Black Hills 50K

 I ran the Black Hills 50K in 2018 and had so much fun I knew I would be coming back. I entered in 2019 but my dad ended up in the ER, trip cancelled. In 2020 covid made the cancellation. I was ready to visit again for 2021. 

On Friday morning I began my trek west to Sturgis, SD. I again had lunch at the beautiful rest stop in Chamberlain SD with Dignity statue, drove through the Badlands and Custer National Park, some hiking to Harney Peak and then landed at my cabin in Sturgis at the RV park. It's a clean campground, $49.00 cabins and just a great place to stay as they are the packet pickup location and the start of the 100 mile and bus rides out for other distances are only a few blocks away.

Saturday I woke at 4, ground my beans for my french press, dressed and packed. I was out the door around 545 to catch the 600 bus. I met Jenny who was also running the 50K, we rode the bus together to the start.

It was a beautiful day, dry, with a high forecast to be in the low 70s. Picture perfect.

Our bus arrived to our start - the 70 mile stop of the 100 - before 7 so we had over an hour to hang out. I was looking for Erika to come through as she was running the 100. I was also looking for Amy, as she was pacing one of her friends. Pretty soon I noticed a blue Bill Pomerenke shirt. Sure enough, there was Andy, Erika's husband, pacing. I then saw Erika. I ran over and gave her a hug and congratulations on her 70 miles covered, and after running Kettle 100 two weeks prior. She finished Black Hills, too. Amazing.

Finally 800 was near and we here herded down to the start. Off we went!  We were all on top of one another for quite some time as there are quite a few cattle ramps in the first few miles. They have to be taken very slowly as they were wet and slippery. I just hiked, took my time, moving forward. It was cool to know what would be coming up, to remember portions of the course. 

The course is really amazing. Long climbs straight up, single track coming down, over and over. There were some jeep roads, some ATV paths, mostly singletrack. I'd run through soft pine trail, such nice footing, to hard small rocks interspersed upon the trail, to sand, to grass. The views were amazing. Jagged walls of rock, soft rounded rock, vistas overlooking the forests below. 

In 2018 there were ropes to help cross the rivers, the water was over my waist. This year there was NO water in the rivers. NONE. It was so dry, although it had rained the night before. The ground sucked it right up as the trail was not wet or muddy at all. 

As I was running up one of the dry creek beds, littered with rock, I fell. All of a sudden I was down flat on my belly with a sore knee and skinned nose. I lay there, stunned. A man who nearly fell on top of me helped me up exclaiming 'damn, now I've lost my pacer'. He just wouldn't pass me, he stayed directly in back of me for miles although I asked him to pass. I was glad to see him go on. I should have just stepped off the trail earlier and forced him to move on. I walked off my pain, making sure my knee was stable and that I couldn't see any bone. It was mostly a skin wound I think, it swelled and bruised quickly. I wondered if it would knock me out of the race. I vowed to pay attention and would not over do it by any means. I didn't mind dropping from a 50K if that's what my knee needed. 

Eventually I caught up to the people who passed as I was laying in the trail. I was feeling pretty good again. My knee felt swollen but not real painful.

It was great to cheer on the 100 milers as I came upon them. Some looked terrible, some looked fresh. I knew what they were going through. I moved along, enjoying right where I was, running free.

At the final aid station I saw part of Erika's crew. They expected her to finish around 33 hours or so. It looked like it was going to storm, I wasn't sure if I'd be able to hang out at the finish to watch. I was so glad that she was still moving forward.

Pretty soon I hit the pavement, knowing that I was only 2 miles to the finish. I finished in 2018 in 7:58 and it looked like I could finish in 730 this time around. I was pretty amazed. With a fall and a sore knee, I was still going to PR the course.

Running into the finish line, collecting my finishing coffee mug, breathing a deep sigh of gratitude.  This. This is what I love to do. 7:22. Wow!

