By Journal staff

October 31, 2007

RAPID CITY – The Black Hills, Badlands & Lakes Association presented four awards at its recent annual meeting and luncheon. The group inducted three people into the Black Hills Tourism Pioneers Hall of Fame. It also honored the Black Hills’ most recognized marathon man.

The inductees are photographer Bill Groethe of Rapid City and explorers Jan Conn and Herb Conn, Custer. Their names will be added to a plaque at the Black Hills Visitor Information Center, which cites other “Pioneers” who have made outstanding contributions to the development of tourism in western South Dakota and whose visions and labors have helped shape the destiny of South Dakota’s visitor industry.

Jerry Dunn, organizer of the Deadwood-Mickelson Trail Marathon, was the winner of the Black Hills, Badlands & Lakes Association’s 2007 Special Achievement Award. The award is given annually to recognize the efforts and achievements made in the tourism industry.

Here are their biographies:

Bill Groethe bought his first camera and started taking pictures at the age of 7, when other children his age were playing marbles.

He now has more than 10,000 images of the Black Hills and Badlands to his credit, many of which have been published in several books and national publications. His work hangs in museums and galleries throughout the United States.

Groethe apprenticed at the age of 12 at Bell Studio under the tutelage of well-known photographer Burt Bell. He was later hired full time and began taking professional photographs at the age of 16. “That’s been my whole life. That’s all I’ve done is photography,” the 83-year-old said.

His collection, dating back to 1927, spans more than 70 years and documents the carving at Mount Rushmore. Groethe hung precariously from George Washington’s face to photograph Gutzon Borglum as he carved Abe Lincoln’s likeness. He was there when Korczak Ziolkowski arrived in the Black Hills to carve a mountain, and Grothe recorded the first blasts at Crazy Horse. He is the only person to capture the last nine survivors of the Battle of the Little Bighorn on film in 1948.

Groethe and his wife, Alice, have been in the wholesale and retail photo-finishing business since 1945. They own and operate First Photo, 1839 West Main, in Rapid City.

Herb and Jan Conn have logged countless rock-climbing journeys and cave explorations over the years, and their names have been associated with the two sports ever since.

The couple first arrived in South Dakota in 1946 from the East Coast while on a cross-country rock-climbing road trip. They fell in love with the Black Hills and were drawn to the challenge of the Needles’ cathedral spires.

As they discovered more and more climbs, they invited friends from back East to join them, which led to an influx of climbers as word spread about the climbing opportunities here. Some say they started the rock-climbing craze in the Black Hills.

By 1961, they had discovered and named more than 200 climbing routes. Jan Conn is the first woman ever to free-climb Devils Tower.

Jerry Dunn was not at the meeting to accept his award. He was promoting his events and the Black Hills at the Marine Corps Marathon Expo in Washington, D.C.

When he planned the first Deadwood-Mickelson Trail Marathon in 2002, he was thrilled to get 70 runners. Now, it has 1,700 participants. His goal is 4,000 runners.

According to figures from state officials, his races have contributed $5.5 million to the state’s economy since 2002.

The marathon is now the largest non-school-related running event in South Dakota.

Despite the success of the Deadwood-Mickelson Trail Marathon and his new 100-mile Lean Horse Ultra Marathon in Hot Springs, Dunn credits the volunteers, business sponsors, chambers and participants for the success of the events.

“I feel like I was handed the opportunity, and it was meant to be,”the 61-year-old Spearfish man said. “I knew the industry and was able to provide runners what they wanted, plus a little more. I was able to offer them one of most beautiful places in the world to run: on the Mickelson Trail.”

from the Runner’s World 2004 Marathon Calendar

“No one’s heard about this one. It’s only 3 years old, and runs along an old railroad bed through the Black Hills of South Dakota. You get bussed out to the start in Rochford, population about 25, a tiny old Western town. The course goes through meadows, forest, an old tunnel cut through the mountains, and across 30 bridges.”

presented by Elaine Doll-Dunn

An eagerly awaited arrival at our house is the Running Times, a top-notch running magazine replete with great articles, timely training tips, race schedules, and recent race results. But what do I look for first? The editorial message from runner/editor Jonathan Beverly. A lyrical writer, his picturesque prose enlightens and brightens the page… a seductive lead-in to the literary offerings of this captivating magazine.

