August 14th 2010

It was a perfect start to the day. 35 degrees, clear. It’s pure mayhem at the start. I think there were about 1300 racers give or take. I self-seeded myself about 80% of the way to the back. It took a couple of minutes after the shotgun start for us to start moving. The race starts out fast for the first 15 minutes or so. Mostly pavement and downhill. Elbow to elbow (We’ve got a video of the start which I’ll post later either here or on YouTube). I rode as hard as I realistically could for the first hour – it was congested and the pace was pretty fast until the first climb. Many people started walking. I rode up though walkers as far as I could until I was forced to walk. It was a cool and very fast decent on a paved road. Then it’s up again to Sugarloaf peak – another 1000 ft. climb or so. Logging road, switch backs. The whole time I’m climbing my heart rate is 160ish. I’m in granny gear and pedaling at a smooth, high cadence. After Sugarload you descend the fast Powerline section. It’s fun and fast. One rider was down waiting for medical help. I later heard he ended up being helivac’d to Denver. Over the course of the day, I passed a total of 3 down riders. Riders that weren’t moving and were surrounded by gawkers waiting for help. There was no section that was “technical” – riders were just pushing themselves and going fast and, well, I know too well that’s quite possible to wreck on “non-technical” trail.

Once you pass the 2nd climb, it’s a fast section of the course for the next 15 miles or so over paved road and dirt roads – through what’s called the Pipeline. It’s mostly flat or downhill with a few short steep climbs. I’m still at 160ish heartrate with the occasion 150 or 170. I’m pedaling hard and drafting as much as possible. I can tell from my watch that it’s gonna be very close for me to hit the first cutoff at Twin Lakes at 4 hrs. Brigitte and the kids are waiting for me as I approach the aid station. We had a plan for me to re-fuel here with them but I had to blast past them with a wave. I made the cutoff by less than 5 minutes. Whew!

Some kind souls re-fueled me with H20 and a granola bar (I was too far past the aid station by the time I get to the cutoff point to go back – you’d think they’d set this up a bit more logically). I then began the 10 mile, 3000 ft. climb up Columbine. The first 2 miles or so is fast dirt road through sagebrush flats with a steep hill or two.  By this point the leaders are on their way down and pass me. I recognize Dave Weins from last year’s movie, but the rest of the guys I don’t recognize. They are going fast. The majority of the climb up to Columbine is on a smooth logging road with lots of switchbacks. I knew that I needed to hit the top at about 6 to 6.5 hours total to have a chance to get home in 12 hours. At about 2 miles to the top, the road gets very steep in sections and very rocky. Everybody around me at this point is walking. The crowd has spread out and it’s mostly a single file line to the top. You can see the top 2 miles ahead and everyone is walking their bikes. My breathing is laboredas we approach 12,500 ft – even when walking my bike – 165-170 bpm. I put my head down and take one labored step at a time. I hit the top at 6 hr. 45 min. I know the odds of breaking 12 hours are against me. But, I’ve gone as fast I could possible go. There was no extra in the tank. No reserves. I hauled ass downhill after chugging some coke and pretzels. I think I made it down in about 50 minutes – only 25 minutes slower than Levi et al.

I made the 8 hour cutoff with 25 minutes to spare. But, the next cutoff point at Pipeline was 1 hr. 25 minutes to go and it was mostly uphill this time around. I had made it in 1 hour downhill on the first half of the course. I put my head down and started climbing the hills. First pavement, then dirt road, then single track. By this point its pretty warm. I’m sweating a lot for me. It’s maybe 70-75 I’m guessing with a pretty good headwind. I had about 10 minutes to go to the 9 hr. cutoff when I hit the fast flat Pipeline section. I think was about 5 miles to go. There were 3 of us riding together and we didn’t speak to one another at all. We knew what the deal was. It was an all out race to the cutoff point. My heartrate is maxed out at 174+ the whole way. I looked down at my watch and saw the 9 hr. point come and go and the aid station/cutoff point was no where in sight. Finally, I begin to see people on the trail. Then the aid station. One dude said, “Valiant effort bro”. I knew they were gonna pull me. The race officials were standing in the dirt road at the aid station. The one lady hugged me and said “Sorry”. She cut my medical bracelet off and took my timing chip. I said, “it was an awesome day and I gave it my all and have no regrets.”

