Race Report: 2018 Skovløberen Marathon

On September 2nd, I ran the Skovløberen Marathon in Hvalsø, Denmark.  This is a trail marathon on the island of Zealand.  Skovløberen translates roughly to “forest runner.”

For years, I’ve wanted to visit Copenhagen, but the Copenhagen Marathon never fit into my schedule.  Hvalsø is close enough to Copenhagen that I could combine this race with a Copenhagen vacation.

Thursday, August 30

I arrived in the afternoon, after an overnight flight to Amsterdam and an afternoon flight to Copenhagen.  I took a train from the airport to the central train station.  I stayed at the Scandic Webers Hotel, which was about three blocks from the train station.

Ideally, I wanted to spend the rest of the day outdoors, to help my body adjust to the local time zone.  Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t cooperating.  It rained non-stop for the rest of the day.  There are several museums and galleries, but most of them close at 5:00, so I didn’t really have enough time.  Instead, I explored the streets in the city center, but never got far from my hotel.  When I got tired of walking in the rain, I had dinner at a restaurant that serves traditional Danish food.

I went to bed early, slept well for about four hours, and then woke up again.  It took a long time to get back to sleep.  Then it was tough dragging myself out of bed in the morning.

Friday, August 31

My room rate included breakfast.  The hotel had a nice breakfast buffet, including hot entrees, cold cuts, cereals, bread, fruit, and a variety of beverages.

Friday was a nicer day for sightseeing.  There was a brief rain shower in the morning, but no rain for the rest of the day.  After breakfast, I took a walking tour of central Copenhagen.  There’s an organization called Copenhagen Free Walking Tours that conducts several different tours.  The tour guides work for tips.  This tour was their Grand Tour of Copenhagen.  There were so many people signed up that we split into four groups, each with a different tour guide.  My group had an English-speaking guide.

The tour lasted three hours.  We met on the steps of the city hall.

As we walked through the streets of the Strøget neighborhood, our guide taught us some of the history of the city.  Along the way, we saw some majestic buildings.

Next we toured Slotsholmen, a small island separated from the rest of the city by canals.  This was once the home of the Danish royal family.  Now it’s the seat of the parliament.  We came by at just the right time to see the Prime Minister leaving one of the buildings.  He waved to us, as a few people in the group took his picture.

Next, we visited Nyhavn, a 17th century commercial port that has been transformed into an entertainment district.

Our guide kept us on pace to reach Amalienborg Palace just in time to see the changing of the guard.

We concluded our tour on the waterfront, just across from the opera house.

After the tour, I walked back to Nyhavn, where I was able to take a one hour boat tour.  We started with a tour of the harbor.  From the water, I got my best view of the dome of the “Marble Church.”

Then we followed a canal through Christianshavn.

We went under a number of low bridges, so we had to be careful not to stand up.  This bridge is nicknamed the Bridge of Circles.

After crossing back through the harbor, we went through the canals that surround Slotsholmen.  This gave me a different view of the Christiansborg Palace

This interesting spire sits on the top of the stock exchange.

As we returned to Nyhavn, our guide pointed out one of the buildings where Hans Christian Andersen used to live.

On my way back to the hotel, I stopped at a bakery inside Tivoli Gardens to buy a cinnamon roll for a late lunch.  After a brief rest break at the hotel to recharge my electronics, I took another walking tour.  This one was a 90 minute tour of Christianshavn.  We met at the statue of Biskop Absalon.

As we walked toward the harbor, we passed a church called Holmens Kirke (Church of Holmen).  Naturally, I had to get a photo of that.

We crossed the Knippels Bridge into Christianshavn, where we saw the alternative side to Copenhagen.  Here, the neighborhoods had a different feel.

The spire of this church has a spiral staircase on the outside.  If you don’t have a fear of heights, you can climb to the top.

Our tour concluded at one of the entrances to Freetown Christiania.  This is a quasi-independent commune that was established in 1971 when squatters occupied some abandoned military barracks that their children had been using as a playground.  It’s now kind of a hippie neighborhood, home to artists and freethinkers.

Our guide gave us an orientation, and then we explored Freetown Christiania on our own.

After the long walk back my hotel, I had dinner at an Italian pizzeria called Mother.  The place was packed, and it took a while to get my food, but it was worth the wait.

I got to bed late that night, but slept well all night.  Maybe it’s because I walked more than 13 miles that day.

Saturday, September 1

I slept in, but still had a tough time dragging myself out of bed.  I had a late breakfast before heading out for more sightseeing.  There were a few things I wanted to see that weren’t part of either of my walking tours.

First, I walked to Rundetårn (the Round Tower), which is in the Latin Quarter.

After walking up a long spiral ramp and some stairs, I reached the observation deck.  From there, you can see the whole city.

From there, it wasn’t far to Rosenborg Slot.  Along the way, I walked through the King’s Gardens.

