This is more of a tourist report than a race report.
Summary:
Time - 2:00:59
Division - 34/70
Men - 274/508
Overall - 569/1634 (508 men and 1125 women!)
First, my apologies to Amy (Aamos) for not making contact. We just started doing stuff without a schedule or plan so I wasn't sure how to organize a meeting. I planned to hang around the finish and say hello, but I was hurting at the end and decided to go back to my room for some ice.
We got to Rapid City and the first surprise was my rental car. Totally out of character for me. I drive a dark, nondescript 4-door Sonata. Here is my 2010 Camaro:
We had something to eat in a saloon in Deadwood and then went to the hotel. Cindy slept and I picked up my packet at the expo.
Then we went to Devil's Tower and did the 1.3 mile loop around it.
The next day was a trip to the Crazy Horse Memorial, Mt. Rushmore, Custer's State Park, and a drive along Needle's Highway. All were loads of fun. The first weekend in June is the one time per year that people can walk to the top of Crazy Horse so it was packed. Along the way I missed hitting a Buffalo by less than 2-feet. That would not have gone well for the Camaro.
I'll spare everyone the pictures or our after race travels over the Spearfish Scenic Bypass and the Badlands.
As for the race itself, it is exceeded all expectations. The running surface was all a dirt & gravel trail. It was all downhill. The view of the mountains was awesome. And beside the trail at times was a rushing stream.
I planned on going out easy to warm-up, then run some 9 minute miles until I got to 10, and at that point I hoped to have some energy left to pick up the pace.
The crowds weren't bad at the start, but it was enough to keep me at my warm-up pace which I wanted. The second mile was a little quicker, and then I settled into my pace.
Then, just after mile 5 my left calf started hurting like someone jabbed me with a knife. This happened back in March but after taking it easy for a few weeks I was fine. I hadn't had any trouble at all over the past 6-7 weeks.
I walked a little, tried to stretch, tried to rub it, but nothing made a difference. I decided to continue on slowly and enjoy the view. As long as I didn't push off too hard it wasn't too bad. After a couple slow miles, the calf went numb and I picked up the pace. It didn't start hurting again until the last mile and by then I didn't care.
I am very happy to end up with a decent race. My 3rd best half out of the 7 I have done. And best since 2004. My calf is still sore and my quads hurt from all the downhill. Going down steps is a bit shaky.
Splits:
9:36
9:31
8:58
8:52
9:06
10:29
10:04
9:11
8:46
9:12
8:40
8:37
:50
I would love to go back to this one if I was in shape for a PR attempt. It was a wonderful event.
Congrats! No apologies necessary--I'm just glad you both were able to make this vacation happen and I'm thrilled that you enjoyed yourself here. Jerry (and Emily) put on a good race.
I think you should post the photos of Spearfish Canyon---after all, Jerry's wife, Elaine, is the RD of the Leading Ladies Marathon that goes down the Canyon and it's in August. Maybe the photos would convince some folks to come out for that!
We'll get together next year and celebrate that PR you're sure to get!
grins,
A
ps--I note your slowest mile, mile 6, is our mile 19 in the marathon. That's a tough one, isn't it? That was my lowest point of the race.....you know there's a 10K ahead of you and bam, all of a sudden you're going uphill. At least it's brief.
Mr. Chip & Mizz Rizzo
~Mary
"My sunshine doesn't come from the skies,It comes from the love in my dog's eyes."
~unknown
http:www.rawleypointkennel.com
MIle 6 was uphill and with the calf pain so it was definitely my worst time.
There were a couple people from a different running forum there for the half. And one of them told me there was a tough hill at mile 9 that she always walked up. So I was thinking about that for a long time and it never came. Just that very slight incline at mile 6. I guess the first half of the marathon is pretty full of up-hills!
After our sight seeing trip on Saturday, Cindy and I got back to the hotel and in the elevator to our floor was the runner from the old Runners World forums (before they "upgraded" and drove a lot of people away.) Otherwise I would have never run into her either
Dave, you had a great race in spite of the calf problem. I hope you recover from it quickly. We were at Crazy Horse, the badlands, Mt. Rushmore, etc about a dozen years ago and your pictures brought back memories. One big difference is that we were towing our pop up camper with our pickup rather than driving a bright red Camaro. Congratulations.
TomS
Courage ! Do one brave thing today...then run like hell.
Sounds like a great destination race. Sorry about the leg cramp, can't do much about that. I've seen the badland, briefly, but that is it.
Good thing you passed on the buffalo insurance on the rental car as you didn't need it anyway.
"During a marathon, I run about two-thirds of the time. That's plenty." - Margaret Davis, 85 Ed Whitlock regarding his 2:54:48 marathon at age 73, "That was a good day. It was never a struggle."
Our family did that same trip back when my boys were in high school. It doesn't look like they have gotten very far on crazy horse since then. Kinda looks the same.
Fun place for a race and thanks for sharing.
Larry
Chumbawamba: I get knocked down But I get up again You're never going to keep me down
SteveP
Too bad about the calf pain. But even with that you had some good mile splits going. And picked it up nicely the last half of the race.
Nice going!
Marathon Maniac #957
Sarge – I LOVE the race report/tourist report idea! I hope it catches on, for those of us who don’t get to travel much. Great pics, too!
I’m sorry you had the calf issue reappear, but I’m glad you were still able to overcome it to have a good race. Great race and report!
Life is a headlong rush into the unknown. We can hunker down and hope nothing hits us or we can stand tall, lean into the wind and say, "Bring it on, darlin', and don't be stingy with the jalapenos."
Tammy
All sounds and looks good to me, although I am trying to figure if the race disrupted your vacation or if the vacation disrupted your race???
Dispite the let problems, that was a nice race and experience.
Thanks.
That's a heck of a pace Dave, esepcially with calf pain. Your RR makes me want to go there.
And don't forget, you get moi and Frank, el pero, to chat with and show you around if you choose
.........since you are so flulent and all, I figured I'd throw in some language there.......