If I had made the cutoff at 9 hours/72 miles, my plan was to stop, fuel up well on food/bev, and then hopefully hit the road again having recovered a bit. Having been pulled, I skipped the aid station and starting pedaling the 10 miles back to camp. I had a cell phone at our camp and I could call Brigitte and let her know I was done. Surprisingly, they were waiting about 2 miles down the road and were cheering me on. I told them the news and I thought they were going to cry. I was disappointed but never felt like crying. I felt like a guy who fought like hell with a boxer twice his strength and size and came up defeated. There is no reason to cry. You just simply got your ass whipped.

The kids hugged me and there was a cold Coors in the cooler. I sat my ass down and chugged a beer. Damn it was good. After that, I got my ass back on the bike and road the final miles into camp. It was a great day. A humbling experience. I’ve never DNF’d before in a big race like this. I was a bit too confident in myself back in Montana. The Ironman two years ago made me think I was could do anything. I trained hard – but not hard enough. I was in good cycling shape – but not good enough. If there is a “next time”, you better believe I’ll train harder and come with plenty of grit to throw at Leadville.

Thanks to all of you for your support over the past 100 days. It’s been a hell of a ride! As I told Justin last week as he prepared for the Leadville 100 ultra-marathon, “There is no failure in not finishing. There is only failure in not trying”. Give it hell, Justin. We’ll be pulling for you. The Leadville 100 bike race is hard. Had I made it I would have been proud of my accomplishment. But, but, the bike race is nothing, absolutely nothing compared to the Leadville 100 ultra-marathon. This race truly separates the men from the boys.

By Doug Fletcher

July 11th 2010

Number 11 is now done! I think I have said this in every post, but I can’t believe how quickly this year is going by. For this race, both Dustin and I were pretty tired. We’ve both had quite a bit going on and our lack of sleep was either going to plays it’s card on race day, or we would possibly luck out and would be just fine. Even though we started the day off not feeling the greatest – some stomach issues for Dustin and just not feeling “right on” for myself. I was really starting to worry when we hit mile 4 and 5, how miles 14 and 15 were going to feel as the weather continued to get warmer and my legs would continue to tire. After a needed bathroom stop around mile 6 for both Dustin and I, we both felt great when we started running again, like we had just started our run and well this time. We were even cruising along at a rather good pace, we crossed the half way point at 1:46, which I truly couldn’t believe. I didn’t think we were moving that fast. We wound up keeping the same pace and crossed the finish line in 3:32. It was a good day and Dustin and I enjoyed running this one together. As corny as it might sound to some of you, we finished the last part of the race holding hands. It’s always a great experience when Dustin and I get to finish a race together. It also got the fans going and was great push to finish the race strong.

The Missoula Marathon was also the spot for Race4Equality’s 2nd ever booth. The Missoula Marathon was about a quarter of the size of the Fargo Marathon (5,000 runners vs. 20,000 runners) and still proved to be a wonderful outlet to spread our message. Being from Montana was nice when speaking with everyone, and being at a slightly smaller race felt like we were able to speak to a lot of interested parties. In addition to those I never got to speak with. We never know who we are going to touch, whether we have a conversation with them or not. We never spoke to the person who inspired our 12 marathons a month – and look at what it sparked! I enjoyed the people I was fortunate to speak with and feel I made some great connections for future R4E athletes and others who may be able to help R4E in different ways. It was a blessed weekend and I was incredibly thankful to have been there and spread our message. It’s to be seen on whether we gained another R4E athlete or two or three, but I do think I was able to reach at least one person to do something good and beyond them selves.

We were also joined by Lindsey’s younger sister, Kari, and dad, Mark, who both ran the half marathon. So proud of those guys. They did well and is so awesome to have them join in on something that both Dustin and I love so much.

Next up… #12 – The Elkhorn 50k.

July 17th 2010

Race4Equality athletes, Justin Bigart and Doug Fletcher, completed the Devil’s Backbone this past Saturday as part of their training for their upcoming Race4Equality races this next month. They ran this gnarly race together as a relay, running 25 miles each for a combined 50 mile race. The Devil’s Backbone is an almost unsupported and unmarked race, with mainly cairns along the way reassuring you are going in the right direction. During this race, runners are almost always above 9,500 feet with one significant climb to 10,300 feet and with multiple short steep climbs totaling 11,400 feet. Way to go guys!

Doug is participating in the Leadville Trail 100-Mile Mountain Bike Race August 14, 2010.

Justin is participating in the Leadville Trail 100-Mile Run on August 21, 2010.

Check out the video and pics below Justin and Doug captured during their run on Saturday.

June 19th 2010

“Awesome” is about all we can say on this race.

