2013 Deadwood-Mickelson Trail Marathon Race Report

Planned back in 2012, I registered nice and early in January for the 2013 Deadwood-Mickelson Trail Marathon.

I am slowly working my way through 50 states of marathons, but the goal hasn't been to rush through, pick the cheapest, or the easiest to get to. I wanted a scenic pretty race, showing off a great viewpoint to each state.

THE shot. #nofilter Beautiful views at South Dakota's Deadwood-Mickelson Trail Marathon

With that, I headed off on my first trip to South Dakota. An hour outside Rapid City, on the west side of the state, Deadwood was an hour drive away. And by coincidence, I arrived to find out Hertz had dropped me right into the freaking middle of a Jeep ad. Beautiful... and it was also SUPER windy.

I drove to the tiny town of Deadwood up in the Black Hills.

I picked up my packet from the small expo. Pink shirt with black panels for the ladies. Nice of them to personalize the bib, even though I know it's not a high-spectator race so I would be folding it small to pin it anyway.

Then, I headed to the place you think of when you are a tourist in South Dakota: Mt Rushmore!

Four dead Presidents and ME

Stopped at Lake Pactola on the way. Beautiful!

Fast forward to race morning. Parked by 5:30, yawn. The shuttle to the start of this point-to-point race left about 6 am and dropped us at the start at 6:30. For an 8 am race start. I met a sweet girl from Wisconsin named Stacie on the bus. It was her first marathon. It was 45 degrees when they dropped us off, in a tiny little gravel/grass parking lot. An hour and a half of standing in the cold and, with my not-so-great circulation, numb toes when we started. :-(

I started the race with my new friend Stacie. We chatted about anything and everything. The company was really nice.

The first mile or so was on a road, and included a small out-and-back before we entered the trail. I saw my friend Cathy up ahead of me as she headed back toward me during this part.

Then, it was just gorgeous... the whole time.

We'd curve around small bends, always heading slightly uphill. The GPS in my Garmin went a little wonky on pace between two of the big hills once, as those hills rose all around us.

About mile 4.8 we came up to an aid station right before a tunnel through the rock. As I pulled out my phone and remarked that I *had* to take a picture, a sweet volunteer offered to take my picture. All the volunteers were great!

About mile 6, Stacie dropped back, and without a word, we're separated. I'd said from the get-go that we both just needed to run our own race, so I was glad she was listening to her body.

At mile 13.86 was the top of the hill. The 13 mile hill. That awful 13 mile hill. We were now 6000 feet up (race had started around 5500 ft). We could see the top of the hill. A teenager ran towards us, encouraging us that we were almost to the top.

See the trail is derived from decommissioned railroad line so the grade at any point in the race is less than 4%, but it also means every hill is a long S-L-O-W tortuous hill. In the end, with elevation corrections, for this point-to-point race, my Garmin measured 2,776 feet of gain, and 3,225 feet of loss! It adds up quick. (To compare, the "hilly" San Francisco Marathon is about 900 feet of gain/loss)

We got to the top of the hill, and we began the several hundred feet slow decline for the next 12 miles (except one uphill mile I'll get to). I was so excited. This is what I had been waiting for. I had counted down to 13.86 miles to where my dead, tired legs would change up the muscle groups in use, and my more skilled job at running downhill with my overpowering quads would be glorious.

Mile 14 to 15 I waited for the jet engine to turn on. And it didn't. Ugh. Everything was just spent and my legs felt exhausted. I felt exhausted.

It was warming up quite a bit on this virtually cloudless sunny day. And while we'd only hit the low 70s, the unshaded course made me realize that even with the sunscreen I was wearing, a point-to-point due south to due north course was probably going to result in a crispy Libby. And it would - on my right side and down the backs of both legs.

Mile 15, the breakdown started. I had kept an even, consistent 12:25 average pace up that 13 mile hill. With a 12:20 pace for my current marathon PR, and expecting faster splits on the downhill, I started the second half of the race with illusions of a potential PR on a hard marathon training run. And when I just couldn't get going in that second half? Ugh.

The next 4 miles had a lot more walking breaks as I just tried to pull it together and salvage my legs. Around mile 18, I stopped on a really pretty bridge and took a few pictures.

I stashed my phone then looked up to see a guy with a fancy looking camera. I said, "Are you official?" He laughed and said yeah. I backed up 5 feet, then high-knees FAKED a run for the camera. I could not have had worse timing to run into the guy; however, the pictures were kinda awesome.

