Dances With Dirt 100K Relay Race, Hell, Michigan
I think this was the eighth installment for our team, though the first without our spirited leader,
@2Young2BBald. :( Fortunately, a neat guy we met at the camp site last year decided to pass on the race's ultra and instead join our team as a fill-in. This year was also the hottest one we've encountered with temps reaching 90 degrees in the afternoon. (One of our guys was puking after toughing out his final leg.) The only good news about the high temps and recent dry conditions is that the swamps weren't quite as wet and mucky as before - ankle deep stuff instead of the knee or hip deep possibilities of recent years (not that one gal didn't manage to get totally stuck and need for others to pull her out). A couple of our guys weren't in good shape for many miles, which meant we had quite an uneven balance of the 15 legs, though everybody performed really well. My four legs:
Leg 1:
5.5 miles (50 minutes, ~9:00/mile) Nothing too challenging with this one - some early trails, a long section of country roads, then some more trails to the finish.
Leg 2:
3.0 miles (45 minutes, 15/mile) This was my swamp leg ...with hills, too. Early in the leg were two nasty hills, one called the dirt ladder 'cause you needed to climb on all fours to reach the steep top. Later on was a few hundred yards of swamp, but again, we could pick our way through it without too much difficulty.
Leg 3:
3.7 miles (30 minutes, ~ 7:45/mile?) Not sure if the length was right or the timing was precise (my watch had not charged properly), so all the times are quite rough. We were all feeling the heat at this point. The leg had a couple more nasty hills up and down before a long, dirt road segment to finish off. Pacing and rhythm were real strong on that road. At the finish was a quick slog through a muddy pond.
Leg 4:
6.2 miles (59 minutes, ~9:30/mile) A near-immediate turnaround from the previous leg (the two legs in between were shorter ones, and we were encouraged to overlap and track the 'cheat' time). I changed to new, dry clothes and shoes, scarfed a few chips, and refilled my fuel belt bottles. I also broke out my new Western States bandana [
edit: headband] - a gift from
@SFBayDuck. Having learned the trick at WS, I dipped it in ice water, pulled it down onto my neck, doubled it over and filled it with ice.

This really helped. Nevertheless, I was running this leg with my tank on "E." For much of it, I was behind an impressive young gal who just. kept. plugging. Even when I and other guys were walking up some hills, she'd keep jogging along. I let her lead the way for much of the leg, given her consistency. It's really a great leg of steady, rolling terrain ...when running on good legs. Mine were quite shot.
So
18.4 miles in the heat. Pacing was better than I expected, given the weak training of late (a good rule of thumb is that trail segments add a minute/mile to the pace). I was lucky that my first three legs all had road segments. Having driven in late the night before, I was only able to hang around for an hour after the race (and a dip in the lake) before heading out to drive back home (church commitments this a.m.). I made it, but I pounded three 17 oz. Gatorades while battling a lot of random cramping the whole way. I doubt I'd have made it home without cruise control. I short weekend, unfortunately, but great to be out there ...camping overnight, then enjoying the day. We failed at getting good pics for 2Young of some of the nice scenery on the warm day, but barring more Irma's that pulled him away, he'll be back next year.