Rosenborg Slot is a 17th century castle built by King Christian IV.

As I was taking pictures, my camera told me my batteries were exhausted.  I thought I had spares, but apparently, I already used them.  Before I could do any more sightseeing, I had to go back to the hotel.  Along the way, I couldn’t resist stopping at a gelato stand.

After changing my camera batteries and recharging my other devices, I walked to the far end of the harbor to see Kastellet.  This is a star-shaped fortress that was built in the 17th century to guard the harbor.  It’s hard to get very much of it in any one picture.

While I was in the area, I also saw the Gefion Fountain and the Little Mermaid.

By now, my legs were getting tired from all the walking, and it was almost dinner time.  I located a pizzeria my tour guide recommended, and had this pizza with potatoes, goat cheese, rosemary, and truffle oil.

Then I went back to the hotel to start getting my running gear organized for the race.  It took a long time before I was tired enough to get to sleep.  Then I had a restless night.  I only got about an hour of solid sleep.

Sunday, September 2

Sunday was race day.  I got up early, so I could get downstairs just as they were starting breakfast.  After a light meal, I headed to the central train station.

To get to Hvalsø, I had to take a regional train.  The ticket machine at the Copenhagen station wouldn’t take my credit card.  It kept saying, “Invalid currency.”  Fortunately, I also brought cash.  I had just enough for my ticket to Hvalsø, and if necessary, the return ticket.  It was about a 40 minute train ride to the Hvalsø train station.

As I was getting off the train, I met a Danish runner who was also doing the marathon.  He spoke fluent English, and we chatted as we walked to the sports hall to pick up our race numbers.  He asked me what my goal was.  I said, “I’m just going to stay relaxed and enjoy the experience.”  When he asked what time I expected, I said, “On a road course, that would be about four hours, but on this course I expect to be slower.”  He expected a similar time.

The race didn’t start until 10:15, so I still had almost an hour until the race started.  They had a gear check in the sports hall, so I was able to leave my warm-up clothes there during the race.  The building also had bathrooms, changing areas with showers, a snack bar, and free wifi.

While the marathon was fairly small, they also had a half marathon, a quarter marathon, and a 5K race.  The events were well organized, and they had chip timing.

The pre-race announcements were all in Danish, so I didn’t understand a single word.  I wondered if I was the only runner from another country.  If fact, there were also two runners from Finland, one from Sweden, and one from Germany.  I was the only overseas entrant.  About 15 minutes before the race, they started playing music and leading runners through a warm-up routine.  That must be a Scandinavian thing.  They did the same thing at the Midnight Sun Marathon in Norway.

The weather was excellent.  This area gets a lot of rain, but on race day we actually had sunny skies.  The temperature at the start was 60 degrees.  That could have been too warm with direct sunlight, but most of the course was shaded.

The course started and finished in front of the Hvalsø sports hall, but in between, we did two large loops through a forest on the south side of the town.  Every kilometer was marked, but they were counting down the remaining distance.  We were barely two blocks from the sports hall when I saw the 42 sign.

At first, we were on paved streets through the town of Hvalsø.  As we got out of town, we entered the forest on a narrow paved road.  After about 10 minutes, we turned onto a dirt road.  The course description indicated the race was on forest roads, so I expected most of the course to be like this.

After about five kilometers, I reached the first of 10 aid stations.  After that, they were three to four kilometers apart.  That was just frequent enough that I was able to get by without carrying a water bottle.

The terrain was gentle rolling hills.  They weren’t long or steep, but we were always going up or down.  Most of the time, we were surrounded by woods, but occasionally, we came to a cluster of homes.

There weren’t many spectators, but the ones I saw were all cheering enthusiastically in Danish.  I was probably the only one who didn’t know that they were saying.

The course wasn’t all on dirt roads.  More and more, I encountered sections of single-track trail.  It wasn’t too technical, but I had to watch out for the occasional root.

There were also a few sections across meadows, where the trail surface could best be described as trampled grass.

I find running through grass to be tiring.  I began to wonder if these sections, along with the constant undulation of the trails, would gradually wear me down.  Then I remembered that I haven’t run an entire marathon since June.  I’ve done a couple of ultras since then, but in those races I was mostly walking.  My longest run in the last 10 weeks was less than 11 miles.  I wondered if my legs would eventually get fatigued.

Early on, it seemed like I was gradually falling behind the other runners.  For a time, I didn’t see anyone in front of me.  Then I reached a narrow section of trail where several runners got bunched up.  After that, I seemed to keep up, and I even passed a few people.

We were mostly in the woods, but I got occasional views of lakes and ponds.

The volunteers were all cheerful.  At one turn, there were two volunteers who were singing something in Danish.  I couldn’t understand the words, but the melody sounded familiar.  I think it was a disco song from the late 70s.  Without hearing the words in English, I couldn’t quite identify it.