Mile 19 was a slow uphill which felt bigger since we'd spent 5 straight miles going downhill. This was also where we hit the official trail marker for mile 100 of the 108-mile Mickelson Trail. Cool to tick off the markers. And I loved the way these markers were a dominant presence but also managed to melt into the scenery.

At mile 20 was an aid station with mostly unhelpful teens. And WARM water. Like distinctly warm. Blech. Two minutes later a participant was walking back towards us, another gal asked what he was up to, and he said someone was hurt down the path. She and I ran a couple tenths to see if he needed any more help, but when we got there, two others seemed to have him situated, and I passed along that we'd passed the guy heading back for help.

A little before mile 21, and the second wind finally kicked in. I would run 9/10 of the mile and walk the last tenth the whole rest of the way. And had my fastest mile splits of the day those last 5 miles. 11:00-11:30 per mile run splits, and with the walk breaks, it would still average to 12:00 miles.

We spent most of the race by this creek, either on one side of us or the other. By the end, I was dying to jump into this creek.

The second half of the race I passed a lot of people. I thought it was just in my head that I was and that my impression was that a lot of people were walking. But of the 326 finishers total, I passed 17 of them in the second half. And a lot of people, both faster and slower than me, had 30 minute positive splits in the second half of the race. It made my 11 minute positive splits (2:47, 2:58) feel a whole lot more successful.

The last few miles I couldn't stomach any more Honey Stinger chews. I repackage a bag of 10 chews into 5 per small pill ziploc. So I had 3 of the 4 of those I had packed, amounting to 240 calories. Which is interesting because when I used to run more road marathons last spring, I would eat 5 GUs, totalling 500 calories. This time, as an ultrarunner, I'd become very used to "real" food, and Coach had taken away any GUs or chews on long training runs to increase my fat burn efficiency as my body worked to use what it had. It meant I wasn't accustomed to these unusual calories of "not quite food" and my stomach felt a little off from it the whole race from the first one I took about 6 miles in.

I chatted a couple miles out with a guy that it turned out would be running Bighorn in 2 weeks also, except the 50 mile to my 50K plan. A mile out we came into town, which was a bit of a shell shock to the beautiful remote outdoors. We wound by parking lots and alongside one of the hotels and crossed the highway with the help of some great police officers. Another guy that I had leapfrogged with some throughout the second half was even with me a mile out, and he said I looked strong and needed to go for it.

I slowly reeled in and passed several people that last half mile. Including a poor girl I scared out of her skin when I padded up alongside and gave my standard, "Good job!" She was very zoned out!

2 tenths from the finish. 26 miles done. Next 0.1 mile was 11:00 pace. The last 0.1 mile was an 8:41 pace. Great strong kick, it was almost too hard. I almost stuttered to a complete halt about 4 steps from the finish line to hold back vomiting at that pace, and then staggered across, completely spent.

Spent. "Don't throw up, don't throw up..."

5:44:50 chip time. I thought, "My PR is 5:21, and that's back of the pack. This has to also be the same!" I happened to look at results the next day. I was actually 98th out of 144 females. That's 68th percentile. That's midpack. Shocked, I'm just shocked. Later, my trainer pointed out, 68th percentile with altitude, killer long slow slight climbs/descents, and high mileage training week. Yeah, I'm pretty happy about all that.

Of course, for me, I was most proud of the mind over body results of those last 5 strong miles. I fought the demon miles 15-19, but ultimately I won. I don't care the finish time associated with that result. I know how my heart felt when I won that battle.

Finisher Medal

That afternoon I toured Spearfish Canyon. It's always good to keep the legs moving. Spearfish Creek was pretty and Bridal Veil Falls was a nice find.

Bridal Veil Falls

Spearfish Creek

The walls of Spearfish Canyon

And then headed home on a plane Monday morning. A great trip, an awesome introduction to the beauty of South Dakota, and marathon/ultra #19, marathon #9, and state #11 complete!

Next up: Taper then Bighorn 50K on June 15th outside Sheridan, Wyoming.

Screw Weekly Mileage

I'm done talking about weekly mileage. I'm even taking a hiatus from posting on Dailymile. And not because I don't like Dailymile. But their leaderboards just look at total mileage in a week, and if you filter, then running only mileage, in comparing to your network of friends. And I actually had a pretty high mile week in my opinion. But it doesn't tell the story. And frankly, looking at mileage totals, thinking about what's "normal" for people with my similar goals, and comparing to others is giving me a confidence crisis that I just don't need.

