Deadwood-Mickelson Trail Marathon

Distances: marathon, half-marathon
http://www.deadwoodmickelsontrailmarathon.com/
This was an awesome race on a beautiful trail! This race is run on a section of rails-to-trails so expect a 4 or 5 foot wide, non-technical path. Racers are shuttled out to their respective starts and then run into downtown Deadwood. The website warns marathoners not to expect a PR because it is a trail race; the same does not hold true for the half-marathoners. The marathon climbs for about 13 miles to the start of the half-marathon and then it's downhill all the way to the finish. I did the half-marathon and was delighted by a downhill so gentle that it was almost imperceptible from just looking at it. Couple that with the hard-packed dirt surface and it was both easy on my knees and fast. I liked that they wrote your first name on your bib along with your race number- made me feel like an elite. If you are staying in Deadwood, this would be a good race to opt for the pre-race pasta feed as the restaurants in town are almost exclusively of the steak-and-potatoes-with-slot-machines-chiming-in-the-background variety. My only suggestion for the race directors would be to move the aid station near marathon mile marker 20 a bit further south. It was located on a 90 degree turn at the top of the course's one steep little downhill. It was really hard to both grab a drink and stretch your legs out a bit to take advantage of the downhill.