After about 15 kilometers, I reached a hill that was steep enough that I was persuaded to walk.

I wondered if that would establish a bad precedent.  Would I now start walking all the hills?  I set a goal of not walking any more hills until the second loop.  That held up for about one kilometer.  Then I reached another steep hill.  I realized this one was steeper when I saw there were logs to prevent erosion.  I walked this hill too.

Just past the top of hill, there was a large mound with steps leading to the top.  Our route took us around to the other side, where there was another set of steps.  This is the highest point on the island of Zealand, and we went to the top of it on each loop.

At the top, there was a large stone.  On one side there were marking like a gravestone, making me think this is also a burial site.

 

After coming down the steps on the other side, I reached an aid station.  I took a long overdue drink and got on my way.  One nice thing about reaching the highest point on the course is that I knew it would be downhill from there.  The next kilometer or two were much easier, and I got back into a good rhythm.

I had been seeing signs for both the first and second loops.  You would expect them to be offset by about 21 kilometers, but instead they differed by only 17.  Clearly, the first loop was much longer than the second one.  The first loop had a few twists and turns near the beginning that were omitted in the second loop.

They had a sign at 21.1 kilometers.  For the first time in the race, I looked at my watch.  The first half took 2:06:40.  That pace seemed about right for this course, but I wondered if I would fade in the second half.

What I was really looking forward to was finishing the first loop.  Because the first loop was longer than the second, I still had a ways to go.

In general, the course was well-marked.  There was red and white flagging, and turns we weren’t supposed to take were roped off with red and white striped tape.  There was only one course marking that I initially found confusing.  It was this sign.

It made more sense when I realized the arrows matched the colors of the race bibs used for the different distances.  Marathon runners had yellow bibs.  We were supposed to go straight on our first loop, but turn left at the same point in our second loop.

After passing this split, I started a transitional passage that connected back to the beginning of the loop.  I saw a bunch of runners coming from another direction.  They were doing one of the shorter races, which started later.  I must have joined up with the back of the pack, because I was passing them all.

There were course marshals at every crossing.  Most of the time, it was obvious which way to go, but there was one spot where I would have gone the wrong way.  The runners doing the short race all turned left, but I was directed to go straight.  This was the part of the loop where we did a shorter version on the second lap.

On my second loop, it was comforting to know that there wouldn’t be any surprises.  I had done all these hills before, so I knew what to expect.  Some seemed more tiring the second time, but that’s because I no longer had fresh legs.  The grassy sections also felt more tiring.

When I eventually reached the first hill that I had walked, I forced myself to run the whole thing.  As I reached the top, my legs felt like jelly, but I recovered and got back into a good rhythm.

When I reached the second steep hill, I ran as far as the first log.  Then I walked until I was almost to the top.  After going up and down the steps again, I caught up to three runners who were at the aid station.  As we left, I passed them all on the descent.

From this point on, I knew the toughest hills were behind me.  I passed a lot of runners who were slowing down in the last 10 kilometers.  I was trying to finish strong.

With about 5K to go, I caught up to the runner I met on the train.  I said “Hi.”  As I passed him, he said, “Well done.”  Those were the only two words of English I heard during the race.  That was a big difference between Copenhagen and the outlying areas.  In the city, everyone spoke English, as if it were their first language.

After two more kilometers, I reached the point where the course split.  This time, I turned left to head toward the finish in Hvalsø.  This was a narrow single-track section, but it was mostly downhill.

More and more, I was noticing discomfort in some of my toes.  Both of my big toes were throbbing.  There were small rocks embedded in some sections of the trail, but I didn’t remember stubbing my toes on any of them.

When I emerged from the forest, I felt the sunshine.  For the first time, I felt hot.  As I ran into town, I was still on dirt roads with lots of small rocks.  I was really looking forward to getting on pavement again.

With about 2K to go, I needed to cross the street twice near a busy roundabout.  There were volunteers holding up traffic for us.  Then I got onto a paved sidewalk.  I saw a woman just ahead of me who was being escorted by a race official on a bike.  I’m not sure why.  It didn’t seem like I was fast enough to be catching up to any of the lead women.

I was putting on a strong finish.  I ran past her and then caught up to a few more runners.  Then I had to leave the pavement for one last section over grass.  I had less than a kilometer to go, but I still couldn’t see the finish.

Finally, after one more turn, I saw the finish line.  I finished in 4:17:28.  Despite my best efforts to run strong in the second half, I was slower by four minutes.  I guess the hills wore me down more than I realized.

Finish line snacks included fruit, cookies, and candy, but I was only interested in the cinnamon rolls.  To me, that’s the taste of Denmark.

The finisher medals were made of wood.  It was an appropriate design for a forest marathon.

Here’s what the finisher certificate looks like.  Across the top, it shows the elevation profile.  Seeing it like this, I don’t feel too bad about walking the steepest hills.