To give you some background, Dustin and I have done an aid station at this race for a couple years and have wanted an excuse ever since to be able to experience this race (just once) as a runner. After deciding to do a marathon-a-month for a year, we figured we could finagle a 50k in the mix – we were still running a marathon, just deciding to run a few extra miles past that point. We didn’t think it would matter that much, especially who we are running our races for. Michelle, the race director, does an amazing job with this race! The aid stations are wonderful and the Bighorn mountains are breathtaking to say the least.

It took Dustin 5:47 and myself 5:59 to finish this one, but I have to say it did not feel like we were out there that long. I guess that’s what running trails will do. If you asked me my preference of running, road or trail a year ago. Hands down, I would have said road. I enjoyed being able to just go and go fast. Where trails you ran slower because you had to watch your every step and it took you way longer to run the same distance on the road because of the terrain. I just didn’t enjoy it that much. That definitely isn’t the case anymore. Road races are fine, but if I have the chance to pick, it will most definitely be trail from now on. And this run only moved trail running to the top. Now for Dustin, he’s always enjoyed trail runs. He will go on backpacking trips to go hunting. So is it any surprise he’d rather be in the mountains over city roads.

We weren’t able to speak to many people at this race about our cause. We tried to get in the local paper but just didn’t make the cut unfortunately. But actually having some quality time with some of Dustin’s family I think helped it home to them what we are doing. That in itself was also worth the run and being there. We look forward to this run, but again as a volunteer. Without volunteers none of the races around the globe would work. They are all amazing and we should all give back whenever we can.

By the Diefenderfer’s

Bighorn 50k Start

Bighorn Lindsey Finishing

Bighorn Dustin Finishing

Bighorn Finisher Awards

May 20th-21st 2010

The Swanson Health Products Health & Fitness Expo in Fargo North Dakota was home for a day and a half to our first ever Race4Equality booth. We had that day and a half to speak and visually show 20,000+ runners and non-runners alike about Race4Equality. We were able to share what we are doing with Race4Equality as an initiative, our venture within in it – doing a marathon-a-month, and Bright Hope School in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia our first project/cause who we are raising funds and awareness for under the R4E umbrella.

We had some great conversations and although that statement seems a bit contrived; the people we meet at each race is unbelievable and helps reinforce that Dustin and I were meant to do this. Although we do wish we would have spoken with more people, we may never know how many we touched simply by the conversations we didn’t have but by simply being there and preserving an idea, a statement in their mind. This actually happened to both Dustin and I at the Fargo Expo last year. We hovered over a booth last year that would later influence our marathon-a-month venture without even knowing it at the time. A man by the name, Dane Rauschenberg’s was running a marathon a week for a year with all proceeds he raised going to L’Arche Mobile. L’Arche is an international federation of communities in which people with a mental handicap and those who help them can live, work, and share their lives together. We didn’t even speak with Dane but just seeing what he was doing, planted a seed deep within us.

We hope to grow R4E and make it into an organization where people can come to us and bring a cause that is near and dear to them and race for that cause.  All it takes is one person to get the domino effect going. If our actions spur the action of another and then to another, what a wonderful place we’d all be.

By The Diefenderfer’s

First R4E Booth in Fargo, ND

R4E Sign

R4E Booth in Fargo, ND

May 22nd 2010

The Fargo Marathon was a blast!! My BIG goal was to finish (which I did with a time of 5:12:40), but I had trained and hoped to finish around 4:45. What I didn’t plan on was my left knee to cause me problems, so I ended up gimping (walking) in order to finish. Otherwise, it was lots of fun: the crowds were awesome, people running with you in the race were interesting and fun to talk too, and it was a well organized race.

Of course, running 26.2 miles does give you a little time for contemplation, and my heart was really saddened when I hit the 2 hour and 4 hour point in the race. The shirts we wore to support Race4Equality had this message printed on the back…”Nearly 1000 people will die of preventable diseases in Sub-Sahara Africa while running a 4 hour marathon”.. and so I paused to think that at 2 hrs already 500 people had died, and at 4 hrs, 1000 people. It was a very sobering and sad time for me.

Again I would like thank everyone who supported me and Race4Equality, so that the next time I run a marathon the number of people dying will be a bit smaller!

By Colleen Dunn

Colleen Running in Fargo

Colleen finishing her first marathon.

The Fargodome - the start and finish of the race.

What everyone was saying when they were done!

The glorious finisher's medal.

May 22nd 2010

Well, we did it, marathon #9 of 12 is in the bag. We are 3/4ths of the way through. I’m sure I sound like a broken record, but it’s so hard to believe that we are this far along. Although September (when we started) feels like just yesterday, it’s incredibly hard to believe that we have run 9 marathons since then.