In the time I trained this week, an 8 minute miler could do 82 miles, about double the miles I completed, but I'm not that speedy by far and the amount of time for me to do that many miles is not going to work with my other priorities. Plus my strength training time is valuable for my ultramarathon trailrunning.

Instead... Time on feet, how I felt, and amazing running peeps is a far better focus that I should have for last week and here on out. Why does it always come down to comparing miles or judging our training value by miles? I know I've done that, just like EVERY. OTHER. RUNNER.

Week of May 19-26, 2013

• Time on Feet: 11 hours of training.
• How I Felt: Built up my confidence for Bighorn 50K in 3 weeks.
• Amazing Running Peeps: 9 friends! Ran with Amanda, Mike, Greg, Amy, Catherine, Sheryl, Lesley, Robin, Melissa.
• Worked out 6 of 7 days this week.

Monday: 0:00. Rest day.

Tuesday: 0:45. In humid weather at Lifetime Fitness Run Club, organized by Mike and getting to run the whole time with Amanda.

Wednesday: 2:10. 
AM: 1 hour strength training. Lots of heavy lifting.
PM: 1 hr, 10 min trail run in the evening. Fast trail miles at an NTX Runners group run hosted by Greg. Got to see Mike two days in a row, and run with Amy and Catherine too! Downed tree branches and mud made it a hard run.

Thursday: 1:15. NTX Runners hill workout I'm hosting. Got to run with Sheryl for the first 5 hill repeats. I had 15 repeats total. That's a lotta hill.

Friday: 1:00. Strength training in the morning. Moderate weight, moving through all the movements of each muscle group to loosen up tight muscles from Wednesday's heavy lifting.

Saturday: 3:10. Loooonnnng run. Hot and humid. A couple miles alone. Then a group of 20 for the NTX Runners Saturday group run. Loved getting to run long with Lesley, Robin, and Melissa.

Sunday: 2:40. Another long run. This was supposed to be a trail run with friends, but it got rained out. Started humid, then I got rain dumped on me heavily for about a mile, then remained at 93-99% humidity. Downed tree branches from the storm.

So how did your week go if using the same focus? How much time was invested? How did you feel? How many people did you connect with? Tell me about your week!

Running at 9000 ft... Sorta

Today, I ran at 9,060 ft... simulated. With a Hypoxico generator that set the oxygen output and wearing a tight mask, I hopped on the treadmill with, as almost always, the movie "Unbreakable" about the 2010 Western States 100 on (best treadmill movie EVER!).

Hannibal Lechter, runner-style!

I have 3 weeks to Bighorn 50K, and while I'm a little late on starting this phase of training, with the upcoming race having a max elevation of about 8900 feet, I hope to avoid some of the altitude sickness potential effects (headaches, shortness of breath), so that what remains is ME and my training, and not those altitude conditions.

Making sure my heart rate reads on my Garmin before starting

So a handful of times a week, I'll be doing altitude workouts for 30-45 minutes. For this first one, I did 12:15 pace. Normally on a treadmill this would be a super easy pace, but there was definitely some effort on this.

Not breathing while you run is FUN!

Steve would pop in and check that I hadn't fallen off the back and passed out every handful of minutes. I even wore the emergency stop switch, which I don't normally click on. At one point, I went to yell something to him when he walked in, and just about passed on. I went suddenly super dizzy. Yeah, that's a lot less oxygen than I'm used to running and talking with!

This doesn't feel awkward at all! :-/

Note again that any workouts with the Hypoxico altitude generator will be on top of the usual training my coach assigns. The altitude workouts aren't meant to replace training but to supplement training to hopefully make race day slightly less painful. Will it work? I don't know. Worth a shot? Yeah, why the hell not!! My iron levels have been fixed since my last altitude experience a year ago, so I'm ready to go race in altitude and BREATHE strong!

A Life Full of Win... and Lots of Recent #Fail Moments

I'm two months behind on blogging, and I need to get back to it. It's not that I don't have a million thoughts. I've shared them with best friends and my coach, but that doesn't make it complete. Blogging is a chance to complete the cycle of promoting introspection in others, lending our own perspective to someone's situation, and learning from each other. I enjoy that constantly in friends' blogs so need to get back to contributing. I'm hoping this is the road back to that for me.