I originally wanted to do the Copenhagen Marathon.  I did this one instead, because it fit better into my schedule.  At the time, I felt like I was settling.  Now I have no regrets.  Doing this race got me out of the city and gave me a chance to experience a different side of Denmark.

As soon as could, I checked the train schedule and saw the next train was arriving in two minutes.  I couldn’t get to the train station in time.  It was Sunday, so the trains didn’t run very often.  The next one wasn’t due for an hour.

I retrieved my gear bag, made a bathroom stop, and made my way slowly to the train station.  There was only one ticket machine, and it not only wouldn’t take my credit card, but also didn’t have a slot for bills.  It only took cash in the form of coins.  I didn’t know what to do.  I couldn’t buy a train ticket.  Then I saw another runner who was already waiting for the train.  He had a credit card that worked.  He bought the ticket for me, and I reimbursed him in cash.

By the time I got back to my hotel in Copenhagen, it was two hours after I finished the race, and I still needed to get cleaned up.  By the time I was ready to go out again, it was already dinner time.  On my way to dinner, I stopped at a currency exchange to make sure I could pay cash for my train ticket to the airport.

I usually celebrate a marathon finish with pizza, but sometimes I crave a burger or some barbecue.  This was one of those days.  I think it’s because I needed the protein.  I had dinner at a burger place that was recommended by my tour book.  I had to walk about a mile each way, but the extra walking probably helped my recovery.

In contrast to the previous night, I slept like a rock. That’s how it usually is after a race.

Monday, September 3

My legs were sore right after the race, but I felt fine walking to the train station.  I still felt fine when I was walking through the airport in Amsterdam.  After the long flight from Amsterdam to Minneapolis, my legs were stiff.  Running is good.  Sitting is bad.  I usually fly home the day after a race.  I may have to rethink that on international trips.

Race Statistics

Distance:  42.2 kilometers

Time:  4:17:28

Average Pace:  6:06 per kilometer (9:49 per mile)

Lifetime Marathons/Ultras:  357

Countries:  31

Race Report: 2018 Lean Horse 100

On August 17-18, I ran the Lean Horse 100.  This race is run on the George S. Mickelson Trail in South Dakota.  I’ve done this race twice before, and I’ve also done the 50 mile race three times.

It’s an out-and-back course.  This race used to start and finish in Hot Springs.  On the old course, we had to run about 15 miles on hilly, dusty dirt roads just to get to the Mickelson Trail.  Then we had to run those same dirt roads at the end of the race.  Four years ago, they moved the start and finish to Custer.  I like the town of Hot Springs, but I was excited about being able to run the entire race on the Mickelson Trail.

The Mickelson Trail is a wide gravel trail that follows an old Burlington Northern railroad line.  It runs north-south through the Black Hills from Deadwood to Edgemont.  Ever since hearing they moved the start/finish to Custer, I’ve wanted to come back and run the new course.  This was the first year I could fit it into my schedule.

In addition to the 100 mile race, they also have 50 mile, 30 mile, and 20 mile races.  The 100 mile race starts at noon on Friday and you have until 6:00 PM on Saturday to finish.  The shorter races all start Saturday morning.

Deb and I combined the race with a short sightseeing vacation in the Black Hills.  We flew to Rapid City Thursday morning and drove the rest of the way to Custer.  Along the way, we drove through Custer State Park, where we drove the wildlife loop.  We saw a few buffaloes, and we also saw some friendly burros.

When we were done at Custer State Park, we continued to Custer to check in at our motel.  I packed my drop bags and got organized for the race, while Deb visited a few shops.  Then we went out to find the painted buffalo statues that were all over town.  Deb and I have a long history of always visiting cities when they have painted statues on display.  It started in 1999 with Cows on Parade in Chicago.  The following year, it was the Big Pig Gig in Cincinnati.  This was Custer’s version.

Next, we went to the Custer YMCA to pick up my race packet and drop off my drop bags.

There used to be a Flintstones campground on the edge of Custer.  My family stayed there once when I was growing up.  Many years later, they added a Bedrock City mock-up.  The campground no longer exists, but most of the Bedrock City buildings are still there.  After packet pickup, we found them and took a few pictures.

We had dinner in town at a sports bar called the Buglin’ Bull.  I had an interesting pizza with buffalo, elk, and pheasant.

Deb had their fresh burst salad.  Besides mixed greens, it included apples, oranges, berries, and candied walnuts.  She liked it so much, she went back there again twice while I was running the race.

I had an awful time getting to sleep that night.  The air conditioner was noisy, and I also had a lot on my mind.  I was still awake for five or six hours before nodding off briefly.  Then I woke up and couldn’t get back to sleep.  I didn’t need to get up early, so I kept trying to go back to sleep, but without any success.

