Race Report: Wo-Zha-Wa Run (Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin)

I ran the Wo-Zha-Wa Run in the Wisconsin Dells last weekend.  This is my third or fourth entry in this race and it is one of my favorites to revisit every year.

The Race:

The Wo-Zha-Wa Run bills itself as "Wisconsin's Oldest Long Distance Run" and this was its 48th year. The race offers a 4-mile option and a half marathon. Having run a half marathon in the Wisconsin Dells once, I always opt for the 4-miler. The Dells is an extremely scenic tourist trap, and while the four-mile race is gorgeous, the half marathon has to avoid the crowds and trots runners out to some hilly but dull farmland outside of the Wisconsin Dells proper. I ran it once - never again.

Why this race?

Simply put, this race is swag city. The technical t-shirt and finishers medal are nice, but the real prize of the day is the Wisconsin Dells attractions pass given to all finishers. The pass offers free admission to a bunch of Dells-area attractions, including boat tours, mini golf, the amphibious Original Wisconsin Ducks[1] (DUKW) tours, and more. I'd guess the pass is worth about $60 if not more. Not bad for an extremely cheap race.

My training:

I'm training for my first 50K right now, and I've been doing a runstreak since June 1. I also do Crossfit a few days a week. My training plan is basically the FIRST (Furman Institute of Running and Scientific Training) plan of one weekly long run, tempo run, and speedwork, plus daily running for the runstreak and crosstraining via Crossfit. Not a traditional training plan by any means, but it seems to work for me. I average 35-40 MPW under this plan.

Precedent

I'm slow. Rather, I used to be slow (oooh, that's foreshadowing!). I spent 4+ years as a 11-12 minute miler, and I could hit a 10 minute mile for a single mile on a treadmill once in awhile. But since I started training with the plan described above, things have improved. My last Wo-Zha-Wa run was my previous best, and I came in at just under 40 minutes. I was hoping for a big PR this time and aimed for 36:30. I felt confident about that goal.

Race day weather this year was perfect - 50s and sunny. I wore my InkNBurn Robot Capris and got a ton of comments on them.  I joked with a few people who commented on them prior to the race that my bionic legs would make me run faster.  Little did I know...

Mile One

While I had my Garmin on, I decided to run by feel for the first mile. I've run the race enough times to have the course in my head, and I figured I'd aim for a 8:50 pace for the first mile which sloped nicely downward so I could bank a little time for the big hill at mile 3. A mile in, a woman I was running nearby commented that we hit the first mile in 8:12 WHOOPS. But I felt good, so onward.

Mile Two

I kept pushing on, focusing on foot turnover and breathing. I collected my hi-five from the race's founder as I do every year at 1.25 miles, and I saw a cute little boy on the sidelines faceplant as he was trying to catch up to his dad who was running just ahead of me. A true runner, he instructed his son to "walk it off, kiddo!" and didn't slow his pace at all. Noice. I kept on keeping on and found that Mile 2 passed at a 8:08 pace. WHOOPS. But I still felt good, so onward.

Mile 3

The terrain changed as the course moved off of the nicely paved streets of downtown Wisconsin Dells and onto the shoulder of a highway. The road was gravelly and choppy so I had to pay more attention here. There were some gently rolling hills. It was nothing terrible but it definitely weeded out the people who don't train on hills. I dropped a few people I was running with during this point. And I knew the big hill was coming up, but so was some of the most scenic, wooded parts of the race. The leaves weren't turning yet as they were during previous years, but it was still a beautiful sight. And then came the big hill.

This was the first year that I didn't walk at least part of the hill. I put my head down and powered up it. And it didn't feel quite as big as it was in previous years. I was sure I lost some time on this hill, but no. I checked my Garmin and saw I made Mile 3 in 8:03. WHOOPS. And I was starting to feel a little gassed.

Mile 4

The race ends back at the Wisconsin Dells high school, finishing with a victory lap around the track. I struggled a bit at this point as we wound through residential streets.  And by "a bit" I mean I really did struggle.  I put up 8:40 for the final mile.  Which, in retrospect, isn't bad considering I had planned to run the whole race much slower.

Final official time: 33:51 Fastest mile (per Strava): 7:50

I collected my finisher awards and later found I was third in my age group. Me, a back of the pack runner! Damn. 29th overall out of 139, and 13th female overall.

I finally feel like I don't have to start my conversations about running with "I'm really slow, but...". I'm still not fast, but I'm finally getting faster. It's working.

Tough Mudder Wisconsin - September 12, 2015

I did the Wisconsin Tough Mudder on Saturday.  If you haven't done the race before, you may know it as the long mud run (12-ish miles) with the electric shock obstacle (as opposed to Spartan Race, Warrior Dash, or the zillion other mud runs that have popped up).  I've done plenty of other mud runs and lots of other regular running races, but this was my first Tough Mudder.

Tough Mudder is not timed; rather, it is about teamwork.  Some of the obstacles are literally impossible to do without a team.  At first, that was really off-putting to me.  I'm a solo runner and I like to race the clock.  That said, the teamwork stuff was actually pretty cool.  Most of my team consisted of friends-of-friends who I hadn't met prior to the day of, and over the course of run I felt like I really got to know these people and could happily hang with them over some beers anytime.   I guess helping people in and out of mud will do that.

The Course

The course varies from state to state of course, but they really hit a home run in Wisconsin by having this at Road America.  They used the miles of rocky, rooty, rollercoaster hills on their offroading trails and it was fantastic.  My trail runner heart had a blast bombing down the hills and chugging up the steep inclines.  I want to go back and run the trails again and again.  There were plenty of long segments of running in between the obstacles, so unlike some of the shorter obstacles courses, there was plenty of time to stretch the legs.  I loved it.

The Obstacles

Honestly?  Pretty fun.  There were tall walls to scale, barbed wire to snake under, mud to forge,  heavy logs to carry, etc.  Some of the more memorable obstacles included the "Arctic Enema" which was a waterslide that lands in chest-deep ice water, "Everest" which is a slick half-pipe that you run up (and if you are part of the 95% who can't scale it without help, you hope for some strong arms to grab you and haul you over the crest - plenty of people are willing to lend a hand to help a fellow Mudder, so no problem there).  I loved watching King of the Swingers which involved jumping off of a 15 foot platform to grab a swinging bar and landing in deep water.  Incredibly fun to watch, but as a non-swimmer I had to opt out of this one.  "Electroshock Therapy" involves shocking electrical wires that you basically have to put your head down and power through.  I took a good shock to the hip that rocked me, but other than that it was okay.

I made some pretty big assumptions that Tough Mudder would have the same AROO!BEASTMODECROSSFIT4LYFE attitude that the Spartan Races have, but it doesn't.  Tough Mudder is about working with your team to make it through any way you want.  If you want to run Tough Mudder, that's cool - no one will look down on you for making a run of the course.  If you want to walk it with your friends, that's cool too.  Make it an 11 mile party?  Sweet.  You do your Tough Mudder your way.  I've been on both ends of the spectrum, from the balls-out Spartan Races to the "let's take 2 hours for this 5K and then go get a cosmo and donuts" Dirty Girl mud runs, and this was a nice in-between.

So, all that said, was this the smartest race to run 3 weeks before my 50K?  Maybe not.  The potential for injury in an obstacle course race is pretty big as there's lots of room to fall, turn an ankle, etc., but I think I got a huge benefit from the hillwork I did and the time on the trail.  I'd definitely do it again in a heartbeat, especially off-season.

Finally, here's the obligatory team before and after pics.

Photo Credits:  Jeff Hammes.  Aren't these amazing photos?  I am blown away by how great the pictures turned out.