Race report on the Lean
Horse 100, Hot Springs, SD, August 27-28, 2010
If there was a “state pastime” in
Bikers
welcome in this local watering hole.
And this one. I
hope my Blue Moon with an orange wasn't too sissy for the local biker crowd.
Even more telling was the first
sign I saw when entering the Best Western motel:
Match this,
Ritz-Carlton!
On to the
race……
Background
The Lean Horse races include a
100 miler, a 50 miler and a 50k. The 100 and 50 mile events each begin at
6 AM on Saturday, work their way though town for a couple of miles, then
traverse the hilly, graveled Argyle Road to about the 16 mile mark. The
course then picks up the Mickelson Trail, a rails to
trails conversion. The 50 mile runners head to the 25 mile marker and
reverse course, while the 100 milers head out 34 miles to the 50 mile
turnaround. The Mickelson Trail is a nearly ideal running surface of
finely crushed rock. Grades are gradual, and the course grinds gently uphill to
the 42 mile mark, then descends to the
turnaround. Aid stations are roughly every five miles.
Given its friendly terrain, Lean
Horse is considered an “easy” 100. However, it is held in
Despite my advanced age (54) my ultra
experience is pretty light. This was my seventh 100 started, finishing
five of the previous six. I had run my first sub 24 here a year ago with
a surprising 21:53….a nearly four hour PR at the time. I subsequently ran
Javelina in 23:00 and Rocky in 23:01 before a DNF at
Bighorn two months earlier. Until the DNF, I thought I was getting a
handle on the demands of the event, from food to pacing to
attitude. Bighorn proved that wrong, particularly with the “mental
toughness” part. I really did not want a second consecutive DNF here.
My game plan was pretty
simple: mix in liberal doses of walking
(approximately half, measured by time) from the start, keep moving forward and
don’t mess around at aid stations. I even followed the advice of Karl
King and Phil Maffetone and walked the first 10
minutes, with the idea of letting the muscles warm up completely. The
math sorta works out as follows. Walk five of
every 10 minutes at a pace of 13-14 minutes per mile. Run the remaining five
minutes at a pace of 9:30 or so per mile. This works out to about 11
minutes per mile. Add in some aid station time, and you get maybe 12
minutes per mile or five miles per hour. This would obviously slow in the
later miles and at night.
Last year stomach woes plagued me
in this event. Over the last couple of events I thought I had this
figured out: fruit. I had begun packing fruit (grapes, oranges,
apples) in my drop bags and had not had serious stomach issues in recent
events. So I followed the same procedure this year. It would not
work this time.
The event starts and ends at the
General
milling around and nervousness before the start
The early miles (1-30)
What’s not to like about the first
miles of a long run? The weather was pleasant enough for the 6 AM start,
with temperatures at around 70 degrees. My slow start placed me well back
in the group, but that was fine. We worked our way through town and out
to
Argyle Road traversing the farm country.
The first sixteen miles heading
to the Mickelson Trail passed uneventfully. I did see a guy wearing VFFs on that gravel. He’s one tough hombre! I
filled my bandanna with ice, ate some grapes and some solid food, then hit the
Mickelson Trail and headed north.
The long, straight Mickelson Trail.
The temperatures did not stay
down, of course. The Trail has very little shade and is a gentle grind
higher for much of the outbound trip. I generally kept my pace and
remained reasonably comfortable even as my stomach was beginning to
rebel. I hit the 30 mile aid station in 5:57, right on pace, but wishing
some type of food or sports drink would become appealing.
The “diva” miles
(30-65)
There’s a Snickers commercial
where a guy on a road trip turns into a diva when he’s hungry….cranky, whiney,
etc. (The diva is played by Aretha Franklin). All it takes is for the guy
to eat a Snickers to quell his hunger, and he’s back
to normal. I’m pretty sure that’s an accurate description of me with
stomach problems in an ultra. Unfortunately, I’ve yet to find an easy
solution. By mile 30, my food consumption was down to some fruit at aid
stations and hydration was water.
While known as an easy course,
there are some stretches that can be kind of a grind. From
At times the Mickelson Trail
feels very rural with no houses or cars in sight. Near the turnaround, a
busy highway is a few hundred feet away.
On the way to Crazy Horse.
A road sign
informing drivers there's 41 miles to
As an out-and-back, the runners
retrace their steps from the turnaround, starting with the eight mile climb up
to Crazy Horse. When I hit the 60 mile aid station, I saw there was soup
available. Maybe some hot chicken noodle soup would help….what could it
hurt? I sat in a chair and downed a cup. Instead of helping, as I
finished it there was the unmistakable feeling that this wasn’t staying
down. I managed to get across the trail from the aid station and barfed
up…..well, whatever. I collected myself at the side of the trail
for a minute before slithering off towards
The night miles (65-100)
The night miles in the latter
stages of a hundred can be a fun, quiet, beautiful trip, or it can be a death
march. At this point I was guessing the latter.
The next aid station was about
when darkness was falling. I grabbed my headlamp, hat, flashlight and
iPod Shuffle, changed into a dry shirt and ate a cup of tomato soup. Last
year, tomato soup was my salvation from ongoing stomach problems, and I was
really hoping it would do the same this year. The weather had become cool
and cloudy. The aid station worker said there was a 30% chance of rain,
and offered me a poncho provided by the race director. I had a trash bag
in a drop bag 12 miles away, so I turned down the offer. Of course, I got
a mile outside the aid station and the wind changed and a cold rain started.
Man, if this lasted for a couple of hours I was going to get cold.
Instead, the rain stopped and the
cool temperatures remained. There was a lightning show for the next
couple of hours, but the storms stayed to the east. I worked my way
between the aid stations, downing tomato soup and Mountain Dew at each.
My pace varied as did my energy levels. By the end of the Mickelson Trail
(mile 84) I was feeling pretty good, managing to eat some delicious watermelon
before heading off on
The last 16 miles were downright
pretty. A nearly full moon illuminated the starlit sky. The air was
crisp and pleasant. There were no runners around me, although one crew
vehicle kept leap-frogging me, driving ahead and
waiting for their runner. I kept a steady pace on through town and hit
the finish at 22:04.
Race
director Jerry Dunn provides greetings at my 4 AM finish.
Final ramblings
The gravel on