My Life is full of win. I have an appreciation for that, as we all should for what we have. A loving husband I've been with for 18 years, two wonderful children, the best friends a girl could ask for, strong heart and body, and I spend my time following my passion and helping other people fulfill their active goals.

But the last few months for me have been full of #FAIL MOMENTS. (yes, thanks to Twitter, when I think of "fail", I've got to make it a hashtag!)

My 2 year old daughter had been vomiting every couple days since late February, and after really stressful testing including checking for cancer and neurological problems and having a scoping and biopsy procedure of her GI tract, we finally learned that she has celiac disease. This is a major lifestyle change for us to deal with and a huge transition for a willful toddler. Celiac disease isn't just going gluten free - it's complete avoidance of any possible cross contamination of wheat products because it can seriously make her sick.

On top of that in the last month, the kids have had scarlet fever, strep, strep again, strep in the other child, and hand, foot, and mouth viral disease. I guess I really should stop them from licking door handles (disclaimer for anyone calling Child Protective Services: I do NOT let them lick door handles... or toilet seats).

I DNFed one impulsive last minute ultramarathon in March when a blizzard rolled in. I got food poisoning 2 days before my next ultramarathon in mid-April, losing 4 pounds in a day. I fell and smashed up my knee at my early May ultra and DNFed 8.6 miles in.

It would have been so easy to just let all that crap consume me. But while my mileage has suffered, I have been getting runs in and serious quality, soul-suckingly awful runs!

And now I hope to be coming out the other side of these moments of #epicfail. Sophie has been puke free for 10 days now and we're discovering new foods she likes to replace the snacks and bread she misses. Kids are still on antibiotics from the illnesses but seem to be on the mend. I'm getting some runs in, I'm excited for Bighorn 50K next month, and I'm focusing on getting to a place where I can have a strong race.

I'm A Quitter - Prairie Spirit 50

Monday I was overwhelmed - work, being a mommy, Steve's work trips this month, and trying to get in runs. I needed to compartmentalize. I had the itch to run off to a race as a training run - a chance to have some quick time to myself to think. Tuesday I signed up for the Prairie Spirit 50 Miler in Ottawa, KS. It was a rail trail race, which means completely flat, where I'm more suited to small hilly rooted trails. But the terrain would be easy and what's better training for a 50 miler in a month than an "easier 50"? Yes, this is the stupidity ultrarunners go to. And now it was showing awful weather. Great, even better training.

Cutting to the chase here and declaring it!

Shannon and her friend Haley were running it, so I drove the 7 hours Friday afternoon, arriving after the trail briefing about 7:15 pm, and met up with the girls, who were nice enough to make me a to-go plate of the race's pre-race dinner!

Saturday morning, the weather was as predicted all week. A snowstorm was rolling in. Temperatures would stay at 32-35 degrees ALL day. 14 mph winds. And snow and sleet and maybe rain if it got warmer in the forecast.

I was really happy all day with how I had planned out my apparel. Tight baselayer long sleeve, looser long sleeve, rain vest with big pockets, and then my New Balance plasticky waterproof vented jacket I'd been given by the company when I ran the 2011 Hood To Coast. Thursday I had torn up the house when I could only find one glove, so on my way out of town I stopped and bought two new pairs of gloves, which I wore one over the other. Add tights to the mix, along with my Brooks ear warmer and a hat, and everything in black? I was a cold-weather NINJA!

I started with Haley and Shannon and we ran solidly together until mile 5 and then off and on together until right before the aid station at mile 16. At mile 11, I just started to feel really off. I pull into the mile 16 aid station right behind Haley and Shannon. Haley turns to say, "How are you doing?" And then her face immediately changes - "you look awful." I must have been out of it enough because I didn't talk much and I actually left that aid station without filling up my water bottle. Since it was cold I would be okay the next 5 miles.

Picture at mile 5!

But I just feel so wrong. And mentally broken. Within a mile and a half of leaving the aid station, I actually contemplate turning around to go back. I know that it's 9 miles between aid stations here. My IT Band is bothering me from the flat terrain, and I have to walk more, but I'm still moving forward.

By the time I reach the unmanned aid station at mile 21, I've already decided to DNF. BUT I drink lots of water and dig into my rain vest for my cookie stash. I had packed 2 snickerdoodles and 2 lemon ginger cremes for calories and a pick-me-up between the spread-out aid stations. I eat all my cookies in the off chance my DNF urge is "bonking" related, from glycogen depletion. Nope. Still ready to DNF.

