Dances With Dirt Half Marathon Recap

Event: Dances With Dirt Half Marathon

Location: Baraboo, WI - Devils Lake State Park

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Dances With Dirt (DWD) puts on an overall great event. It's a trail race on a challenging course with stunning views. They offer the distances of 10k, half marathon, full marathon, 50k and 50 mile. After you finish the event you receive a medal, free beer and free drink ticket. 

Course: This is a trail race so not a place where you will be going to hit a big PR. The half marathon course consists of mostly dirt trails with a couple of spots where you are in grass trails in the meadow. It consists of dirt trails, some pavement and a part of grass trails that go through a meadow. It's mostly shaded except for the grass parts where the July sun is blazing down on you. The course was challenging. The trails were wide but still slightly technical. Roots, rocks and mud patches keep your mind engaged throughout the race. The first four consisted of few rolling hills with a major downhill through the campground. The downhill was on a paved road so you can really fly down the hill without the worry of a root or rock reaching up to grab you! I ended up clocking a 7:04 mile with that hill in there after hitting 7:40-7:50 for the beginning miles. After the campground you start your climb up to the bluff. It's about a mile of walking/jogging/power hiking/crying. It stays at a nice grade until you hit a really steep part mid way. Once you're past the steep part it goes back to a normal uphill. I clocked an 11:48 on that mile if that gives you an idea and I was doing my best to get up quickly without expending all my energy. Once you get to the top you have this amazing view of the lake before you make your way back down. The last half of the race is mostly downhill with some rolling hills and a couple of strategically placed short steep climbs right before you hit the finish. The half marathon was just about 13 miles so a little short.  

*Right before this was taken I slipped on one of the rock steps and landed on my butt as the camera guy was taking a picture. I looked up and was like, "did you get that??" He didn't...and normally I don't post copyrighted photos but it was a funny story*

Aid Stations: The half marathon course included 3 aid stations - mile 4.5, 6.8 and 9.9. They had water, coke and gatorade available and were perfectly spaced out. When I did the 50k last year I was very happy with the variety of food and hydration available as well as the placement of each of the stations. The volunteers are friendly and amazing and the race does an excellent job of organizing.

Race Swag: Included in your registration: dry fit technical t-shirt (gender specific!), finisher medal, food and beer ticket. The marathon and up get a nice finisher mug. Age group awards were bottle openers. I ended up bringing my own food and drink for after the race but I do know that the food and drink lines took about 30-40 minutes to go through both of them and the food offered included hot dogs, burgers, fruit and chips.

Organization: Organization is top notch for this event. The first year I did DWD I read the website and panicked that I would get lost on the trail or that it would be so difficult I wouldn't be able to finish. None of that was true. Parking was a breeze - they had volunteers directing traffic to parking spaces and it was just a short walk over to the start. Check in was quick and easy, especially if you printed your waiver ahead of time and were ready to go. The trail was very well marked but if you miss a turn or a sign you could easily get off track quite a ways (I've seen it happen!) You would be more likely to make a wrong turn if you are doing one of the longer distances.

Overall DWD puts on a good trail race full of spectacular views and a challenging course. The ultra events are very tough but well aided and well marked. The only downside of the event is the timing of the later runners in the longer distance as well as the 50 mile finishers. I saw a handful of 50 milers finish but people were starting to clear out of the event by then. I would imagine if it were your first 50 mile race, you would get to the finish and just be disappointed because nobody would be there to congratulate you or cheer you across the finish line. Kind of anti climatic. A few of the race distances also seemed to come in a little short as well but the website offers a full description of each course ahead of time so you shouldn't be too surprised. If you are staying overnight you better book a campsite very far ahead of time. The park is extremely busy and fills up fast so you might end up in a hotel or Air BnB if you have to travel. Not a PR course but a good place for a first technical trail run and a fun medal.

www.runwithcoachfischer.com