A passion for pushing the limits

Marathons and other assorted races have become the norm for Jenny Cashman and Molly Titchenal over the course of their running journeys, but when they discovered Minnesota’s Fire Tower 50k – a 31.1-mile ultra-marathon – was looking for more female participants, they knew it was time to step out of their comfort zone.

The two have forged their friendship through countless miles of training on roads and trails across the state with marathons mixed in between, but neither had gone further than 26.2 miles in any race before, putting them in unchartered territory.

“When one of us comes up with an idea, we kind of get FOMO (fear of missing out). We all wanted to do it, and Jenny had said, ‘I think we should do an ultra-marathon. I found this one in August that looks great.’ August sounded too hot, so I looked online to find some other options. I saw this one where they were trying to get 50 women to do a 50k,” said Titchenal.

According to her, the race’s interest in recruiting female runners was to help curb a statistic in the ultra-marathon running community.

“The race directors for Fire Tower wanted to have a race that promoted and was accessible for women in ultra-running. Currently, 20% of the race field is made up of women. They wanted to bring more awareness to women in ultra-running,” said Titchenal.

The ability to push their limits, finish a career-long race and promote women’s running were the main goals for the duo, however, the Fire Tower 50k experience came with some extra perks.

“As part of that, if you signed up and it was your first 50k, you got to be part of a training group. After we became part of the training group, we found out that the Pickle Juice Project wanted to do a documentary following the women that were doing their first ultra-distance event. There were about six to eight of us that they followed through the process from the very beginning to the end of the race – like literally minutes after the race,” said Titchenal.

Training revolved around grueling days of conditioning their legs to withstand not only the distance and speed, but the wear-and-tear associated with running while exhausted.

“It was a lot of tired miles. Our coach would have us go out on the weekends, like a Saturday we would go run 3-4 hours and then the next day you’d wake up and do 1.5-2 hours. There would be one speed workout during the week, and then another mid-distance run, like 5-6 miles, mixed in. Usually, we were running about four and five times a week,” said Cashman.

When race day arrived, Cashman and Titchenal were joined by their Kansas City friend, Kelly Miller, for the event.

While the first few miles were a breeze for the trio, a few curveballs presented themselves as the race went on.

At mile nine, participants must climb a 100-foot-tall fire tower that is enough to give anybody with a fear of heights issues.

“They have a vertigo option for people who don’t like heights. I was debating it and debating it, but Kelly was like, ‘You’re going to go up this stupid fire tower. Don’t be ridiculous.’ So I did it, and it was a highlight for me. I’m glad I did it,” said Titchenal.

The moment at the fire tower was quite different for Cashman.

“I felt so good starting, and I knew that it was going to get hot, so I told myself that I was going to start fast while the weather was still cooler. I met up with my husband at the fire tower at mile nine – he was doing the 50k as well – and when he was on his way down, he was like, ‘What are you doing here?’ I think he thought I would be further behind. I was like, ‘I’m cruising.’ I loved going up and down that thing. The view was amazing,” said Cashman.

As the race progressed, Cashman kept her initial strong pace – maybe even unknown to herself.

“A few times through the race, I had a photographer come up to me and tell me I’m in third. I was like, I don’t know what they’re talking about, but when I came around the corner and finished, they told me I got third. I was like, ‘OK, they were right.’ It didn’t feel real during the race, but I guess it was,” said Cashman.

Cashman’s run earned her third place in the female competition and 19^th place overall in the race.

According to her, the result has helped her set even higher goals for next time.

“I’m going to do the 100k event (62 miles) at the next Fire Tower race. Pretty soon after I finished, I was like, ‘I think I can do it,’” said Cashman.

Titchenal and Miller finished the race staggered behind Cashman, and had the opportunity to share an embrace knowing their group had all accomplished their goal.

The added bonus: The trio got to witness the Fire Tower 50k documentary premiere on the big screen in St. Paul on March 29.

“I thought it was super cool because the day of the race, you’re experiencing it all first-hand. To actually go back and watch it through the lens where you can see yourself, it’s so cool,” said Titchenal.

The documentary has so far been limited to its initial screening, but according to Cashman and Titchenal, it will eventually be posted at the following link: https://www.youtube.com/@Team_Pickkle?app=desktop.