Succinct quotes borrowed from Jonathan grace the pages of my own book.

Examples:

“Only humans will risk our lives solely for the sake of risking them, to prove to ourselves and others that we can and will.”

“The marathon presents itself as such an inspiration, for unlike life, it is both

simple and grand.”

Or this; “The setting at the base of a fjord was painfully beautiful – it caused an ache deep in my chest, maybe because I’d catch myself not breathing.” (Thoughts as he ran the Midnight Sun marathon in Tromso, Norway.)

Editor in Chief of Running Times, Jonathan Beverly recently turned 40 and will be in South Dakota competing in the Deadwood Mickelson Trail Marathon to test himself against time, terrain, and tenacity. Following is his response to my quest for information; I can’t but share it just as he wrote it. I invite you to run with Jonathan; it’s a joyful journey. – Elaine Doll-Dunn

I chose Deadwood as my first masters marathon for several reasons: 1) I live in western Nebraska now (since fall 2001), on the Colorado border: 10 miles from town, 4 miles from a paved road. All my training is on dirt roads and trails — this means that it would not only be very difficult to train well for a road marathon, but I have little interest in doing so. I moved from New York City to reconnect with the natural world I knew as a youth growing up in rural Maine, and to let my son know that world. The Mickelson trail appealed to me as an appropriate setting for a place that I can run well AND enjoy the beauty of the west. Pictures from the trail remind me of Acadia National Park’s carriage trails– to date the best running venue I’ve ever discovered.

Turning 40 has given me the motivation (and my son turning 3 has given me the time) to train near the level I did in the mid 1990’s when I ran a 2:49 (1997 Jersey Shore – 4th place) and a 2:46 (1998 Pittsburgh). Seeing the course record at 2:52 inspired me to set that as my “ideal” goal, although I will be thrilled to run under 3 hours again — something I haven’t done since Boston 2000, the week before I took over as editor of Running Times.

The marathon isn’t 26.2 miles long — it covers thousands of miles over the course of months and years. This one started in spring 2002, soon after we moved into our house that we spent 6 months renovating after we moved to NE. I started training for the November 2002 NYCM, and rebuilt a base that had all but disappeared with the demands of the job, the birth of our son (4/4/01) and the house renovations. As it turns out, I aimed too high in that race, and the cement of the city defeated me after months of training on trails, but the training base carried on. In April 2003 I ran my first trail marathon — the Rockin’ K in central Kansas, which is REAL trails — up and down canyons, through sand, multiple stream crossings, rocky escarpment climbs… Oh, and more than a mile too long, just for fun. I finished 2nd, a real confidence booster, although I couldn’t compare my time to anything I’d run before.

Summer 2003 I was supposed to be training for the Maui marathon, but was lethargic and achy all the time… eventually discovering I likely had West Nile Virus. I ran Maui anyway, taking it really easy, and just missed a Boston qualifying time with a 3:23. Soon after, I set Deadwood as my goal to be back in real shape, and started putting on steady miles — 40-60/week. I had hoped to build to 70/week during the winter, but found that I couldn’t do that and keep up with work, community (helping coach the local high school team), and the level of involvement with my family that I wished, and do this (as much because of the mental energy it takes, and the residual fatigue, as the actual running time), so I made peace with the 40-60/week, which is still the level I was running when I ran near 2:50 (2:52 and 2:51 in 1995).

Editorial commitments took me to Houston in January, and I was pleasantly surprised to run under my “ideal” goal of 3:10, finishing in 3:08 with an “easy” effort. This spring has seen me able to put in nearly all of my goal distance and workouts (I do speed work with the high school track team, which keeps me both young and motivated). As is often the case, the better shape I get, and the more runs, the more important they become and the less important the marathon goals become (not that I don’t still obsess over those, calculating paces and “equivalents” from tune up race, worrying about details like pace adjustments for the slope of the course, what shoes to wear, what gel to carry, what to eat the morning of the race… practicing fast downhill running on fatigued legs…on and on).

