through snow on a course covered with four inches of fresh.
“It was dumping,” says Kremer. “My legs were so cold. When I went to push my hair out of my face it was frozen. I did what I was used to and hoped the cold went away.”
Kremer stayed with Lund-Lizotte on the initial big climb to the eight-mile mark, relying on her strength as a trail runner to keep her opponent in sight before hitting the downhill.
“I’m a much stronger uphill runner than a downhill runner,” says Kremer.
The course then spent the next several miles mixing in ups and downs and Kremer was in good shape with Lund-Lizotte still in sight.
“Coming to the top of that hill I felt good but at mile 10 I was like, ‘I’ve got 16 more miles to go,’“ admits Kremer. “Mile 10 was a tough mile.”
Pushed by the competition and a fear of taking a fall on the slick course, Kremer charged through the toughest miles of the race and remained in second place the entire race to finish with a time of 3:05:34, just one minute and 48 seconds behind Lund-Lizotte. Remarkably, despite the trail conditions and weather, both women broke the previous course record set last year under sunny skies and prime trail conditions.
“Having Megan in front of me and seeing her really pushed me,” says Kremer. “I think that’s why I ran as fast as I did.”
Kremer’s effort also broke up the pre-race predictions of a showdown between Lund-Lizotte and a local trail running stand-out. Still, Kremer believes she just had a good day and doesn’t see herself as trail running royalty on the national scene.
“I’m not a big deal, I just had a good race,” says Kremer. “It was just good to see I was able to run strong compared to her.”
Kremer will now hang up the trail running shoes for the annual transition to winter.
“I think the boots are on now,” says Kremer.
Still, she does have a distant goal of taking a shot at making the U.S. trail running team racing in the one qualifier race in June 2012.
“My ultimate goal would be to make the U.S. trail running team but there are a lot of great runners out there,” says Kremer. “I still think I have to do more of these races with these great runners to see if I can do this.”