Happily, I recognized Jodee's face in a sea of people. We talked a bit before I began to freeze. I walked back to my cabin and changed, heading back to the race finish. The rain began and then the downpours. I walked back to the cabin and changed again, staying in this time!

What a great race, a good effort and a beautiful course. Next year I'll try the 50 or 100. Why not?

Superior 50K

I last ran the Superior 50K in 2013!  I can’t believe that 6 years have passed. I then went on to run Superior 100 in September of 2014. I have not done any training or running on the Superior Hiking Trail since. I have volunteered by marking, sweeping and working the aid stations but no running or training. The SHT is like nothing else that I train on. 

I went up north early and spent a lot of time hiking the north shore.  Gooseberry Falls, Crosby Manitou,  Cascade River, Bally Creek, Grand Marais,  I had a blast.  I really enjoy time in the woods by myself.

Friday I made my way to Caribou Highlands. I had a great lodge room with a window seat overlooking the finish area. I could watch people mingle about for check in.  I walked over and picked up my bib, visited with friends, had a fun time.

Race day morning was cool but dry. 31F so I wore tights, long sleeve top, gloves and packed my windbreaker. I filled my pack with 60 oz of tailwind, gels and a few advil. I was hoping the rain that was forecast would hold off.

John started us off and away we went, running down the short asphalt stretch to the beauty of the trail. We were clustered up, 200 of us trying to find our place.  Climbing right away, navigating the rock and roots reminded me of what this portion of trail was like during a race. I had to slow down a bit, catch my breath, let others pass and collect myself.  I was finding my pace.

I came into Oberg Aid Station 7.5 miles at 1:40. I didn’t need  anything from the station, just the smiles and high fives. I ran through, thanking all of the volunteers. It felt good to run fast through the flat parking lot! 

The climbs were no longer taking a toll on me, I seemed to become more strong as I went along. I wasn’t having any pain, no tiredness or anxiety. I was pushing it as fast as I dared to push without tripping or getting hung up in the mud.  There was a lot of mud.  I found that I was holding back. I don’t quite have the confidence back to let loose on the trail and really run hard.

I came into the second aid station as hail began to pelt me. I couldn’t stop laughing. What else is one going to do? I had my wind breaker in my pack but didn’t feel like pulling it out.  I ran through the aid station, not needing anything, toward the turn around.

As I was climbing up the mountain I ran into Amy Clark, whom I’ve been running  with each Monday since December. It was so great to get a big huge smile and hug from her. She was coming down the mountain with her friend, Erin, whom I hadn’t met before. I felt a real boost as I continued to climb.

The turnaround was a blast, of course. Hail pounding all around me, festive volunteers offering twinkies  and fireball (no thanks). I had a few laughs and began my trek to the finish line.  3:36 to the half way mark. Could I finish in 715?

As I came into the next aid station I decided to fill my pack. More tailwind, emptied out my gel foils. I was ready to move. I spent less than 2 minutes getting ready.  As I left the aid station I noticed that the mud was pulling my sock down into my shoe. My sock was so heavy and wet that it wasn’t staying up on my ankle;  it kept falling down. Although I was wearing gaiters me  feet were still covered with mud and it was grinding between my shoe and ankle. This was  causing friction and pain. Dang. I didn’t want to stop to try to deal with this. How was I going to make it better? I didn’t have any other socks, I hadn’t packed any drop bags. I didn’t have anything to make this situation any better…so I just continued to run, hoping for the best but figuring a painful blister was forming. Hmm. A blister might keep me from my 4 and 5 h our runs Saturday and Sunday. I don’t want that. Hmm..well, keep running. I will buy longer socks in the future, that is for sure!  This rookie mistake caused negative space into my brain which I didn’t need. I began to ignore the growing blister and ran on.

As I came into Oberg I was still feeling so great.  I hadn’t had any lows , no crashes, I was steadily moving along. I cruised over Mystery and Moose mountain without any problem. My neuroma were quiet, I was so blessed. 

