We left for Deadwood Friday night after work intending to stay at F.E. Warren AFB in Cheyenne, WY. The idea was to get some miles behind us and make the drive to Deadwood, SD on Saturday shorter. We hadn't counted on the combination of a torrential downpour and rush hour traffic in Denver that would bring traffic to a halt. Finally I ended up getting off I-25 to circumvent the impass and we eventually made it to FEW AFB around 10:00 P.M.

The drive up was pleasant. We particularly liked the town of Newcastle, WY, at the start of the Black Hills.

Deadwood lies in a narrow valley and because of the lack of land the main highway goes right through the town. Main Street is at least bypassed though.

Deadwood reminds me of our Cripple Creek. A sleepy former mining town tries to revive itself by legalizing gambling. The result is crass and tacky. I enjoy gambling, but the smoke and deathlike crowd that gambling attracts totally turn me off. I wouldn't have come to Deadwood but for the marathon.

Early Sunday morning we boarded one of the buses to the starting line, 26 miles south in the small hamlet of Rochford. A nice lady opened the small church and runners soon packed the pews to get out of the cool morning air.

0700 sharp and the race was on. We ran the first mile downhill and through Rochford before we turned onto the Mickelson Trail--a "Rails to Trails" project that converted a former rail line extending some 108 miles from Edgemont to Deadwood. The next 12 miles were all uphill--while "only" a 3% grade the cumulative effect wore me down. Three runners quickly moved out ahead of me and I wisely let them go, settling into a sustainable pace and in solid at fourth place.

I maintained that position past the crest at the halfway point. Right away though I knew something was wrong. I wasn't running any faster going downhill--I was flagging rapidly. By mile 18 I had tanked. I had neglected to bring water on the bus to the start and my hopes of water available before the race were dashed. Now 18 miles into the race I was dehydrated and depleted. I had done enough of these things that I knew the routine. Keep running no matter how you feel. The long miles, the discouragement, the pain. I tried making it a "Zen experience"--just feel the pain, don't resist, be one with pain! I ran a clock time of 3:21, but I stopped my watch during a bathroom break, so I counted it as 3:19. My splits were terrible. I actually ran the first half that was mostly uphill ten minutes faster than the second half that was mostly downhill! I got a nice railroad spike for winning the age group and it was fun getting the award from Jeff Galloway.

Rebekka ran through the pain of a lingering IT Band injury to finish her first marathon in the respectable time of 4:28.

The course is beautiful and I give the race my highest recommendation.