Deb and I had breakfast at the hotel.  Then Deb left to spend the day shopping and sightseeing in Deadwood, Hill City, and Rapid City.   I spent the morning getting ready for the race.  By the time the race started, I was already feeling a little shaky from the lack of sleep.

I was conflicted about whether to eat anything else before the race started.  I didn’t want to start the race on a full stomach, but I also didn’t want to skip lunch.  I reheated a slice of leftover pizza as a light pre-race lunch.

The race started at the Custer YMCA.  I needed to check in there by 11:45.  It was only a few blocks from the hotel, so I walked.

The first 21 miles and last 21 miles of this course were familiar to me from other races.  I had never seen the middle miles, but I had a pretty good idea what to expect.  The trail surface is the same everywhere.  There are no roots or large rocks, and there aren’t many places where you can make a wrong turn.

I have a map of the entire Mickelson Trail that includes the elevation profile.  The trail often goes uphill or downhill for several miles at a time, but the grade is never steeper than three percent.  The elevation is mostly between 5,000 and 6,000 feet.

The course breaks down into five long uphill sections and five long downhill sections.  I used different pacing strategies on different sections of the trail.

We started outside the YMCA.  We ran on city streets for half a mile before turning onto the trail.  After that, we were on the Mickelson Trail until the last mile.  I was surprised to see that a short section of the trail going through town was paved.  I didn’t remember any paved sections from when I did this race before.

The first five miles on the trail were all uphill.  I had run this section in the uphill direction twice before.  On the old course, these were miles 35-40.  The race used to start at 6:00 AM, so I was used to running this section in the early afternoon.  With the noon start, I was running it at about the same time of day.  There’s isn’t much shade, so it can get hot.  The last time I did this race, it got up to 90 degrees in the afternoon.  This year, it never got out of the 70s.  That helped.  I was able to get by carrying just one water bottle, which cut down on weight.

I didn’t want to go out too fast like I did in the Vermont 100, so I used variable length walking breaks to keep myself on an average pace of 14 minutes per mile.  The Mickelson Trail has concrete mileposts every mile.  I used these to check my pace.

In the early miles, we had views like this.

After five miles, I reached the Mountain Trailhead aid station.  My bottle wasn’t empty yet, so I drank what was left and refilled it.  They had water and Powerade.  I was hesitant to drink Powerade for the whole race, because it’s high in fructose.  Given the choice of Powerade or water, I went with Powerade.  I needed to start taking in Calories.

About a mile past Mountain Trailhead, I had a great view of the Crazy Horse Memorial.  This monument is so large that the faces on Mount Rushmore would fit inside it.  The construction is funded entirely by private donations.  At the rate they’re going, it won’t be finished in my lifetime.

The trail goes through a tunnel underneath the road that leads to the Crazy Horse Memorial.  After going through this tunnel, I started the first long downhill section.

The next 10 miles were downhill, but the grade was gentle.  I could easily have run the whole way without getting tired, but I knew I would beat up my quads.  Here I did much more walking.  Walking downhill was so easy, I found myself going at a fast pace.  Ever since a high hamstring injury in early July, I’ve been hesitant to walk too fast.  I finally got over that fear and really worked on walking at a brisk pace.  On this section, my target pace was 12 minutes per mile.  I was able to do that with only two minutes of running per mile.

About halfway through this section, I reached the Oreville aid station.  Here, I started eating solid food at each aid station.  At first, I just ate PBJs, but eventually, I had other things, like ham and cheese wraps.

I wore gaiters to keep dust and grit from getting into my shoes around the ankles.  That worked pretty good, but dust still got through my shoes around the toe box.  I had a small hole near the front of one shoe and small rocks got in there.  It was annoying, but it wasn’t causing major problems, so I did my best to ignore it.

As we got closer to Hill City, we crossed a bridge over the highway.

There were a number of bridges.  Most of them were over streams, like this one.

The first long downhill section ended at Hill City.  On the old course, this was the turnaround point.  To get to the Hill City aid station, we had to detour off the trail a bit.  This aid station had nice facilities, including bathrooms with running water.

Going through Hill City, we were on a sidewalk.  This is the only part of the Mickelson Trail that doesn’t follow the old rail line.  There’s a railroad museum here, so a section of the old track is still in place.  They also have some old rail cars.

As I left Hill city, I began the second long uphill section.  This section is about eight miles long.  The first six miles of it was familiar to me from the Run Crazy Horse Marathon.  My recollection was that this section was tiring.  It’s worth noting that in that race I was running the whole way.  I once again did a run/walk mix that allowed me to average 14 minutes per mile.  I was walking at such a spirited pace that I only need to run one or two minutes per mile to stay on pace.

Midway through this uphill section, I reached the High Country aid station (20.6 miles).  I’m not sure, but this same location might have been used for an aid station in the Run Crazy Horse Marathon.  It looked familiar.

Even though I was only carrying one bottle, I never ran out between aid stations.  I was getting a little bit hot now, but it wouldn’t be long before the temperature started dropping again.