I thought about the Superior 100 in 4 short months  and then this thought gave me anxiety. Man, I need to begin to wrap my head around that race again.  I’ve finished 3 of the Superior 100’s, the last one in 2014. It was the muddiest of years and I almost quit at one point. I don’t believe that anything can be as difficult as that race was for me, which makes me feel OK about any other attempts.  Any other attempts just can’t be as difficult as 2014 was.

I realized that I didn’t think I’d ever run on this trail again. This is a rough trail and I was in no shape to run it just a short year ago. Now, here I was, sailing through, feeling like I could push it, yet afraid to. 

Afraid of what? Afraid that I might fall. Or that I might hurt myself. Afraid that I might become tired or low on energy. Um, afraid to stretch out of my comfort zone. So many fears that I can over come.

Before I knew it I was on the pavement, ready for the finish line. I felt a twinge of sorrow as I wasn’t quite ready to be finished with this grand adventure. I then ran around the pool, into the finish line. I was greeted by an explosion of clapping and yelling of my name, photos and hugs. It was amazing.

7:18 First Women's Grand Master. Almost an even split. 

A few days after the race and I am back to 100% I believe that soaking in a cold bath helped decrease the inflammation. I no longer binge post race on sugary items. Post race I eat as I do any other time.  I walked Sunday and Monday. Tuesday I ran for thirty minutes and today I’ll run for 45 minutes. I have back to back long runs this weekend. 4 hours Saturday and 5 hours Sunday. I’m working toward a 50 mile finish at Black Hills, where I ran the 50K last year. I’m getting there. I am back and I couldn’t be happier about that!

Black Hills 100 Mile Trail Run: 50K

Oh, what a delightful adventure!

Last Friday I decided I’d like to enter the Black Hills 100 – 50K option. I entered the 100 miler in 2013 but Troy ended up with a scheduled baseball tournament so I never attended. I was excited to go out and run the shorter option.  The race offers a 100M, 50M 50K and 30K.  Something for everyone!

I asked if Steve or either of the boys wanted to accompany me out west and no one was interested. I decided I’d go out solo. After entering last minute, as entries were closed on Friday, I looked for lodging. None of the motels had anything available so I figured I’d call Sturgis RV Campground-the host for the race. Online it showed all cabins were taken but I figured I’d give it a try. Sure enough, the woman who did the scheduling told me that someone who had made a reservation was now coming alone and had 5 beds open. I told her I was interested and she told me she’d check on it and get back to me. Bingo!  I received a text that I was welcome. Awesome.

Is it weird to travel to Sturgis by yourself and stay with people you don’t know? I didn’t ask myself that question for more than 30 seconds. I decided there was nothing weird with it at all.

I was on the road Friday morning by 4AM, heading west. My trip out to Sturgis was thankfully uneventful. I stopped at Chamberlain Rest Stop and was wowed by the new 50 foot statue erected.  I ate my lunch in her shadow. I was so wowed by her in fact that I stopped back on my way home to lunch with her again. Impressive.

Very impressive statue at Chamberlain SD, overlooking the Missouri River.

Eating my lunch at the rest stop.

I arrived to Sturgis quite early, checked in at the RV Campground and then walked over to packet pickup. There were not many people around, I  walked over to cabin 13. Nikki, who reserved the cabin, was not there yet so back to pick up I went and volunteered for a few hours. I had so much fun meeting new people-not a strength of mine-but something I am working on. When I went back to the cabin my room mates had arrived. Theresa was in the same boat as I and scored a bed from Nikki, too. These cabins are only $60 a night. They are clean, small, but nice and have 4 bunk beds plus a bed in the loft. Really incredible. I learned that they get $2000 a week during Rally week. Amazing.

Sturgis, SD. I wonder what is in the pink bags?



Race Headquarters



Nice cabin, plus a loft where Theresa slept.






Very clean $60 nightly cabin.

