Heartland

Badlands National Park

Published June 28, 2019

Kicked off June in Deadwood, ending in Sturgis. South Dakota bookends – with a HUGE Bighorn chapter in-between. Black Hills tomorrow will DOUBLE my lifetime ultra tally. Six 50k finishes in 6 months (with two late-year treks to go). Whole lotta trail, lotta new adventure.

2019 2^nd Half – back to Canada. Saskatchewan, Montreal and Yellowknife. Family RUN-cations booked in Iceland & Austria. 7^th continent reality over Thanksgiving break. Blessed life.

Friday puddle-jumper to Rapid City, half-day hike before shuteye.

Welcome to the Badlands. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Wind Cave, Custer State Park, even the Corn Palace. South Dakota three times – but never ever Badlands. ‘Til today.

Hour-half ride to Interior in a tricked-out F150. Nice ride. Boys & trucks.

Summer HEAT. Following 6 weeks of climate-change monsoons, even the Badlands was flower blooming. Ranger recommendation? Notch Trail. Rock walls, fields of YELLOW. Easy 2-mile hike & rope stairs UP. Allows ya to hike the canyon rim. FAAANNNNTASTIC! Sign me up!

Desert hike. Desert heat. And a view you’ll long remember ❤️

Badlands National Park – add to the list, HIGHLY recommended. WOW’d.

: Badlands WELCOME

: Ben Reifel Visitor Center

: Cliff Shelf Nature Trail

: desert OASIS

: Badlands BLOOM

: SNAKES 🐍

Notch Trail (Badlands Nat’l Park)

: RANGER recommend

: long way DOWN

: Notch Trail

: desert DAY HIKE

: rope ladder UP

: ‘the Notch’

: Canyon Rim trek

: view I’ll remember

: 93 degrees HOT

Badlands National Park

Posted in Heartland | Tagged hiking, nat'l-park, road-signs | Leave a comment

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!