Race #9 was the Fargo Marathon, which we ran on Saturday, May 22nd. Both Dustin and I were a bit nervous for this race. We would be running on a lack of sleep, which seems to have become our norm lately, manning our first expo race booth (more on that in the blog above), and dealing with above norm temperatures in Fargo. The weather forecast was calling for 80 degree weather and potentially high humidity – not good conditions for running. The race officials were preparing to shut the race down if the combination of heat and humidity were to reach a certain point. This is what happened in the Chicago Marathon back in 2007, where the temperature hit 87 degrees in early October. These conditions were a lot different compared to last year when we ran the half marathon – it was 30 degrees at the start.

Luckily we woke up to clouds and a drizzling rain. Not that you always want to run in the rain, but the temperature was perfect and it wasn’t down-pouring (and never did). It rained for about the first hour, then the clouds broke, and with the sun came the notorious North Dakota wind. Wind is expected in North Dakota – with no mountains or even hills it can make for some windy conditions more often than not. Even though the weather was a mixed bag, it didn’t affect us as much as we all were anticipating. The temperature never reached into the 80s, but did get a little hot for awhile and did get to some people. The wind for those who ran post 4 hours had some nasty gusts of wind to deal with (30-40 mph). Yuck – sorry mom and Jared.

Weather aside, Dustin and I ran pretty good times – respectively. We both had fresh legs, which was quite welcome for me. I had been struggling to find my usual pace on training runs for over a month and was so happy to have fresh, light legs. Dustin dealt with a bit of a sour stomach for a portion of the race, but crunched through and beat me by a minute. We ran 3:33 and 3:34. The fact that we manned a booth for two days didn’t get to us nor did the lack of sleep. Feeling it this week though… someday we’ll sleep! It also helped that the race was flat and I think our times reflect that. We are definitely finding that we love trails and actually welcome hills on road races too. It helps break things up. Flat courses can almost be just as hard (okay not really), but you are using the same muscles for 26.2 miles without any variation.

Besides having family along with us on this race, we wanted to do the Fargo Marathon for their fans. Unfortunately last year there seemed to be more fans, even with the cold weather, we still had a number of great fans cheering us all on. The early rain kept people out, but they came out in droves as the sun started to poke through. Fans (and volunteers) make these races. There is nothing like hearing “great job”, “you look awesome”, “way to go” as the miles pass on, especially when you hit those last few. Fargo does an awesome job and considering the race is only 6 years old. They have done an incredible job organizing it. Props to all involved in making it happen for so many of us.

This race also welcomed my mother, Colleen Dunn, who signed up as a R4E athlete for the Fargo Marathon and pledged to raise $500 for Bright Hope School. This was her first marathon, she ran 5:12. Had she not gotten some pain in her knee and hip, she thinks she could have gotten sub 5. Next time, mom! We know you can do it. It’s quite an accomplishment, time aside. My brother also ran the marathon, #2 for him. He ran 4:28. It was a great race to have some family with us. This marathon-a-month experience has been wonderful, but it’s been the races where we’ve had family and friends there that have made them extra special. And the wonderful people and conversations we have along the way.

By the Diefenderfer’s

Whole family (all smiles) after we finished.

Dustin cruis'n along.

Jared Thompson (Lindsey's brother) running his 2nd marathon.

Colleen Dunn, R4E Athlete (Lindsey's mom) running her 1st marathon.

Back of Lindsey - about to finish marathon #9.

April 17th 2010

Finally… our update for the Salt Lake City Marathon. Race #8 of 12 – 2/3 rds of the way done! Can’t believe how quickly the time is flying by. We will be done with our venture before we know it.

Our trip to SLC was a short one. We went down on Friday, raced Saturday morning and were back in Bozeman late Saturday night. Both Dustin and I knew going into this race we weren’t going to have one of our best days. We were pretty tired. My younger sister gave birth to the next generation of Thompson’s the previous weekend – 40 hours of labor exhausted about everyone there, especially the new mom! We were running on a lack of sleep and hadn’t had an appropriate number of trainings run to really feel ready for this race.

Our legs were heavy, which is never good when you feel that way for 26.2 miles. I also was dealing with a funky stomach and cramps the whole way. Another new thing I have never experienced but with one marathon a month, I think it’s expected to experience new things good and bad.

Although we didn’t feel so hot, we crossed the finish line with rather decent times. It was also encouraging to know that one of my best friends, Liz, and her beautiful 9 month old daughter, Beckett, were there to cheer us across the line. I can’t even express how nice it is to have family and friends on the sidelines cheering you along the way. It truly helps getting through those miles.

