Miles run:

26.2. A trail marathon at Dances with Dirt at Devil’s Lake. In which I won 2nd in my Age Group (out of 5 people in the AG) and won a chair! Did this race with my #besties Krista, Rochelle, Marty, and Tracey G. Also, Evan Z. and Matt J. did the half-marathon out there and Amy K. rocked the 10k.

Time run:

Six hours and forty-three minutes.

Types of surfaces run on:

Gravel road, paved road, open prairie, single-track dirt path, rock and root-covered technical trail, paved single-track, muddy tire-tracks, parts of the forest that weren't even a trail, Wisconsin Kettle Moraine flat rocks and boulders, giant boulder-steps leading up to the bluffs around Devil’s Lake

Things run over, under, or through:

Rivers, streams, mud, bridges, fallen trees, thorny branches, waist-high grass, 'do not enter' gates, Wisconsin jungle brush, wire, railroad tracks, boulders, crevasses

How I felt:

For the first few miles, I felt like we were already running forever, and it had only been an hour. Our pace was slowed by narrow trails and bunching of runners. When we finally broke out a little bit, I was dragging behind the rest of the group. I started to feel it physically. I felt my mouth throbbing, my knee was bothering me, my ankles felt week, I stubbed my toe, I felt tired, I couldn’t breathe right, etc. But at about mile 9 I got a pep-talk from Marty that helped (he said something like ‘it can only get so bad, and then it’s got to start getting better’). At this point I also realized I just can’t be last in the single-file line anymore. It was messing with me mentally trying to keep up with the group. Once I got out in front I started feeling 100% better and even pulled out an 8:30 half mile and led on the trails for a while. It really helped me to switch up the order.

The middle was kind of a blur – I know I was tired but I wasn’t feeling like complete death. The hardest part was after mile 20. I realized it’s ‘only’ six miles but each mile was ticking off really slowly because we were doing a lot of walking on a lot of difficult terrain. We were still going UP, which seemed impossible at this point, because we felt we had been climbing for DAYS. Eventually we got the downhill single-track we had been wishing for and all of us remarked how hard it was to land each step on the technical terrain. This part took a lot of concentration – which was a welcome distraction from how tired our bodies were, but each of us tripped up on rocks and roots at least a few times. Yes – at this point we were mad enough at this race to kick rocks! :)

Favorite parts:

The aid stations were awesome – they had Oreos, chocolate chip cookies, Pringles, olives, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, pretzels, boiled potatoes dipped in salt, M&M’s, trail mix, Pepsi, and more! I was really glad the food was so diverse because I craved something different at each one. I also didn’t bring my usual Fig Newton snack with me because I didn’t want to have anything around my waist and left my Spibelt in the car at the last minute. I must have refilled my Nathan handheld 10 times. I drank a mix of Gatorade and water, and took 2 Enduralyte tabs every hour.

Devil’s Lake – realizing that we essentially ran around the entirety of Devil’s Lake, looking out across the lake at the top of the bluff and realizing we just came from there! We had climbed the bluffs on one side, run along the hiking trails on the top and then the bottom, and then climbed the bluffs and hiked on the rocks on the other side! Incredible views. At one point we stopped and splashed some lake water on our weary, hot heads.

Randy! We reached out and touched ‘Randy’ (the Ice Age Trail mascot) every time we saw his badge denoting we were on the Ice Age Trail. He gave us a much-needed boost. We were on Ice Age about 30% of the time, I’d guess.

The last miles – At mile 20 when I realized that I’d actually finish this race, and that it is ACTUALLY a marathon, and that this would be my THIRD marathon, and that it was totally badass, and that I wasn’t even done yet but I couldn’t get ANY more tired but I COULD continue to trudge on until we got there.

The finish – Linking arms with my besties and crossing the finish line together, with HUGE smiles on our faces. What a feeling!