But, regardless of what happens on June 6, I’ll still have, for example, the Sunday morning long run a couple weeks ago. I started at 4:15 a.m., my headlamp supplementing the light from the setting moon as I headed west the first mile on the narrow county dirt road. Turning north into a headwind, I passed our nearest neighbors houses (1.5 miles, 3 miles and 4 miles), waking their dogs but seeing no lights — and feeling the moral superiority of being out and active while others sleep. The light was beginning to grow after 5 miles, and several horses appeared out of the gloom in the pasture on the right to run along side me for half a mile. By the time I reached the county line, 10 miles from home, the sun had just peaked over the sand hills to the east. I headed toward them along the rolling county line road, picking up the pace to make it home by my promised 7:00 a.m. — I always tend to underestimate the slower pace of night time running. When I reached the turn onto the trail road heading back home — 8 miles of single track, with 1 mile of open prairie between trail roads and at least four fence crossings — I had one hour left. With the sun rising to the left, painting the early morning sky orange and silhouetting the windmills on the sand hills, coyotes calling, and my legs clicking, I flew home. At 4.5 miles to go I had 30 minutes, and my legs were tiring. I told myself to relax, forget about time… at worst I’d be 5 minutes “late.” My legs sped up. Jumping the last fence and rounding the last windmill, I arrived at the top of the hill looking down at our house and barn 1 mile away — with still 8 minutes to spare. I told myself to run marathon pace for the steep half mile downhill: my watch read 2:55 when I clicked it and slowed down for the final, celebratory half mile.

Or, the Wednesday afternoon speed workout, doing miles on the track, where I ran away from all 16 year olds, feeling 16 myself as I rounded the all-weather track, my legs remembering and taking my mind back to similar workouts on the cinder oval on the hill above the high school in Bucksport, Maine.

So, I’m really looking forward to the run in June. Yes, it will be a race — a test of fitness and endurance. But more, it will be a celebration of six months, make that two years, of discipline, growing strength, strong, joyful runs, and youthful strength, even at 40.

Well, I wrote more than I intended. Thanks for asking, Jonathan.

by Darrin Eismann

from an article in Rocky Mountain Sports

Head for the Hills

The Black Hills, that is. Just a six-hour drive from Denver, the Black Hills offer spectacular scenery, as well as loads of attractions for the whole family.

For racing, I would recommend the Deadwood Mickelson Trail Marathon and Half-Marathon. These events are scheduled for June 6, 2004, and summer is the best time of year to visit South Dakota.

The course starts and finishes with a couple of paved miles, but the heart of the course follows the gently rolling Mickelson Trail, an abandoned railroad line that was converted into a recreational trail in the 1990s.

Last year’s event saw 450 finishers, evenly split between the marathon and the half-marathon, cross the finish line on Main Street in the old west town of Deadwood.

While you’re there, be sure to have some non-running fun by visiting Devil’s Tower, made famous in the Steven Spielberg film “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”, the Crazy Horse Monument or Mt. Rushmore.

For the more adventurous, take a tour of Wind Cave National Park, which starts out with a 300-foot descent via elevator to the heart of the cave.

Then there are the Badlands—a bizarre-looking landscape sculpted by the rain and wind. Any of the hikes in this National Park will soon leave you feeling like you’re on the moon. And on your way to the Badlands, be sure to stop for a visit at Wall Drug. This roadside attraction could only be found in America.

Taken from an article in The Black Hills Pioneer

July 16, 2005

The Deadwood Mickelson Trail Marathon donated the proceeds from its new Mickelson Fast 5K Run and its Kid’s Wonderful 1K Run to a fund created by the Black Hills Running Club in Rapid City. Together they contributed $650 which was enough to send four young people to the Eighth Annual Black Hills Kids’ Running Camp. Lean Horse Productions Inc., producer of the Marathon weekend every June, and the Black Hills Running Club, involved in local running on a year-round basis, will continue to support the Black Hills Running Camp for Kids because “we believe in what these coaches and parents are doing for the youth of the Black Hills.”