The last 3 miles into the 25 mile turnaround of this out-and-back course have heavy sleet with a little snow. Those last 2 miles my IT Band actually relaxes and I can run again. Nope, even able to run again, I still want to DNF. I see Haley and Shannon who aren't far ahead of me. Shannon's mom is okay with taking me back to my car.

I come into the building that is the mile 25 aid station in 5:52. 6 hours with temperatures at freezing. The volunteer says, "You could always walk it back. You have a long time until the cutoff." Me: "No, there is nothing in me that wants another 8 hours on this course." I know the snowstorm will only get worse going back north for 25 miles and I know how much colder you feel the more you are walking than running.

So yes, I'm a quitter. If it had been another 1.2 miles to a marathon finish? No big deal. 6 miles to a 50K? Yeah, I can do another hour and a half in worsening weather. Another 25 miles? No. Done.

And I can't say it was the cold, because my layers were adequate and I was never overly cold. And I can't say it was physical, as by mile 25 a lot of things were numbing up. But the reward just didn't seem worth it - I didn't need the buckle, I didn't need to get myself injured, I didn't need to be stranded Sunday in snow unable to drive home, I didn't even need to cross Kansas off my states list (I had run Garmin Marathon last year to get it), I wasn't having fun, I'd already seen the whole course (which was pretty for what it was - middle of Kansas - and representative of the area).

Some days you're strong. Some days you're not. Yesterday, I was mentally weak, and I've run enough ultras to know when there's a problem in my head that I can't move past. Which in a world of "Death Before DNF" is a complete no-no. But I had 6 hours of mental toughness training, and a good 25 mile training run on my legs physically, so for me, I accomplished everything I wanted.

Immediately after I hopped in the car and drove 7 hours home, without even a shower. It was nice to shower in my own house and sleep in my own bed. :-)

A giant congratulations to Shannon and Haley who stuck together the whole race and finished - it was Shannon's first 50 miler! And for Haley, she got to add Kansas to her state list!

2013 Race Calendar - This Is What Rugged Looks Like

It's been a busy 2013 this year already. I've already had 2 races and have been so excited about the races I plan to run the rest of this year. Some of these races I've been signed up for since early December, and one even back last September! It was time I put together a list of all the races. If not for any other reason than my mother keeps asking me what my next race is (although I know she has now put them all on her calendar). ;-)

I already declared that for me 2013 would be the "Year of Rugged", and I alluded to some of the races below. This may be a better theme than my friend Brian, who has declared 2013 for him to be the "Year of Stupid." In this list of races, there is 1 trail marathon, 5 trail 50Ks, 1 trail 60K, 2 50 Miles, one crewing gig, and one pacing gig. 319 miles of races. I hope to pick up 6 states too in my goal to complete at least a marathon distance in all 50 states. And this all encompasses my "rugged" theme with frequent challenges, remote conditions, giant elevation climbs, altitude efforts, and technical terrain.

If anyone is going to these, let me know to look for you or maybe we can grab pre- or post-race food together. If anyone wants to join me on any of these, I'm always up for company on these adventures.

January 12 - Bandera 50K - TX  (Race Report)

February 2 - Rocky Raccoon 50 Mile - TX (Race Report)

April 20 - Indiana Trail 50 Mile - IN - couldn't help myself. One more 50 miler after a fun race at Rocky.

May 4 - North Face Endurance Challenge Bear Mountain New York 50K - NY - my first New York visit outside of NYC (1 hour away)

June 2 - Deadwood-Mickelson Trail Marathon - SD - very runnable trail in gorgeous surroundings

June 15 - Bighorn 50K - WY - beautiful technical terrain through the Bighorn Mountains

June 29 - Western States 100 - Crew Chief - CA - crewing for friend Tim Steele

July 20 - Tahoe Rim Trail 50K - NV - altitude and lots of climb will make this a hard race but scenic

August 11 - Angel's Staircase 60K - WA - Runners have to qualify by completing two mountain 50Ks. Race Director has already told me I qualify. The 37 miles are straight up the mountain, circle it, then back down. About 10000 gain/loss makes this a HARD course.

September 7 - Volcanic 50 - WA - circumnavigating Mt St Helens. Remote, lava fields, and I have to sterilize water taken from a brook in the middle of a race for the first time.

October 26 - Javelina Jundred - Pacer - AZ - good friend Lesley will be completing her first 100 miler and I'll be there to help however I can.

I look forward to this year's adventures, sharing some with old friends while making some new ones too!