Dances With Dirt Devil's Lake

This was quite an experience. The course was in the wooded hills near Devil's Lake, and we were in Devil's Lake Park - for much of the race and maybe all of it. So it must have been coordinated with the Park. They hyped it up as being a tough race - and it was difficult, with lots of elevation changes. But honestly, I expected it to be more difficult, given everything that I read about it beforehand. Parking was available near the start line, and there was long, wet grass everybody had to park in & walk through, so probably everyone started with wet feet. Check-in was allowed in the morning - an option that I exercised, because I arrived late Friday evening. There were five different races going on here. There was a 10K, a half-marathon, a marathon, a 50K, and a 50-mile race all being run this day - but with staggered start times. And they all were being run on portions of the same route. So with that, I wanted to say up front that whoever laid this out was diligent, and did an extremely good job. And each race had that specific part of race course marked with color-specific flags. For example, the marathoners followed pink flags for the first 20 miles, then the last 6.2 miles was the same course the 10K folks ran, and for that portion the flags were white (as they say, minor details). And where ever there were turns that separated the runners by race, those were clearly marked (e.g. marathoners turn left, 50K runners go straight). So the course was extremely well marked. And if you followed the flags of the color of your race, it would have been difficult to get lost. The other thing I wanted to mention up front is that there were no mile markers on this course. That was inconvenient, but perhaps they could not coordinated all the races and have correct mile-markers too. But that is just a guess. And at some of the hydration stations, where timing officials were present, it was hard to find someone who knew how far along on the course we were. Again, maybe too many numbers, given all the races that were going on. The course started out doing a small, irregular shaped loop (and small is relative) with the runners ending north of the finish line area. From there was a big loop that had us come back near, but south of the start line, finishing the first 20 miles. Off of that big loop, there were two out-and-back segments that had us come down from the hills into a meadow. That was a single path with two-way traffic on it - at least getting into the meadows. The meadows were six-foot high growth of some combination of grain, weeds, brush, and wild flowers that looked like someone had pulled a brush-hog mower through with a tractor to clear a six or eight foot wide running path; each was several miles long. In those meadows, there was no protection from the sun, but most the rest of the course was well shaded and temperatures were reasonably comfortable for July. In one of the meadows there was a stretch of boardwalk for getting through a swampy portion, but right at the start on the boardwalk was an enormous mud hole that was difficult or impossible to get through with clean shoes. And as I said earlier, there were lots of hills in this course. So there was plenty of time going downhill for tearing up quad muscles. The aid stations were not every two miles like you'd hope for, but they had an enormous spectrum of things to eat. Of course, water and Gatorade; they were not all serving the same stuff, but some of the items were cinnamon rolls, quartered potatoes, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, M&Ms, watermelon, pretzels, red licorice, various kinds of cookies, boxes of several flavors of GU gel, and lots more. Well done. The map they have on the website is confusing. The course was broken down into sections, and each section had landmarks that identified that section. You had to go to the chart to determine the distance of each section - and they were not all the same. But they all added up to the correct distance for the course. Before the race, several of us were looking at the map there discussing it, but were uncertain about details. Now having run the course, and looking at the map again, it all makes perfect sense. I like to camp for summer marathons when I can, so I hoped to find a place to camp in one of several state parks in the area serving the Wisconsin Dells and Devil's Lake. They were all full! Fortunately I found out about Wheeler's Campground on the Internet. They were 2.5 miles from the start-line, they had a section of their park just for the runners, and discounted rates too. There was a nice grassy area to pitch a tent, and hot showers too. If you want to camp, check them out.

First let me give a quick shout out to lori and r.j. who were kind enough to stop and make sure I was ok after I had decided to catch my toe on a rock and take a closer look at the trail. Thanks guys. Ok. I've done some tough ones, and this one ranks right up there with the toughest. Presented some unique challenges, such as navigating difficult terrain while avoiding on-coming runners on the out-and-backs; and navigating difficult terrain while being distracted by some great vistas; and navigating difficult terrain while navigating difficult terrain..... If you sign up for this, be forewarned. You will face some challenges you might not have ever had to deal with before. Suck it up, pound it out, and be proud of yourself when you cross the finish line; trail tattoos and all..... Thanks for a one-of-a-kind race guys p.s. My wife Beth had a great time as a last-minute volunteer

A tremendous race! My girl and I decided to camp at Mirror Lake and do this race together, her the half, me the full, and we were very glad we did. The good... Tremendous organization...putting together an event w a 50 mile, 50K, full and half marathon and 10K at the same time, I cant imagine the work that goes into doing this! -Packet pickup easy, friendly workers, course well marked (maybe 2 hiccups on turns where it took a second to figure out where to go) -Course technical, difficult w roots, rocks, hills, descents, cliffs, narrow trail w runners going both ways...some may think of that as a negative, but after doing lots of road races, I found this to be super cool and enjoyable -no mile markers, so as a runner you concentrated on the run and the scenery, not what mile you were on -great runner comraderie during the race -most of the course in the shade -GORGEOUS scenery -unique medal -excellent food at finish line -aid stations well stocked, and some had real food; sandwiches, fruit, chips, cookies (fig newtons I ate were like a B12 shot) -being trails, my joints didnt take the beating that they typically do on a road race -Overall, after the race, we just felt like we absolutely loved participating in this race The bad... -Cant control weather...it was quite muggy, but the rain stayed away -Have to concentrate on every single step, i actually fell down 2x on the course, so you have to be extremely careful-uneven ground, tape those ankles! -First 2 miles a major climb, and all the runners are bunched up, so its a slow slog for a little while, that being said, it wasnt too bad -sometimes on a narrow trail with runners going both ways, tough to pass by one another -phone had no signal on way to packet pickup, so i didnt have a map, some more signage on roads leading to start would have been helpful The ugly... -If it had rained, this course would be downright trecherous and dangerous, with slippery rocks and inclines/declines, as it were, especially the last couple of miles where you are sharply descending when your legs are fried is extremely tough...without rain, i passed a lady with about a mile to go who looked to have fallen and potentially broken her nose, and a guy i was running with fell, and I had to help him up, I also fell on the course 2x and had sore wrists the next day where I caught myself...high levels of concentation is needed all 26.2 miles! Overall, we were thrilled with our experience running this race!!! We also enjoyed traveling to this area and spending our time and money in this beautiful part of Wisconsin that I had never visited before. If you enjoy a challenge, go for it! Bravo race organizers!