Jennifer Houck, Superior Performance Elite Team member, ran to fourth place in Saturday’s Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon in Duluth, MN.  Houck finished the race with a personal best time of 1:15.48.  Conditions on race day were the best they have been in recent history with moderate temperatures and cloud cover.  The only challenge the weather provided was a stiff headwind.  “It was an excellent race for Jen,” said her coach Chad Salmela. “Her last race didn’t go as well as we had hoped but this was an excellent confidence booster.  It should put her in an excellent position for Chicago.”  Houck will race the Chicago Marathon, October10, 2010.  Congratulations to Jenniferand all other Superior Performance athletes that raced on Saturday!  Click HERE for Grandma's Marathon, and Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon results.

Chris Rubesch of the Superior Performance Elite Team wassecond in the Deadwood Mickelson Trail Marathon.  The race was the RoadRunning Club of America Trail Marathon Championship.  Rubesch began therace with a solid lead off the line and held this position until the half waymark.  At 13 miles to go he was overtaken by Ryan Kircher who gained overtwo minutes on Chris.  In the final two miles Rubesch was able to dig deepand caught and passed Kircher with 400m left in the race.  Kircher wasable to out kick Rubesch in the final 100m to gain a victory by 3seconds.  "It was a great race," said Rubesch, "I feltgreat in the second half."  "Chris ran a great race," saidJason Kask (Rubesch's Coach).  "It was great to see him close in thefinal miles after leading for the first half of the race," he said. Rubesch's next race will be the Minnesota Voyager Trail Ultra on July 24, 2010in Carlton, Minn.

Chris Rubesch a member of the Superior Performance EliteTeam won the Ice Age Trail 50 kilometer trail race this weekend.  The ultra-marathon in Lagrange, Wisconsin is considered to be one of the countries “classic” ultra-marathons.  Rubesch won the race in 3 hours 51 minutesand 32 seconds.  “I wanted to go out withthe lead pack,” said Rubesch.  “It was agood race to start my season off.  This year being part of the Montrail series it brought more depth to both the 50 mile and 50km field,” he said.  Meg Rubesch placed second in the women’s 50 kilometer field with a time of 4 hours44 minutes and 27 seconds.  “I was extremely pleased with the results of the Rubesches,” said Jason Kask, “both of them have been training well and were ready to get their first race of the season out of the way.  I believe that both Chris and Megare poised to have excellent seasons. The way they ran this weekend showed they are just where we want to be at this point in the season."

Link to local arcticle about Ice Age Trail Ultra

Superior Performance Elite Team member Jennifer Houckfinished 17th out of more than 9,000 female competitors in Mondays114th running of the Boston Marathon.  Houck is relatively new to the marathon scene,this being her second serious marathon. Her time of 2:39:02 was the third fastest American in the field.  After the race Houck said, “I felt veryprepared for Boston.  I was ready to raceafter months of hard training; my legs were ready to go!  I felt strong throughout the race, even onHeartbreak Hill, which I wasn’t expecting as those hills came late in the race.”  Her time put her well within the ‘B’ standardfor the 2012 Olympic Trails her initial goal going into the race and only twoseconds outside the ‘A’ standard.  “Itwas amazing to be part of the Boston Marathon, the fans are amazing,” Houcksaid.  “Once you hit the half marathonmark you aren’t alone a single step as fans are packed along the course.  I got goose bumps when Ryan Hall and Mebpassed me and the crowds were chanting USA, USA.  Of course running two seconds faster would havebeen nice,” she said with a laugh, “but I am happy with my time on a toughcourse.  It was a huge personal recordfrom last fall at Twin Cities.”  Jennifer is the 8th American woman this year to un under 2:40 in the marathon.  The 2012Olympic Trials for the marathon are January 14th, 2012 in Houston, Texas. 

Superior Performance athlete Meg Rubesh was mentioned in Snowshoe Magazine.  For the complete arcticle Click Here.

