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Deadwood Mickelson Trail Marathon

Published June 2, 2019

UP with the sun, 50 State Day. Two lonely people remained in the casino downstairs – looks haggard/unkempt, appear they pulled an all-nighter. 5:15am. Trolley stop outside each downtown hotel. One destination: Days of ’76 Rodeo Grounds. Second string of buses lined the Rodeo.

Sunshine, morning chill. Huddled an hour outside a country church in Rochford. 8am marathon Start. Chatted it up with a group of Maniacs. Party center was a lively gal from Jersey. Roz. South Dakota her state 48, finishing this summer in the Nevadan desert (ET Midnight Marathon). Only running halves afterward – or so she said. Ya know runners & promises. Never say never.

Asphalt first mile-half, then single-filed onto Mickelson Trail. It’d widen-up soon after, more dirt road than country path. Elevation almost a thousand higher than home. Slow start. Hips/quads still achy/sore/trashed from last weekend’s Wyoming ultra/Bolder Boulder combo. Just a matter of working out the kinks. One foot in front of the other. Mentally on board. My day, my finish.

Shed layers at the next Aid Station. Double-layered, overdressed. Sun burned warm.

Antarctica flash. No penguins but same Florida ultra-runner on my left. Seth! Dude marathons 30+ annually, but here, this day in South Dakota? Great conversationalist – I found my pacer! Steady, even, guy never stops. Running 50+ MILES at Comrades in South Africa – in 6 days! Kismet. Right guy to tag this day. My golden 50 State finish. Perfect mix of chit-chat, quiet & NO walking.

Continued to push UP thru the Half. Long hill grinder mile 18, then downhill/flat remainder of the day. Ticking off the miles. I’d hang with Seth thru 25, Last Aid Station. Water, short heat break.

Finish, finish with a smile. And POSE. South Dakota LIFE memory ❤️

Sign HIGH & PROUD overhead, 50 States Round 2!

Deadwood Mickelson Trail Marathon

Congratulations on finishing the 2019 Deadwood Marathon!

NAME: K R Haga
OVERALL PLACE: 129

FINISH TIME: 4:49:05
HALF MARATHON SPLIT: 2:18:48

: downtown trolley

: 8am Start

: Rochford to Deadwood

: mine shaft diversion

: 50 State PACE

: steady, even chatter

: Dakota LIFE memory

: my day, my finish

: 50 States Round 2

: gas station pizza & chips

Posted in Heartland, Marathons/Ultras | Tagged urban-trail | Leave a comment

Deadwood Day

Published June 1, 2019

Lotta planning goes into completing a 50 State journey.

Work, home life, travel, weather, expense. Places you wanna see, times of year you wanna see ’em. Running all the continents, all of Canada (ok, maybe that’s just me). But – when down to your last dozen states, ya start thinkin’: Where am I gonna finish? Like picking a burial plot, kinda a big deal. My first Quest was super strategized/organized/planned. Since marathon 10, knew my journey would end in Colorado. No HOME TURF REPEAT – May’s Colfax medal was Colorado #18.

Fast forward 2019. South Dakota or Wyoming. Just two states left, west of the Mississippi. Seemed poetic to complete at Bighorn (after 2 fails). Then, Pistol (in March). Far too much (self-imposed) pressure to finish BIG at goal races. Finish, finish with a smile. Go there & enjoy the day. Still registered, flying to Sheridan, running mid-June but… taking the mental outta Bighorn this year.

CHOSE the Black Hills of South Dakota for my Round 2 finish.

Scenic, historic. Right time of year & only 5 hours from my Colorado front door.

Land of Wild Bill Hickok. Lived/breathed THREE WEEKS here, yet he’s Deadwood immortalized (gunned down, buried here). Statues, billboards, black-n-white museum pics, name of my downtown Hotel. Not your typical marathoner journey (casinos, booze, cigarettes). But…the Wild West it is.

Deadwood Mickelson Trail, a runner favourite. More folks race-registered than town residents. Will complete marathon ONE HUNDRED FIFTY tomorrow. Add to the list; it’s a good one.

3 highway hours Friday, sleeps in Lusk [Wyoming]. Chuck wagon omelette, minutes from the border. South Dakota: Great Faces, Great Places. Bib pick-up, hotel check-in – all business done – 1pm ticket, Boot Hill bus tour (cash only please). Wild West stories. Gold claims, poker cheats, saloon girls, a U.S. President & the death of Wild Bill Hickok. Railroad Museum, Adams Museum, Days of ’76 Museum, a shootout on Main Street. Pre-race HISTORY NERD holiday, LOVE LOVED! Deadwood Social Club for dinner ❤️

5:30am, look for the trolley. 50 State road ends in Deadwood. SOUTH DAKOTA!

