Hi Everyone!
Just thought I would share a bit about the Leading Ladies Half Marathon last weekend that Robin, Carrie, Sonya, and I took part in. First of alll, Spearfish, SD (where the race was held) is so nice. It is about 40-50 miles west of Rapid City, SD and nestled into the Black Hills. The race is only women and also includes a marathon. I believe this was the 3rd year for the race and it has gotten bigger every year, the majority of runners run the half marathon. I think being all women and also being mostly downhill are big draws for this event! I know those were two reasons we decided to go as well as the beauty and that Sonya has an aunt who lives in Spearfish in the house she grew up in (also the house Sonya’s Mom grew up in).
We arrived Friday in Spearfish after a 4 hour drive Thursday night (stayed in Sioux Falls at the Fairfield) and a 6.5 hour drive on Friday. It was not bad with 3 friends keeping you awake as you drove! Honestly, there is nothing but Subway and Dairy Queen between Sioux Falls and Rapid City, SD and there really were not many of those either! Sonya kept us alive for lunch with her wasabi peas!!! What kept me alive was knowing there was a DQ at Wall, SD and what my Oreo Blizzard would taste like! I probably drove the ladies crazy with my oreo fascination!
Once we got to Spearfish we headed up the canyon (this is the same road the half marathon would be running down) to our lodge which is called the Spearfish Canyon Lodge. Very nice and cozy! No cell service which I guess should be expected. We had rooms next to each other overlooking the Spearfish Canyon Creek which was bubbling happily! That night we went to the Expo to pick up our packets. The Expo was not big at all but the race packets were wonderful. There was even chocolate! The race shirts were probably the ugliest I have ever seen, purple for the shirt and pink writing, not my first choice, not even my hundreth choice of colors but oh well, it is memorable! We then went over to Sonya’s aunt’s house and Robin, Carrie, and I went for a 5 mile run. Sonya visited with many of her family members who had come over or were visiting from out of town. When we returned they invited us for a great dinner and we chatted the night away. Very sweet people!
Saturday was full of sight seeing. We went to Deadwood and got to see where Wild Bill was shot and his grave. The town is neat although it is mainly casinos so Sonya had fun (just kidding Sonya)! We also took some time to walk a little on the Deadwood Mickelson Trail. This is a long trail, at least 100 miles that is limestone. There is a much more popular marathon/half marathon run on this trail every June. We all were excited about the trail and have put the race on our list of many we want to do in the next few years.
Saturday night was the pasta dinner and it was pretty good. They had the women’s Olympic Marathon on a big screen and we got to watch and to our dismay see Deena Kastor drop out, she broke a bone in her foot. Not sure if you all know who Kathrine Switzer is (she is famously known for running the Boston Marathon before women were allowed and one of the organizers trying to throw her off the course got photographed and seen around the world). She now travels and motivates groups, especially women, to take up running. She was at the race this year, I think she is a personal friend of the race director, Elaine. She ran the half marathon in just under 2 hours.
We did not stay long because we had to be up at 4am on race morning since the race started at 6am. Usually it is really hot in the Black Hills in August but we lucked out and had unseasonably cool weather. Race morning was probably 50 degrees at the start. It was just getting light as we took off. The first half (for me) was awesome. We were flying downhill most of the way. Robin took off, could not even see her while Carrie and I stuck together and Sonya kept her pace slow as she is rehabing an IT band injury. We ran the second half of the marathon course so there were plenty of water stops along the way. The canyon is so beautiful and it is even better by foot than by car although everytime I looked up I got dizzy for some reason. For me, the last half of the race got longer. I just was ready for the downhills to be over believe it or not. I could tell my legs were taking a beating. I was able to concentrate on the beauty of the course until mile 11 or so when i really started to want to be done. I knew we were booking. Carrie came up behind me in the last mile and I was so excited to see her feeling well. She looked so strong and held on for a 1:44 finishing time and a 15 minute PR! Awesome job Carrie! Robin came in at 1:43 beating her PR by 5 minutes! I came in about 10 seconds behind Carrie really struggling at 1:44:10 and Sonya stayed true to her plan to run easy and came in at 1:54 (this is still darn fast if you ask me)! Robin took 3rd place in the 40-44 age group and Carrie took 5th in the same age group. Robin was 17th overall and Carrie was 20th. I took 6th place in the 30-34 age group and came in 21st overall. Sonya came in 4th in her age group 45-50 and 62nd overall. It was a nice finishing area with roses for all the finishers and little fruit pizzas. They did not have a lot of food which would be my only complaint but the fruit pizzas were good! Sonya’s aunt came to watch so we stuck around to talk with her, take photos, and attempt to sit in the creek for our sore muscles. We did not make it past putting our feet in the creek, it was terribly cold! We watched the first marathoner come through and she was way ahead, I mean way ahead of the group. I learned she was from CO so she not only had the downhills in her favor, she also had lots of red blood cells. We said our goodbye’s and headed back for showers and to check out of our hotel. As we drove up the canyon we got to cheer on the marathoners. Man, they are amazing. We all hurt for 2-3 days post race because of the downhill so I can not imagine how bad the marathoners had it post race!
We had decided to go to Mount Rushmore on our way home. We took off and ate in Hill City which was a nice town we wished we had more time to shop. We were at Mount Rushmore for 45 minutes or so and we headed back. It was a much longer roadtrip on the way back! Sonya’s aunt had told us about a nice hotel in Chamberlain, SD, on the Missouri River called Cedar Shores. We stopped there for the night and yes, it was really nice. The beds were exceptional! I think we all had our best night sleep there probably because of the bed but also because we had been up since 4am and ran a fast half marathon! Monday morning came and we were on the road by 8am heading home. I think we got home about 2:30pm which was nice to have the rest of the day to decompress and be happy to be out of the car!
This was an amazing trip and I hope some of you will decide to run this one some day. I will say you will want to train for a downhill race! It was nice on the lungs but hell on the legs! The scenery was exceptional and the company was wonderful! We will be talking about the Deadwood Mickelson Trail Half Marathon in the next year or so and I hope you consider it.
I hope you have a trip planned to run a race or will think about it in the coming year, it is a great way to experience the country and get a great workout!!!
Enjoy!
Kim