Also this past weekend Superior Performance athletescompeted in the Northwood’s Snowshoe Championships at Lester Park in Duluth,Minnesota.  Elite Team member Chris Rubesch finished 5th in the halfmarathon race with a time of 2 hours 7 minutes.  With this time Chris placedfirst in his age group.  Also racing was Meg Rubesch.  She competedin the 10km race and finished 4th.  Her time was 1 hour 9 minutes, withthat she placed second in her age group.  After the race Chris said thathe felt strong and that with his focus in ultra marathons he was very happywith his performance.  "I could feel that if I was going to focus onsnowshoeing I would like to be more powerful, but since my goals are in runningI feel that my performance was very strong," said Chris after the race. "Running in snowshoes is definitely different than justrunning."  Way to go Chris and Meg on a great weekend of racing!

This weekend Superior Performance Elite Team member Jennifer Houck raced in The Aramco Houston Half Marathon.  She finished with a time of 1:15:52 over the 13.1 mile course finishing in 16th place.  "As ateam we are extremely excited to have Jen on board for this season," said Jason Kask.   "Her results this weekend were very exciting; it should lead to a great season!  I spoke with her Chad Salmela, (Jen'scoach) about her race; he was quite impressed with the result.  He said her training is coming along as planned and that Jen should be ready for another great season once summer rolls around." 

Today Superior Performance's High Performance Director, Jason Kask, landedin Australia.  He is about to begin his Master's Degree in HighPerformance Science.  Classes will commence January 18th at BondUniversity.  "I am excited for this experience," saidJason.  "The opportunity to study in such a hotbed for sportsperformance will be a great asset to Superior Performance in it's goal inbringing world class coaching to it's athletes."  Jason went on tosay, "I was both honored and a little surprised to learn of my acceptanceto the program.  Initially it was limited to Australian Citizens. The program is confined to only eight students which will make it exceptionallybeneficial.  I am sure the ability to interact with the professors willprove to be extremely valuable.  It is an exciting opportunity to bothlearn about and live Australian sporting culture."

To follow along with Jason's adventure down under long on to www.jasonkask.blogspot.com.

Jason will be blogging his adventures in sport, academia, and life.

Windy but dry conditions greeted the participants of the 2009 HalloweenHustle. On Saturday October 31st 96 dedicated souls braved the cold tocomplete the 5km course. Many dressed in costume that added to the festive spirit of the day. The winning man, Eric Hartmark, dressed as a ghost clown, set the stage with a time of 16 minutes and 15 seconds. Onthe women's side Jennifer Houck bested the field with a time of 18 minutes and 15 seconds. She was dressed as a ballerina. The most coveted trophy of the day went to Loren Janson for best costume. He came dressed as the man that caught Spiderman and scored extra points for creativity and originality. With all the great costumes it was hard for race organizers to pick a favorite. Some of the standouts that deserve honorable mention were the crazy cat lady, hot pink pit crew, ketchup and mustard, Minnie Mouse, flying pig (swine flu), dog, jogging grandma, and a host of others.  Thanks to all who participated!  For full results click HERE .  For photos click HERE

Sunday, Superior Performance Elite Team member Chris Rubesch ran to 8th place in the Glacial Trail 50k. As with most races this is not the end of the story, the 5 hours 8 minutes and 51 seconds were filled with a mix of emotions that is common in running. Rubesch ran strong but conservatively for the first 40k. His grueling pace had propelled him to second place and with 10k to go he made an impressive move and took the lead. "I was running strong and it felt that it was time to go for it," said Chris. "The race was unfolding as well as anyone could have hoped, the move Chris made was perfectly placed and he is in the best shape of his life right now," said Jason Kask, Rubesch's coach. "I am continually impressed with the tactical instincts Chris displays on the trail. It is easy to train muscles to respond the way one would like, but the mind is much more difficult. An athlete must embed the correct race plan and be able to change it on the fly as the race unfolds during a time when mind is trying to block out what it is feeling," said Kask. After this Rubesch’s races started to turn sour, while his body was still responding superbly he got on the wrong course and he (and 12 others) ran approximately 13 extra kilometers. “This was unfortunate”, said Kask. “ I know Chris was disappointed about how the race ended. With the way he has been running I am sure he would have finished the race with a commanding lead, but we will never know. While it would have been easy to start pointing fingers, Chris was very grateful to the event coordinators for putting on the race which goes to show that Chris is not only a great runner but also a model of sportsmanship.”