In photo, front row, L-R, Jerry Dunn, Cody Ertman of lead and Kamber Cronser of Sturgis. Back row, L-R, Tosha Wilburn, Terrin Black, both of Sturgis.

Taken from an article in The Black Hills Pioneer

July 7, 2005

Jerry Dunn of Lean Horse Productions Inc. presents a check for $2,700 to Shannon Percy of the South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks on behalf of the Deadwood Mickelson Trail Marathon. Dunn and his staff contribute much of the success of the marathon and half marathon to the fact that it occurs on the Mickelson Trail. “Our mission from the beginning has been to bring the ‘running tourist’ to the Hills, and specifically to the Mickelson Trail and this year, thanks to the great word of mouth advertising by past participants, we were able to bring 1,300 runners and another 1,500 family members and friends to the Mickelson Trail,” Dunn Said. Lean Horse Productions would also like to thank Scheel’s AllSport; Premier Bank; Coca Cola; the City of Deadwood; and the Deadwood Chamber of Commerce for making the event possible.

Taken from an article in The Black Hills Pioneer

July 2, 2005

Sometime early in 2005, Deadwood Mickelson Trail Marathon and Half Marathon event director Jerry Dunn contacted Kerri Severson Stover, fair weathered runner and Executive Director of Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Black Hills to form a new partnership.

The timing couldn’t have been better. Dunn needed volunteers for his upcoming events and BBBS needed activities for its matches between volunteer mentors and children ages 11 and up.

The two formed an alliance which they believe was a great move for both organizations.

According to Stover, the volunteer opportunities allowed BBBS to offer something unique to their clients and the chance to work together at a great event while providing a service to others.

Several BBBS matches worked in various capacities at the DMTM events this past June and plans are already being made to help out again in 2006.

Jerry Dunn presented Kerri Severson Stover of BBBS with a check for $150 to support the BBBS mentoring programs and as a thank you to the Bigs and Littles who volunteered their time to help with the event.

M. Michael Rounds, Governor

June 15, 2005

Dear Jerry:

I want to thank you and your staff for all you did to make the 2005 Deadwood Mickelson Trail Marathon and Half Marathon such a huge success.

Your generous contribution of the free entry fee for state employees was greatly appreciated by the many state employees who took advantage of it. State employee participation was well over what any of us expected. Solve achieved goals they would never have tried had it not been for your offer; the accomplishment was very rewarding for them. I continue to hear from employees grateful for the opportunity to participate.

Again, I would like to thank you for your contribution to all the state employees who challenged themselves to reach the finish line.

Sincerely,

M. Michael Rounds

June 6 – Deadwood Mickelson Trail Marathon

0ne of the best aspects of running is that it doesn’t require a special location or terrain. Unlike sports like skiing, climbing, surfing or diving we don’t have to wait to participate until we have vacation time and sufficient funds to travel to an appropriate location. Nevertheless, some places do make for better running – so much better they would be worth making a special trip.

Imagine designing the perfect running a venue: It would be a trail closed to motor vehicles, of course with a surface soft enough to be forgiving on joints, but smooth and wide enough to be able to glide along comfortably, looking up at the scenery, not down at every next step. For that scenery, what if we provided dense forests of ponderosa pines interspersed with rolling mountain meadows to provide long views, a few aspen groves with bright white trunks and rustling leaves, and trail side beds of blue and yellow wildflowers? The trail could run alongside a rocky stream occasionally crossing it on narrow wooden bridges descend into deep, shaded canyons, and end on the edge of a historic tourist town.

If we were designing the perfect running venue one version would certainly look a bet like the George S. Mickelson Trail in the Black Hills of South Dakota. A rails-to-trails conversion, the crushed limestone path winds 114 miles from Edgemont to Deadwood, passing through miles of national forest land and over rolling hills. And what better way to see a large portion of the trail than to run a marathon on its last 25 miles, finishing on the cobbled main street of Deadwood?