We didn’t quite have the conversations we had shared in March with the Catalina Island Marathon about Race4Equality. We hope with our marathon next month in Fargo, we will have the opportunity to speak with many people. It will be our first time promoting Race4Equality with a booth. Wish us luck!

By the Diefenderfer’s

Dustin in the homestretch.

Lindsey in the homestretch looking more tired than Dustin.

March 13th 2010

Weather | Perfect, 70 degrees and sunny most days

People We Met | Runners from a California running group, Sole Runners. Amongst them was Daniel and later met his wife and children who coordinate Standing on Stone Community Outreach. Check out their amazing organization that is feeding 70-100 people in need every Thursday night.
And we can’t forget our very friendly staff at our hotel, Hermosa Hotel.

Food | Fresh Wheat Rolls at the Coffee Shop, Grilled Mash Potatoes, lots of good bread. Waffle Cones. And of course fish tacos.

The Race | Woke up-4am, quick shower then off to catch the race day boat at 5am. Great weather as soon as we stepped outside the hotel and made it to the ferry on time.
Catalina Island only has two small towns, Two Harbors and Avalon (where we stayed). The rest of the island is preserved. The island is only 23 miles long and ranges from ½ mile to 8 miles wide.
The race starts in Two Harbors, where we took a race day boat to. Two Harbors is a beautiful remote & quiet place with only 200 residents. The race day boat was a fairly smooth ride over; it wasn’t until we hit the bay of Two Harbors where we had to wait on the ferry for about an hour in some rolling waves. The line of the ferry ahead of us got sucked up in the boats propellers. They had to send divers to cut the line so the boat with a majority of the runners (us) could de-board. We didn’t get off the boat until 6:45 with a race start of 7:00. Thankfully they delayed the start by 15 minutes – so we all had a chance to ease our nerves and of course use the bathroom.

Dustin’s Race POV | On the Ferry Ride over a guy told me that this is one of the most difficult marathons in the country. Yah right, I thought-we are from Montana, this is California I am sure it is no big deal. I was wrong. I went out fast like I knew I shouldn’t do and I really paid for it. I knew it was bad when I made a pit stop at the mile 8 outhouse and noticed my legs shaking relentlessly like I had just lifted weights. As I left the outhouse I couldn’t get back into my flow. My stomach felt cramped and my legs weak. People were starting to pass me left and right and I knew I had messed up. The good news is that Lindsey caught up with me around  mile 15 and I had not seen another female. Turns out she was in 3rd place overall for women at that time. I gave her a kiss and said see you at the finish line and she was gone. I was just starting to fill better when another gauntlet of hills began, first at about mile 18 is pumphouse hill and it was a nightmare. Then you get to the top and think you will run level until the decent but there are more and more hills all the way to mile 23. By the time I got to mile 23 my legs could barely handle the straight down route to the finish line. But I made it, slowly, my slowest marathon to date but I had a blast. I haven’t had a bad marathon for over a year so I feel pretty blessed.
I almost forgot, probably because I was in so much pain, but the scenery on this course is as good as it gets. During the first 3 miles the ocean is visible on both sides. The small harbors were glowing with Caribbean colored water splashing against the rocks. In addition, the island was green and lush with an array of plant life and cactus. It turns out that a long time ago, a movie producer left 3 Buffalo on the island after a film shoot. Of course, the Buffalo reproduced and now there is a thriving herd. I never saw one, but their track lined the course. Maybe next time?

Lindsey’s Race POV | I went into this run feeling pretty ready. I had a lot of good training runs in between our last. I was a bit nervous for the hills, since I knew this was going to be a pretty hilly race. I just didn’t know ‘how’ hilly. I didn’t bother to look at the race elevation map until the day before the race – such a bad idea. It made me so nervous and anxious. I ended up having one of my worst nights of sleep pre-race in a long time.
Once we finally got off the race day boat, I felt surprisingly ready and the nerves were gone. Once the gun went off we were off and up and up and up. Dustin and I felt good and blew past lots of people on the first hills. Dustin obviously felt really good, because he was gone from my side before we hit mile one. But I did catch him 15 miles later though. I couldn’t believe how great I felt the hills felt good and my legs felt fresh. I powered threw this run and really surprised myself. It was a hard run but was wonderful all at the same time.
The day was wonderful, a little humid and hot compared to what we are used to in Bozeman, but never was too much. The views along this course were amazing in is reason enough to do this race, even if you have to walk it. I do hope Dustin and I can go back again. The town was incredibly friendly and quanit.

Lindsey Receiving Her 1st Place Age Group Medal

Avalon, CA

Notice the Hills in the Background