Nikki arrived and we all introduced ourselves and became acquainted.  We had a great time over the weekend and all agreed that coming together at the Black Hills races was not weird at all! I would certainly do this again.

On a side note: the cabin right next to us was filled with Minnesotan's!  Last week I ran at Elm Creek with Amy - who was entered in the 30K and Troy - who was crewing/pacing for Matt, Brian, Jeff and Brain, all running the 100 Mile. Super fun small world!

All of the race events were held near the campground, the bus was at a park .5 mile away where the finish line and after party were held. It was a great place to stay. I think we were all asleep by 830 as Theresa had a 300 wake up for the 50M and Nikki and would soon be following her.

It was so great to have a bus ride out to the start, then finishing .5 mile from the campground. We rode the bus out to Dalton Lake. It was  a bumpy hour long ride. I visited with a man from Spearfish who grew up in Sturgis. I learned about the economy of the area and how the motorcycle rally sustains the small town, he answered my many questions. 

I thought that the city gave off a weird vibe. Huge bars and restaurants, big campgrounds and grocery stores, many gas stations…that have very few people inside of them. I felt like I was in a ghost town. Most of the people were tourists visiting the Black Hills and race entrants. I didn’t see many people who actually lived and worked in Sturgis.

Entering the 50K (versus the 50M or 100M) gave me a sense of adventure and calm. I didn’t have to worry about drop bags being packed and strategically placed along the course. I wasn’t worried about becoming sore and exhausted. I wasn't worried about injuring myself as the last two 50K and training runs I've put in this spring have been delightful. I have run easy and effortlessly, not pushing myself at all...just grateful to be back out in the woods. I have the endurance down...I'm ready to begin working on speed. I was excited for a run that would be challenging given the elevation and altitude, yet beautiful. I was so excited to be running again.

We were dropped off at Dalton Lake trailhead and 90 minutes before we would begin. I watched some of the 100 milers run through and was again thankful I was running the 50K. They had battled a lot of hail, rain and mud out there the night before. Now the sun was out and the sky was blue.



Making our way to the start.

At 755 the RD came to herd us up and send us off. We ran out of the campground area and onto the trail-to walk over an elevated cattle guard. This promptly spread us all out as we took turns climbing over it. There would be many cattle guards along the Centennial Trail.

Right off the bat there was a big climb.  We’d climb 1000 feet in a short time. I would feel myself huffing and puffing, telling myself to take it easy.  I kept climbing. I was more concerned about running down, would my knees be screaming? Climbing feels better than the downhills these days.  I made it to the top, shot a few pics, sucked back a gel and let my breathing get under control. Oh it was so beautiful!  I was so grateful to be right exactly where I was.

I was able to do a lot of running in the next section before dropping down into Crooked Tree. The course was heavily wooded with beautiful pine trees and  the trail was covered with soft pine needles. Really amazing. As I began to descend the 1000 feet I just climbed I tried not to take mincy short steps and instead let myself fall into a downhill run. My knees felt good, my neuroma was quiet. I was a given a gift of splendor. I was so filled with gratitude.

I ran into the aid station, threw away my empty gels and got out of there. I know not to spend any more time than absolutely necessary in the aid stations. I was on my way. 

The next section was made up of short, steep climbs and downhills, not too grueling. This section was  abit muddy as the creeks were coming up next.  The scenery was amazing. I would stop and look up at the sheer cliffs surrounding me, then look down at the bright red mushrooms, at the crooked trees. I was so happy. I had a constant smile on my face.

I could hear rushing water, I knew that there was at least one crossing before the Elk Creek Aid Station at mile 13. A woman on the bus told me there were 5 crossings. I was quite certain she was mistaken. She wasn’t!