After the completion of the Mickelson Trail in 1998, local runners began saying “we ought to have a marathon here.” Terry Smith, a local ultra runner and director of the Centennial Trail 100, took up the idea in early 2002 but before the first one came off, handed it to Jerry Dunn, who has run with it long and hard, as is his style. Dunn is known as “America’s Marathon Man,” for his “marathon of marathons” when he ran Boston on 26 consecutive days, culminating in the 100th Boston, and his record of running 200 certified marathons in 2000. The race has grown from 77 finishers in 2002 to 1,053 from 48 states and provinces in 2004.

The course profile – climbing gradually for 13 miles then descending for the rest of the run – makes it look fast, but “It’s not a PR race by any means,” warns 2004 winner Scott Walschlager from Sioux Falls, SD. The Black Hills may not get as much respect as their towering cousins just to the west, but the mile-high altitude (topping 6,200 feet) makes running fast considerably more difficult.

You don’t, however, do a trail marathon for a PR, and despite the smooth surface, this is a trail marathon. “I think the silence and serenity of the trail offers something that we don’t get at the bigger races,” says Walschlager “and besides, [in] how many marathons will a deer run right in front of you and jump a fence?”

Braley also of Sioux Falls, has run the race each of its three years, winning the first one. “It is the most scenic one I have ever run,” he says. He and his family camp each time they come west. “It’s great camping out here,” he reports. “No bugs, cool nights.”

In the 2004 edition, we added 90-plus degree heat to the difficulty – the highest temps for this time of year since 1952, reports Dunn. In contrast, there was snow at the higher elevations in 2003. For some, like Jim Bitgood of Laurel, MD, the beauty was so distracting, he reports, “I didn’t realize it was so hot until I got into town… running in the woods is just cooler. Or just ‘cool’”

For others, like 2003 winner Robert Ellerbruch, the heat was debilitating: he was reduced to a walk, and finished 25 minutes slower than last year.

As for me, I too suffered. Yet, thinking of the race, the most powerful memories that come to mind are of the quiet beauty of running alone through woods. Jonathan Beverly

by Terry Simmering

Tell me I didn’t just run the most scenic marathon I have ever had the luck of running! On a scale of 1 to 10, this is a 10. It was great that the weather cooperated to bring extra punch to the experience. Bright sunny skies dominated the sky for the whole time we were out there, thus giving added beauty to the already majestic views of Mother Nature.

The day before the race we spent catching up on sleep from the 15-hour drive to Kay’s Mom’s ranch in the Hill City, SD., about 30 minutes from the start of the race. During our resting day and catching up on family gabble, it began to snow huge white snowflakes about two in the afternoon. What a sight that was! We began to consider that our long legged running pants back home was something that should have been tossed in the luggage.

Sunday morning we headed out for the start, Kay’s Mom drove us to the start and she would be at the end to bring us home. What a great Mom. The temperature at the starting point was somewhere in the low forties. We both donned our plastic trash liner to help stay warm while waiting for the start, and cotton gloves were a welcome that we just happened to have with us. The town that we started in had three – maybe ten buildings total – very small. We also saw some of the 50 & DC people that we had met while running our “double marathon” last year. Kay and I started out together and we stayed that way for about the first three miles, then the groups and packs began to thin out as the elevation began its rise into the mountains. This course would begin going up and supposedly, take about a 3 percent uphill grade to the 12.5-mile mark before turning downhill at about the same drop. I kept my bag on until the race started and then destroyed it while ripping it off; it was going to get warm very soon.

The Deadwood-Mickelson Trail Marathon is run on a “rails-to-trails” conversion project. The stone that is laid on this trail is much finer than the stone found on the Katy. I began getting little pebbles in my shoes before getting three miles out. I had already thought this would be a problem and I think I was overly concerned about the harm the stones would cause to my feet. It wasn’t long before we came upon a tunnel cut through a hillside that I sighted a bench at the entry of the tunnel, this is were I sat while pulling off my shoes and unloading the pebbles (tick-tock, tick-tock). I would stop twice more to empty small pebbles. Oh well, not PR possibilities today, the elevation alone is giving memories of Wyoming’s run from last year. The elevation in St. Charles is about 600 ft? Here at the start it is 5250 ft., rising to 6200 at midway then back down to 4400 at the finish in Deadwood. (portable oxygen highly recommended). The temperature began to rise to a very nice 50 something until nearing the halfway point where two things happened; the temperature began to drop again (sharply) and remember the snow from Saturday, it was still on the ground near the upper ridge as we ran through that section.

