Last week I had the pleasure of vacationing for 3 days in the Black Hills of SD, After that I walked Lean Horse 100 miler. The LH 100 is an out and back starting in Hot Springs SD. It offers with very good footing on dirt/gravel roads and about 68 miles on a fine gravel rails to trail old RR bed; crossing many wooden bridges. This 68 mile trail is called the Mickelson Tail. The course in general is gently rolling hills with only 7200 ft of climbing over the 100 miles. The day was mostly sunny in the mid to upper 80s. It could have been worse as the temperatures during the days preceding the race were much hotter. Even so it was very hot for me. I wore a HR monitor for the first time for a long race and I was maxing out at about 80-85% from the early afternoon until it cooled down after dark. I was hot to warm for the entire race. I didn't want any of that hot soup the kind volunteers were offering overnight. Early on I made a big mistake and fell behind on my hydration. To make it worse this was a part of the race where the aid stations were 6-7 miles apart and I was running out of fluids after 4-5 miles! I did have a great crew composed of my wife Sandy & our friend Scott but they were also supporting Scott's wife (my training partner) Karen and Jim my other training partner. Karen & Jim are both great Ultra walkers each with at least one 100 mile finish. In any case Sandy & Scott were trying to get extra fluids in me whenever they saw me. It took me until about 10 PM until I was properly hydrated again. I was not eating a lot but enough to keep me going. There were around 250 racers initially as there were also a 50K and a 50 miler on the same course. After about 35 miles I greased my feet and changed my socks. I checked and did the same again at mile 65. This year I started taping my feet and those areas stayed blister free. I was also using lots of sunscreen whenever I saw my crew. Anyway I struggled through the first 50 miles in about 12:05. My goal was to do the 100 sub 24 hours so at this point I knew sub 24 was not going to happen. The race started at 6AM and darkness started just after 8PM. By 9PM it was cooler with occasional rain and wind. I was feeling much better and my HR dropped down to the 70-75% range. I even got lucky and missed a major downpour that caught the runners that were a hour or two ahead of me. Early on I walked with Karen & Jim and after that with a runner I know, Mike from GA and finally with Godfather of Ultra-walkers; the prolific Ulli Kamm who has done this race for 6 years in a row. It was great seeing Ulli and walking with him for about 8 miles. I don't mind walking by myself and during the night I was looking for runners to pass. In long races back and middle of the pack runners do a lot of walking. I played tag for several hours with a another runner I know from OH; Fred Davis. Bye Bye Fred. Scott told me there was a young woman who would consistently check in the aid stations ahead of me and was going at the same pace as I was. After Fred I went looking for her. I don't know If I ever passed her but I passed 3 young ladies who met the description over the next 2 hours! It sounds silly but this is what keeps me busy all night long. After about 1PM I was pretty much alone and only passed 3-4 runners in the last 5 hours and was passed by 2 runners who were flying (hey where did these guys come from!) I finished very strong as there were more down hills on the way back. I beat myself up pretty good on those down hills and was hurting big time when I finished. I walked the last 50 in about 12:24 for a total of 24:29:42. I was 36th out of 95 finishers. After crossing the finish line I sat down and drank a couple protein/recovery drinks and then had to limp 2 blocks to my hotel. I had a major deep blister on my left heel and a smaller one on the right heel. The biggest problem has been a still very sore right ankle, Overall I feel good with just the normal muscle soreness and stiffness you expect after a hard effort. I would recommend this race as it was well supported on a very scenic course. The only issues were:
The course was not accurately marked. The were mile markers every 5 mile which was great but they were often misplaced, I try to keep an even pace so this was very frustrating at times. The race is also at least 101 miles! I had been warned about that from numerous racers. There are also very few porta-potties and a section coming back into town was not marked well enough which lead to major concerns even if you didn't get lost/off course. All in all not much to complain about as it is a very friendly family oriented type of event.

Joe Roche