a race in Hell

Tomorrow is the Dances With Dirt ultramarathon and 100k team relay in Hell, MI. I’m a last second add for my friend Dave and his family’s team. What does this mean? Well here are some of the more interesting tidbits I’ve gathered:

- The relay consists of 15 legs and each team member (5 total) will run 3 legs.  “Legs are from 2.5 to 6.8 miles in length if you do not get lost.”

- From the brochure: We advertise DWD as a trail run with "Stupid Spots"; several of these legs are stupid runs with "Trail
Spots"…

- What is a stupid spot? Swamp crossing, river crossings, hills so steep you can’t run up or down them…but must either crawl up or slide down on your butt, forest running with no trail but overgrown brush and fallen trees.

- Some of the leg names: Purgatory, This Sucks, Stupid Lake, Vertigo, Buttslider, Styx River of Death.

- You can cheat and leave early from your leg if the day is getting late, but you have to scream “I’m a cheating bastard” as you take off.

My 3 legs:

Leg 3: Rave Run (Less)
2.5 miles, climb rating +230/-230, difficulty 1.3
Beginning and End are out and back so opposing runners present. A face to face meeting in blind turn could take an eye out. A beautiful trail run. Some say harder than advertised.

Leg 9: Bad Out of Hell
2.9 miles, climb rating +325/-331 difficulty 1.5
Get OUT of HELL fast. Intense Butt slider and rock wobbling on Settlers Grave for your enjoyment. 2011 is longer and improved with more hills, rocks and other nonsense.

Leg 12: Vertigo
6.75 miles, climb rating +643/-617, difficulty 3.4
Major Revision: this combines the first part of Where’s the F’ing Bridge and the latter part of Vertigo from years past. Now we’ll stay on Potto, head out onto a gravel road then rejoin the Vertigo we all know & love.
Nasty downhills that may give you vertigo. Portions of nice trail, road, and hill climb, off trail running and flat ending. Open area can be brutally hot. Oh, we also lost the head-high weeds near the end…

Total mileage 12.15. But I already know I am going to get lost once or twice…so I’m hoping I finish with less than 13 miles ran! I am so excited for this run!! I’ve never gone in to a race wanting to do nothing but the fastest time possible. Not the case tomorrow, I am going to have the most fun I have ever had running. I just know it. This is a race built for me! To Hell…