From this point forward the scenery would greatly intensify and the course gave us some very interesting nature settings. No roads could be seen or heard during this last half of the run, only the sound of the breeze making the leaves rustle or the noises of birds, antelope or foxes would occasionally drift across the air. If you never got out of your car to hike over the two ridges to get here, you would never see this part of the county; it was truly beautiful. This section was where the movie, “Dances with Wolves” was filmed. This was a very quiet marathon, just the sound of nature, very few people talked.

The time seemed to go by very fast during this race. I even noted this during the run, I thought, “How could this be the halfway point? I feel like I have only been running for a short while, when will I get tired? The scenery does keep you mentally alert and cheerful. To prove to myself that time was going by I had reached halfway at a time of 2:06. I was a little shocked by this slow of a time, but then again with the elevation and the incline I realized my error. Now, down the other side of the ridge the course did have a muddy section that was also still icy and it made for a slow transition through a technical section. The drop was so sharp that my toes were banging into the shoes. No fast running through this section.

I remember how one section changes so fast that my head was spinning. This happened when I was running along a trail that had hundreds of aspen trees with bright white bark lining both sides of the trail and then while turning a tight corner the entire mountain side opened up with a view that had no ceiling now and a huge majestic rock formation right out of the western movies! Now I wish I had brought a camera! Other similar views just as majestic kept my run very upbeat the entire time. This was one fantastic marathon. You can’t always run a marathon just to try to improve your time; you actually have more fun by enjoying the scenery along the way (but you knew that).

Some of this trail had great bridges that crossed over running mountain streams and one bridge in particular was well over 300 feet long. When the course began to reach the twenty plus mile markers I wished that I could continue right on past the finish line and I would keep on going until the views had run out. But! Soon enough, my mental state lost the argument to my legs that started wearing out and some lactic acid seized the quads to say, “How does that feel?” I was near the 20-mile mark that I (unfortunately) looked at my watch and tried to imagine beating the four-hour mark of the clock. You know how you think you can figure out this math stuff towards the end of a marathon and you realize the brain never turned on? I went through three mile markers first convinced I could do it if I picked up the pace just a little and then back to thinking, NO stupid, that has no way of happening, and back again to well… maybe I can? Yep, that’s what I did. And the fact that the 22-mile marker was missing really got me goofed up. As I came upon the 23-mile marker I said to myself, “If this marker says 22, I’m going to lose it!” (Funny how I decide to think negative about now, huh?)

Sliding into the town of Deadwood should have been better, but after spending all that time on a great trail and being ushered onto a brick main street of high temp heat of 70 plus was no fun for the last mile. While running by a railroad car in town there stood Calamity Jane (young girl punk actually, or maybe a Disney reject- {just kidding}) with a leather whip. She snapped the whip and said, “my Grandma’s up ahead IF you think you can catch her”. So sorry, at this point I just can’t press a smile from this face. But thanks for trying; maybe these people should have been at the halfway point. I came across the finish line at 3:57 Oh boy, I did a negative split. I don’t think I missed too much of the scenery due to my increased pace the last portion. I will be going back to ride this trail next spring, I want to ride it on my mountain bike and stop often along the way to really get better views and appreciation of this part of South Dakota. This is one great marathon. Honest.

Club Challenge

I’ve decided to challenge anyone from the club for the fastest time on this course. I would regret that someone would run this race and not stop to enjoy the scenery, but maybe being able to do both is the key. So, I think nobody on this club can beat my time. Prove me wrong. I dare you. If Bert or Bruce do not run this marathon very soon I will have to disown them.

Terry Simmering

St. Charles, MO YMCA Running Club