: Land of Hickok

: Boot Hill Tour

: Wild Bill & Calamity Jane

: Adams Museum

: Great Faces, Great Places

: HISTORY NERD holiday

: Native Lakota treasure

: Black Hills’ first locomotive

: local Plesiosaur DIG

: downtown Deadwood

: gold claims & poker cheats

: Main Street shootout

: 50 State road ends HERE

: 5:30 Start tomorrow

Deadwood Day

Posted in Heartland | Tagged cemeteries, museo, native-american, trains | Leave a comment

50 State 2: last Dozen #tbt

Published May 30, 2019

South Dakota finish in sight, only days away – reflecting on how thankful I am. Mile on mile, my feet have landed all 50 states. Point Judith lighthouse in Narragansett, earth-erupting lava on Hawaii’s Big Island. Lincoln Memorial in DC, Lincoln Monument in Wyoming. The extremely cold: Grand Rapids early-February. The super HOT: Iowa in mid-July. Trail, city road, ultras, RAIN. Whatta crazy ride, super blessed.

Fave of Round 2: Marine Corp, the Peoples Marathon. From the Pentagon Building, past the U.S. Capitol, by red-brick Smithsonian Castle, Jefferson Memorial across the Potomac. Time moment I’ll never forget.

Close 2^nd? Twin Cities in Minneapolis-St Paul. Planes, trains, great hotels. Land of 10,000 Lakes & professional sports arenas (NHL NFL NBA MLB). I always run well in Minnesota. Viking SKOL finish.

Bismarck NORTH DAKOTA – America’s Midwest, our friendliest folks. Cape Elizabeth lighthouse in Portland MAINE. New England postcard. (Both Portlands tagged this 50, raced Oregon last October.)

Boardwalk marathon’d in Atlantic City. Lapped Nashville’s football stadium EIGHT times with Sis.

Meridian MISSISSIPPI & Falls of Rough KENTUCKY. The journey was ‘the journey’. Long rental car drives from neighboring Alabama/Tennessee airports. River crossing slip in Kentucky, my first baptismal run. Full head-under-water submersion. Anthony from North Georgia – dude, you’ve inspired me to run 100.

Kiawah Island SOUTH CAROLINA – land of putting greens, palm trees & Old South money. Eau Claire WISCONSIN – super GREEN, double-digit bridge count & my fave USA accent. long loud MOO!

3 state do-overs. Carmel INDIANA (Huff DNF 2017, snowy C-O-L-D). Laramie WYOMING (Cheyenne DNS 2018, race day FEVER). Frisco Railroad Run, MISSOURI (Run the Ranch miss, early flight home/Pup injured/hospitalized).

It all began as a New Year’s Resolution 2013. Six continents & 149 marathons later, I’m the Forrest Gump of my Colorado hometown. From sea to shining sun, U–S–A PROUD 🇺🇸 – absolute NOWHERE better. 50 States, Round 3? Never say never 😉

#	State	Marathon	City	Date	Time	Bib #
128	ND	Bismarck Marathon	Bismarck	9/15/2018	4:54.56	232
129	ME	Maine Marathon	Portland	9/30/2018	5:23.52	142
130	MN	Twin Cities Marathon	Minneapolis/St Paul	10/7/2018	4:20.39	5191
132	NJ	Atlantic City Marathon	Atlantic City	10/21/2018	4:13.19	1237
133	VA	Marine Corps Marathon	Arlington	10/28/2018	4:35.16	15357
135	TN	Nashville Marathon	Nashville	11/10/2018	4:36.42	281
136	MS	Magnolia Marathon	Meridian	11/17/2018	4:15.05	30
137	KY	Falls 100 Trail Marathon	Falls of Rough	12/1/2018	6:09.03	17
138	SC	Kiawah Island Marathon	Kiawah Island	12/8/2018	4:22.35	4680
143	IN	Carmel Marathon	Carmel	3/30/2019	4:43.21	1747
145	MO	Frisco Railroad 50K	Willard	4/27/2019	6:55.42	29
146	WI	Eau Claire Marathon	Eau Claire	5/5/2019	4:50.37	1177
149	WY	Rocky Mountain 50K	Laramie	5/26/2019	6:52.47	141