After a few more miles of uphill running, I began the next downhill section.  I once again adopted a target pace on 12 minutes per mile, but it was still mostly walking.  After about two more miles, I reached the Horse Creek aid station.  This was the first of two aid stations where I had drop bags.

I didn’t know for sure if I would make it to my other drop bag before it got dark, so I got a flashlight from my drop bag and put it in my fanny pack.  While I was here, I took two pills that I normally have with dinner.  One of them dissolved in my mouth.  They had bacon at this aid station, which helped get rid of the bad taste of the pill.

Soon, I reached the first of four tunnels through the mountains.

About 10 minutes later, I reached another tunnel.

I went past some colorful rock formations.  I had never been on this part of the trail before, so I enjoyed the scenery.

At the end of the second long downhill section, I reached the Mystic aid station (30.4 miles).  Then the trail came alongside a stream.  We were following the stream in the downstream direction, so I wondered if the trail would still go downhill.  We quickly left the stream, and the trail turned uphill.

Now I was starting the longest uphill section of the course.  It was uphill almost all the way to the turnaround.  This was a long grind.  The grade was gradual, but … almost 20 miles of uphill running.

To get through this section, I had to focus on just getting to the next aid station.  After Mystic, it was 4.2 more miles to get to the Gimlet Creek aid station.

I ran past more interesting rock formations.  I could have taken dozens of pictures like this.

The third tunnel was preceded by a small bridge.  This tunnel was a bit longer than the first two.  As I went through it, I felt a cold draft.

After going through the tunnel, I came alongside another stream.  It had to be a different one, because I was following this one in the upstream direction.

After Gimlet Creek, it was just 3.6 miles to get to the Rochford aid station, where I had another drop bag.  I knew there was still one more tunnel, but I didn’t know how far it was.  I was hoping to get there before it got dark.  As I saw the sun disappearing behind the hills, I knew I was running out of time.

At the Rochford aid station (38.2 miles), I exchanged my flashlight for a headlamp.  I also got some gloves in case I got cold later.  A volunteer at the aid station confirmed that there was still one more tunnel between here and the turnaround.

As I left the aid station, it started getting dark.  I realized I wouldn’t be able to get a picture of the last tunnel.  Then I realized I forgot to take my camera out of my fanny pack.  I had intended to leave it in my drop bag until I got back to Rochford on the way back.  That was extra weight I didn’t need or want.

I was excited about the new course, because it gave me a chance to see sections of the Mickelson Trail I had never seen before.  Regrettably, I didn’t actually get to “see” much between Rochford and the turnaround.  I ran that in the dark in both directions.

There’s a popular race on this section of the trail called the Deadwood Mickelson Trail Marathon.  It’s a fast course, because it’s mostly downhill.  I was basically running that course in the opposite direction, and it was starting to wear me down.  My walking wasn’t as fast now.  I had a target pace of 14 minutes per mile, but almost half of it was running.  Running uphill was tiring, so it always seemed to take forever to get to the next milepost.

It was 6.1 miles from Rochford to the Nahant aid station.  I started getting cold, so I put on my gloves.  That helped, but my arms and shoulders were still cold.  I had a jacket in my drop bag, but I didn’t think I would need it until I got back to Rochford.  I regretted not taking it with me.

This section was tough, both physically and psychologically.  I was still going uphill, and I was running by myself in the dark.  I felt an icy cold draft.  I wondered if I was near another stream, but I couldn’t hear any water.  A few minutes later, I felt another cold draft.  This time I could hear the water.  I was next to a stream.

I was about seven miles from the turnaround when I saw the first runners coming back the other way.  Within a minute, I saw another runner.  Then there was nobody else for about 20 minutes.

At the Nahant aid station, I noticed they had HEED power, but they didn’t have any mixed up.  I asked them to put a scoop of the power in my bottle and I filled it with water.  I started doing that at every aid station.  It took a few extra minutes, but it’s a more appropriate sports drink for a long race like this. I didn’t want to have digestive problems from too much fructose.

I wasn’t perspiring much, so I wasn’t thirsty.  I cut my fluid intake.  Earlier, I had been taking electrolyte capsules once per hour.  I stopped taking them.

The last few miles before the turnaround were the most tiring.  With about half a mile to go, I reached the top of the hill.  The last half mile before the turn was slightly downhill.  That was a relief.

I reached the turnaround in 10:52.  At first, I was thinking that was my halfway split, but the race starts and finishes in different places.  The distance to the turnaround was about half a mile farther than the remaining distance.  Bearing that in mind, my 50 mile split was three or four minutes faster.

I was pleased with my time for the first half.  My goal was a 24 hour finish, and I was on pace to break 22 hours.  I usually expect to be much slower in the second half of a long ultra, but I was optimistic that I could also make good time in the second half.  The first half was mostly uphill.  The second half would be mostly downhill.  Also, I had mostly been walking on the downhill sections.  In the second half, I would be much more willing to run them.

