I can’t say that I really had time to tromp off to nowhere Baraboo, WI to run a marathon. Realistically, I don’t even have time to write this post but sometimes you just gotta do, what you gotta do!  🙂 So last FRI, I packed it up and headed 3.5 hours north into WI to run the Dances With Dirt – Devil’s Lake trail marathon. I hadn’t read much of the website other than details on registration and where to stay. I “picked” the race because I wanted to knock Wisconsin off the list {as part of my long-term goal of running a marathon in all 50 states} and I specifically wanted to do Wisconsin prior to moving further away. There aren’t a ton of marathons in WI right now and well, Devil’s Lake was the only one on my “partially free” weekend. Therefore, I didn’t pick Devil’s Lake, it picked ME. There you have it.  That was the process of picking my WI race and pretty much how I live my life “married with children“.

Eventually info did start trickling down to me that I was in for a race of my life but I didn’t really pay too much attention because I didn’t have any too many other options.  Let it suffice to say that I was prepared to “suck it up” and knock WI off the list!  Let’s do this, right?!?!?!?

Thankfully registration was quick and easy, on site the morning of the race since I had previously missed online registration. Multiple distances options were available from 10K to 50 miles. Plenty of clean port-o-potties on site. Well organized event with a few freebies from the sponsors. Julie, myself & Dawn at the start.

We didn’t even run a mile before reality started to set in and we were climbing up, up, up.  On single track.  And we were walking.  Not running.

What started out as a jaunt thru the woods quickly became a serious endurance event. It was much more difficult to climb at a walking pace than run at marathon pace. Granted I am currently out of shape. I’m also above my normal weight by a solid 20 lbs. So I didn’t expect a walk in the park but even if I had read the website, I wouldn’t have ever guessed this event would be so challenging. We climbed up. We ran or walked down depending on how technical the section of the trail. We picked our way thru large boulder fields. We navigated stairs. We followed a paved path at the top of the mountain that we couldn’t believe existed. We saw Devil’s Lake from a bird’s prospective. And then we headed down, passing people who came to Devil’s Lake to climb and repel with legit climbing equipment. Julie and I were in our normal running shoes, just taking everything as it came. Step by step. My trail shoes are packed away in a box and her’s are so old they wouldn’t have helped much anyhow.  So there were no trail shoes for the two of us!  We just kept moving, at whatever pace we could manage. One of our miles “up top” took 38 minutes. Yes, that’s 38 minutes for ONE mile. But the views were breathtaking and it was worth it.  Seriously worth it.  Look at these amazing photos.

I wanted to squeeze in a report for this event because I know that other people actually research races before jumping in the car to check off another state.  🙂  There are a few details that might help if you go to run an event at Devil’s Lake.

1) Take a fuel/water belt. You’ll be going thru A LOT of water. The aid stations are well stocked but usually 4-5 miles apart. In fact, due to the terrain, I’m amazed they had as many stations as they did.
2) Wear trail shoes if you have them, buy them if you don’t own any. The purpose of trail shoes is to protect your feet. They have a foot and toe plate made out of a tougher/stronger material. I stubbed my toe, on unseen roots/rocks, 4 times and went flying. fortunately, I didn’t break any toes and I managed to land “on my feet” each time. This isn’t normal so I’m thankful to come out unscathed. Plus I could feel the rocks under my feet thru my road shoes. Not the most pleasant thing. I would have loved to have my trail shoes.
3) Gaiters are optional. Not necessary in my opinion. We weren’t kicking up a lot of dirt or debris but that could be due to our pedestrian pace. If you’re a mover and a shaker, wear your gaiters.
4) Compression works!  I strongly encourage the use of either compression sleeves or socks for this event. Firstly, it will keep the blood flowing in your muscles when the blood wants to leave the legs and go directly to the lungs, as you are clawing your way up the hills!!!  Secondly, the compression socks will protect your legs against the tall grasses/weeds and/or branches that are pushing onto the trail. There are several sections that are pretty grown up. I personally don’t want my bare legs touching a lot of weeds/grasses/trees with which I’m not familiar. It would be one giant itch fest for me.
5) Bug spray is your friend. Use it. Reapply. And keep your mouth shut if possible. It’s SUPER buggy and you’ll be lucky if you only eat a couple of bugs.
6) Pray for an overcast/cloudy day. We got lucky. I hope you do too!  We heard some stories about previous years which were a smoldering hot.  It was 80 degrees for us and overcast. Super muggy and buggy.
7) Low light on the trails will be an issue. If you want to protect your eyes from the bugs, use photochromic sunglasses (I prefer Ryders Eyewear) or lenses with low tint.
8) Have fun. If you aren’t going to win there is really no reason to press down the hills and risk your life. Ego is one thing. Safety is another. I highly recommend running this one “for fun”.  It took me over 7.5 hours to run/walk/hike this marathon and my quads & stabilizer muscles have been shredded all week. It’s a rough one and well, I’ve hiked the Grand Canyon from Rim to Rim and this was way tougher and much more technical.  I’ve run/walked/hiked a lot of trails.  I’m not an “expert” but I’m experienced.  I’m not trying to hype it, just be honest.  It’s going to be tough.  If you don’t believe me, check out the warning on the BACK of the race shirt.  Swag below, back of the shirt says, “Dances with Dirt 2014 …. I realize that my participation in this event entails the risk of injury or even death”.  Truth.  But at least the medal is a bottle opener so you can drink lots of brews if you survive.  🙂Great race. Amazing job to whoever marked the trails because we never had any doubt that we were headed the right way. Huge shout out to the volunteers who hiked in the aid stations and their supplies. Thanks to the fastie trail runners who didn’t run Julie and I over as we were hiking our way thru the rough sections. And of course a special thanks to Julie for “getting in the car” to go run her VERY FIRST trail event ever …… with a mere 24 hours for advance notice. Girl, I owe you. Thanks to Dawn for awaiting our finish and making sure we survived before she left to continue her family trip. Dawn, Me & Julie at the finish!

**Wisconsin Is In The Books {Under Unforgettable}  ** Amanda – TooTallFritz **