As I moved along with the creek I noticed that the trail seemed to disappear and drop into the water. There wasn’t a rope so I didn’t think this was the crossing I had heard about but I saw the Centennial Trail marker on the trees, surrounded by water. Hmmm…I guess I just go through this.  Yup. On the other side of the flooded trail was creek crossing 1. It was cold but felt so good!  It felt good to stand there, letting the cold water refresh my legs and remove all of the mud from my shoes. I wondered if I’d have to stop and fix my feet at the next aid station. Perhaps. 

Continuing on I crossed a total of 5 water crossings. The woman on the bus was correct. At the last crossing a photographer sat, clicking off a fun photo of me.

Another mile to the aid station, perfectly placed if one wanted to change shoes or socks after the water. I came into an area with my people spectating, assuming this was the aid station. As I walked around perplexed, looking for the drop bags, a person came running to me. I exclaimed ‘ oh, do you need my number’ then I realized it was Kevin Langton!  ‘No, I want a photo!’ Oops!  I didn’t recognize him all cleaned up and wearing shades!  We laughed, he took a few photos, promised he’d see me at the finish and I moved on.  He told me the aid station was another mile or so up the trail.  I decided not to work on my feet.  They felt really good and I was just pumped to move on.   I did grab a restock of Humma gels for my pack and refilled my bladder, grabbed a baggie of Advil/Aleve and headed on out to climb the next section.

Out of Elk Creek we climbed from 4300 to 5000. After that climb though was the most wonderful downhill section!  It wasn’t steep, it wound around and around, allowing for full stretch of legs and just running and running downhill. It was so great!  I don’t think I’ve ever felt so good running downhill before. The trail was soft with the rains the previous night and was covered with pine needles. I couldn’t contain my joy. I didn’t bring music along but I was singing at the top of my lungs. I didn’t see anyone in sight. What a thrill.  In looking at the elevation chart I see that we dropped from 5000  to 3300 feet. Wow, that’s awesome!!

As I was running through the pine forest I kept hearing this chhhhh chhchhchh chhhchh sound. I stopped numerous times trying to figure it out. It sounded like it was from the top of the trees. I thought perhaps woodpeckers? It was constant as I ran miles through the pine forest. I couldn’t see anything.

At Bulldog Aid Station I decided to have a couple cups of COKE. Oh my, caffeine and sugar..what a hit ! I then added in 2 Advil and felt like a million bucks. I filled my pack with water and buzzed out of there. Running full speed ahead, down into Alkali Creek Aid Station.

Kevin's photo

I didn’t need anything at Alkali. There were only 5 or so miles left of the race. I knew I was going to finish well within the 11 hours offered. I had a few gels left and my pack felt like there was plenty of water. I checked in and out and climbed up the trail.

The last section was a mix of meadow, woods and the city of Sturgis. I ran through the woods, climbed up through a meadow where a thunderstorm decided to let loose. I pulled a black garbage bag from my pack and placed it upon myself. I was climbing through a cow pasture, going from 3500 feet to 4391 feet in the middle of a thunderstorm, with no trees in sight. A mama cow with two calves mooed at me as I passed through. I was relieved when the storm clouds passed and the rain stopped.

1 mile left!  I hit the cement sidewalk for the final stretch. The cement felt awful. I ran on the grass next to it. As I was running along the parking lot to the park…Kevin jumps from his truck with a camera in hand. He snapped a photo as I ran past.

Kevin's photo

As I came across the finish line in 7:56 I exclaimed how beautiful the course was and what a wonderful day I had. There was a group of people next to me that didn’t feel the same way and let me know. I forget that sometimes I need to curtail my excitement.  I was so thrilled, so grateful, so amazed by this wonderful gift I was given: to be able run in a beautiful place. I am so grateful!! My body felt strong.

Nikki congratulated me, snapped my pic and told me that she was 1st woman, 3rd overall!  Her first ultra!! Amazing!!

I hung out at the finish line for hours, catching up with my friends, making new ones and cheering in the finishers. I've missed this so much.

Sunday morning I awoke early, we all packed up and I headed back for home sweet home.

Gratitude. Lots of gratitude.