I thought I could run negative splits, but I was kidding myself.  I didn’t realize how much the first half took out of me.

After the turnaround, it was slightly uphill for about half a mile.  Then I started the longest downhill section.  I walked until the next milepost, which was just a short distance past the start of the downhill.

My plan for this section was to run about half of it.  I didn’t have a target pace.  At first, my plan was to alternate between running a mile and walking a mile.  That way, I didn’t need to read my watch.  I just looked for the mileposts.

When I was going uphill, the mileposts were on my right, so I hugged the right side of the trail.  Now they were on my left.  I tried to stay on the left side of the trail, but I occasionally passed runners who were still going the other way.  I kept right when there was two-way traffic, which made it harder to look for the mileposts.  I was afraid I would miss one, but I never did.

I ran the first full downhill mile.  Then I walked the next one.  I wasn’t happy with my time for that mile, so I switched to a run/walk mix.  At first, I tried to walk the first half and walk the second half.  That was difficult to estimate, so I eventually switched to running for a couple of minutes and then walking for a couple of minutes.  I wasn’t looking at my watch.  I just guessed.

It was the darkest night I’ve ever seen.  The only source of light was my headlamp.  Everything looked different at night.  In the light of my headlamp, the pine trees looked like they were covered with snow or frost.  The movement of the shadows as I went by made me think I was seeing movement in the bushes.

Lack of sleep was getting to me, and I began to hallucinate.  At one point, I thought I saw a small black bear on the trail in front of me.  I came to a stop.  Then I realized it was just am irregularly shaped puddle.  In the dark, the water looked as black as oil.

I was getting colder.  At this hour of the night, it was probably in the upper 50s, but it felt much colder.  I wasn’t moving fast enough to generate any heat.

When I got back to the Nahant aid station, I noticed they had cups of Ramen noodles in broth.  I said, “That looks good, but I don’t think I have room.”  After thinking about it for a minute, I decided to take the time to eat one.  The noodles were just what I needed, and the broth tasted great.

I had six more miles to get back to Rochford, so I could finally get my jacket.  I continued to do a roughly 50/50 mix of running and walking.  For the last four miles, I was intolerably cold.

When I got back to Rochford (62.4 miles), I was finally able to put on my Tyvek jacket.  I continued to wear my headlamp, but I retrieved my flashlight and put it in my fanny pack.  I wanted to take off my headlamp when I got back to Horse Creek, but I expected to need a light after that.

I felt much more comfortable with the jacket.  When I was walking, it felt just right.  When I was running, I got a bit warm, but that was better than freezing.  I adjusted my fluid intake, since I was sweating a bit now.

At Gimlet, I had another cup of Ramen noodles in broth.  It was too hot, so it took me about five minutes to eat it.  They had campfires and folding chairs.  I saw another runner sit down while he ate his noodles.  I resisted the temptation to sit.  I didn’t know if I would be able to get up again.

As I left the aid station, my legs were stiff, and I had to walk for a few minutes before I could run.  This was the last section of downhill.  I usually look forward to completing each section of the trail, but I wasn’t looking forward to going uphill again.

The trail bottomed out near the Mystic aid station (70.2 miles).  To get to the aid station, you need to leave the trail and walk across a dirt road that’s right next to the trail.  As I left the aid station, I mistook the road for the trail.  I walked about a quarter mile in the wrong direction before reaching a fork in the road.  I wasn’t sure which way to go, and I didn’t see any of the familiar Mickelson Trail signs.  In each direction, I saw road signs.  Looking back the way I came, I realized that was also a road.  I had to backtrack to the aid station.  In all, I probably lost 10 minutes.

As I got back to the aid station, I saw another runner leaving, so I followed him to get back on the trail.  His name was Justin, and we walked together for a good portion of the race.  He maintained a brisk walking pace, and I had to work hard to keep up with him.

When I got to the next milepost, I ran for two minutes.  Going uphill, that was as far as I could manage to run.  As I resumed walking, I was slow at first, because I needed to catch my breath.  Justin eventually caught up to me.  Then I picked up my pace to stay with him.

I continued this pattern each time I reached a milepost.  I didn’t ever want to go more than a mile without doing some running.  I worried that if I walked for several miles, I might have a hard time transitioning back to running.

After the first two miles, I switched to only running for one minute at each milepost.   Two minutes was too tiring.

The next aid station was Horse Creek, where I had my other drop bag.  I took off my headlamp, so I wouldn’t have to wear it for the rest of the race.  By now, there was just enough light to see the trail, but I still needed my headlamp to look for the next milepost.

I now had grit in the toe boxes of both shoes.  It was getting increasingly uncomfortable, but I did my best ignore it.  There wasn’t much I could really do about it.  Thankfully, there wasn’t any grit around my heels.  That’s where I’m most prone to developing blisters when I walk.

