Earning A Buckle

Before I headed out of town last week for the Lean Horse 100 out in the Black Hills, my friends were asking me if I was ready. I want to be honest - but don't want to cause concern in my non-running friends so I usually just say yes. To my running friends I'll usually say, "No I'm not, but I'll make it through". This is probably my attraction to ultra running in that you never really know what is going to happen. How can you be ready for what you don't know? Will I meet my goals or will I even finish? In an ultra, there is a lot of time for things to go wrong but also a lot of time to correct them.

Going into this event, I had my usual 3 goals where if I accomplish any one of them, I will view it as a success. First was to finish, second was to improve upon my Kettle Moraine time of 28:21, and third was to finish sub 24 hours. Like I said earlier, with so many variables over 100 miles so many things can happen. If my only goal was to break 24 hours, which I did not, then the event would have been viewed as a failure. I think Lean Horse was a success in that it taught me quite a bit and though I believe I am capable of a sub 24 on this course, it just wasn't my day and I'm OK with that.

Being I didn't have any family support or crew with me, it was nice to have 3 other local ultra runners (Cory, Maggie and Rachel) down there to hang out with on Friday. We got signed in, picked up our bib numbers and then hooked up for supper at a local diner in Hot Springs. And speaking of "Hot", it was 102 on Thursday, 100 on Friday, with the forecast for a cooler Saturday which saw a high of only 93. Much better than Thursday and Friday. It's a dry heat.


Saturday morning we met up at the start and posed for a quick photo. It was a starting line full of excitement as Cory was starting his first ever ultra in the 50k. Poor guy had never run a marathon and now he was toeing the line of an ultra in the Black Hills. I guess that's what happens when you are married to Maggie, who was lined up for her first ever 100 mile ultra. Our friend, Rachel, who was going to enter the 100 mile event but had to withdraw because of an injury, was there which worked out well for the rest of us needing some support. Though she was there to crew primarily for Maggie, I knew in a pinch I could rely on her to bail me out. That safety net offered me much peace of mind throughout the event. When Cory had successfully finished his 50k, he and Rachel were a welcome sight when I was coming in to the aid stations. They were generous with support and encouragement and I'd always leave the aid stations feeling energized. Until they themselves run a 100, I don't think they'll ever know how much their support helped me have a successful event.

The only negative of the event was some poor judgement on my part. I got myself a bit dehydrated early on and with it being mostly sunny and 93 degrees, I was playing catch up all day. Once I realized my situation and started to rehydrate myself, I then became low on electrolytes which get diluted down too much with more water intake. The downward spiral continued. It had me confused to whether I was over hydrated or under hydrated, too many electrolytes or not enough. A frustrating situation that I had put myself in and I was very disappointed in myself as this is not the first event this has happened to me in. You'd think I'd have learned by now. The dryness of the air I think fooled me into not realizing it was as hot as it was so I was only drinking an average amount of water. It was probably mid afternoon when I realized I was in trouble and nearly midnight before I had things under control. Those were some difficult hours, but I think you have to anticipate difficult times in events like this and just keep moving forward.

So move forward I did for the overnight hours and then having 17 miles to go just before the sun was coming up I was re-energized. I saw the crew as I was leaving an aid station and Rachel said it looked like I finally had some color back in my face. After slothing through many miles during the night, a hilly part of the course let me get my legs loosened over a few miles which let me put the hammer down and make the final 10 miles some of my fastest of the event. I passed over 20 people in those last 10 miles. Most struggling with every step. It was hard to not feel bad for them as I passed wondering if they'd finish which, at that point, was all they were trying to do literally, one step at a time. These are some tough people.

With 2 miles to go, I was back in Hot Springs as the locals were buzzing around town doing their business and some heading to church. They must have been very aware of what was going on as they'd all honk, wave and yell congratulations. It was quite humbling to hear congratulations from strangers for doing something as goofy as running 100 miles.

Starting the event at 6:00 a.m. Saturday, I crossed the finish line at 8:38 a.m. Sunday morning giving me a finish time of 26:38 and earning my Lean Horse Belt Buckle. Maggie finished her first attempt at a 100 just behind me for an awesome effort earning her buckle and placing within her age group. 159 people entered the event and 95 finished. I finished 48th. Looking back on all of the struggles I went through, I wouldn't change a thing. I learned so much about the Black Hills environment, camaraderie and myself that I can say I enjoyed every mile. Can't wait to do it again.