After two more miles, the trail leveled off, and we began the eight mile descent into Hill City.  Since the beginning of the race, I assumed I would run the whole way.  On the previous downhill sections, I limited my running so I wouldn’t beat up my quads.  Now that I was finally here, I found that I couldn’t run the whole way.  Even running downhill was now tiring.

I ran for a minute or two and then walked for a minute or two.  For the first mile or two, I was doing equal parts running and walking.  By the end of this section, I was only doing a couple minutes of running per mile.  It was now obvious that the second half of the race would be slower than the first half, but I was still hopeful that I could break 24 hours.

Without doing any running, Justin still kept up with me.  I could feel the sun now, so I took off my jacket and tied it around my waist.  That caused me to fall behind, and I couldn’t catch up.  By the time we reached Hill City, Justin was about a minute ahead of me.  At the Hill City aid station, I had my third cup of Ramen noodles.  These ones weren’t in soup broth, and they weren’t as good.  It was just overcooked noodles in starchy water.

Justin and I both took a long time at that aid station, but he left about a minute ahead of me.  We were at the beginning of the last long uphill section, and I didn’t know if I would catch up to him again.

To break 24 hours, I needed to average about 16 minutes per mile over the last 15 miles.  The first 10 were uphill.  The last five would be downhill.  I didn’t know if I could go fast enough on the uphill section.  I was really feeling the fatigue.

I had two things in my favor.  First, I was real familiar with this section of the trail.  By now, I had run it twice in the uphill direction and four times in the downhill direction.  Second, it was daylight, so I could see all the familiar surroundings.

I ran for one minute at the beginning of each mile.  Then I power walked as fast as I could for the rest of the mile.  About two miles up the trail, I passed Justin when I was running.  I expected him to catch up again when I resumed walking, but he never did.  I’m not sure if he was slowing down or if I was walking that much faster now.

By the time I reached the Oreville aid station, I knew I would break 24 hours, but I never let up in my effort.  I was counting down the number of times I would have to force myself to run for a minute.  With only about 10 miles to go, I decided to top off my bottle with Powerade.  That was pre-mixed, so it saved time.  At this point, it no longer mattered what I drank.

About a mile past Oreville, I crossed under the highway.  Now I was focused on climbing up to Crazy Horse.  When I saw this tunnel again, I knew I was nearing the top of the climb.  This was the tunnel under the road up to Crazy Horse.

It was still more than a mile to the last aid station.  I forgot it was that far, but this mile was fairly level.

I didn’t bother to eat anything at the Mountain Trailhead aid station.  At this point, any food I ate would still be in my stomach when I finished the race.  I topped off my bottle and kept moving.

It was less than five miles to the finish and it was all downhill.  The first time I did this race, I ran the whole way on this section.  The second time I did this race, I also ran the whole way.  This time, I wanted to run the whole way, but I couldn’t.  I managed to force myself to run about two minutes of each mile.  I had to walk the rest.  Going downhill, I was averaging about 13 minutes per mile.  I would easily break 24 hours, but the time between mileposts seemed like forever.

This section has very little shade.  It was late morning, so it was getting hot again.  Fortunately, I only had a few miles to go.

After passing milepost 46, I saw two people in the distance.  They weren’t moving, so I realized they were probably race volunteers.  That was where I left the trail to head to the finish at the high school track.

I followed the cones that led to the track.  I still had to run about halfway around the track.  I wanted to run the rest of the way, but I couldn’t even make it halfway around the track without taking a walking break.

I finished in 23:39:48.  Then I sat down in a lawn chair and drank some water.  I was completely spent.  While I was catching my breath, I saw a few other runners finish.  One of them was Justin, who also broke 24 hours.

After finishing, I received my belt buckle.  This is my fourth buckle from a 100 mile trail run.  Three of them are from Lean Horse.

When I got back to the hotel, I took off my shoes.  I had painful blisters around both heels.  Somehow, I never noticed them during the race.  I had abrasions on a few of my toes.

Four weeks ago, I had a DNF at the Vermont 100, so it was especially important to finish this one.  Getting a sub 24 hour finish put an exclamation point on it.

My training includes enough running to run well in a marathon, but I’m not in good enough shape to run 100 miles.  Fortunately, I’m in good enough shape to walk 100 miles.  I walked the vast majority of this race, and it was only on the strength of my walking that I broke 24 hours.

Today, I have sore muscles.  That’s to be expected, but they’re not the same muscles that are usually sore after a race like this.  My quads feel OK.  My calves, glutes and the muscles around my hips are the ones that are sore.  Those are walking muscles.

Race Statistics

Distance:  100 miles

Time:  23:39:48

Average Pace:  14:12

Lifetime Marathons/Ultras:  356

Lifetime 100s:  13