33 - South Dakota - Post-marathon

The morning after the marathon, I decided to take it easy and see the sights in South Dakota; I drove to the Black Hills Harley-Davidson in Rapid City and looked into renting a motorcycle.  The weather forecast was perfect for a motorcycle excursion.  So I did it— I rented a Ember Red Sunglo Dyna Switchback and hit the open road.  

The Badlands were a bit out of the way, but they had to be seen.  So I blasted out of Rapid City on Interstate 90.  Riding the motorcycle on the interstate wasn't much fun, but there was a lot of sights to be seen and it was the quickest way to the Badlands, my first stop.  

Along the interstate, there were tons of billboards for Wall Drug, which is located in Wall, South Dakota. Wall turned out to also be a good place to exit the interstate since an entrance to the Badlands National Park was just outside the city limits.  I expected Wall Drug to be a small town drug store with a luncheonette.  Not the case, Wall Drug is a tourist metropolis occupying most of downtown Wall. It was a bit overwhelming but still a must see if you ever happen to be in Wall, SD! 

From Wall, I headed into Badlands National Park and rode along the Badlands Loop State Scenic Byway. This approximately 30-mile drive on SD 240 cuts through the middle of breathtaking formations of Badlands National Park.  It follows the "natural contours of the Badlands escarpment, weaving  in and out of the native grasslands."  Scenic overlooks, with names like Seabed Jungle, Pinnacles, and Prairie Wind, all offered amazing vistas. 

Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse were next up, but I had to go back through Rapid City to get there.  I found a less crowded, smaller 2-lane state road to take me back to Rapid City.  Fortunately I stopped for gas just before I left for  Rapid City because there was NOTHING along this road.  It was a nice crusin' rode but no where to stop for anything.  

Actually, there was one sight to see (picture of dinosaur on the right). I have NO idea what it was doing in the middle of nowhere.


 



Crazy Horse Memorial was my next brief stop.  The Crazy Horse Memorial is only half finished.  They say it will take another 50 years to complete.

Below, on the left is what has been completed as of June 4, 2012 (not much!).  On the right is a model of what the completed Memorial will look like.

Monday, June 4, 2012

There was still a few more hours of light, so I took the "scenic" round-about-way to Mount Rushmore, more Scenic Byways—Peter Norbeck National Scenic Byway and the Wildlife Loop Sate Scenic Byway.  

Peter Norbeck National Scenic Byway
This 70-mile drive offers breathtaking views of some of the Black Hills' most stunning scenery. The popular Needles Highway (SD Highway 87) and Iron Mountain Road (US Highway 16A) are both part of the byway. Needles Highway features tunnels, hairpin curves and slender granite pinnacles.
Three granite tunnels on Iron Mountain Road perfectly frame the faces of Mount Rushmore National Memorial in the distance. Also on the route are three pigtail bridges, built in the 1930s, which have a corkscrew shape.

Byway Wildlife Loop State Scenic Byway  
The Wildlife Loop Road (SD Highways 87 and 16A) in Custer State Park is pure nature at its best. There are open grasslands and rolling hills speckled with pine. Many of the park's wildlife species occupy this area and are commonly seen. They include bison, bighorn sheep, pronghorn, deer, elk, coyote, prairie dog and numerous birds. Also, some of the park's wild "begging" burros live at the southernmost end of this road. This 18-mile route follows the diverse landscape offering views of mountain foothills, prairie meadows and lush stream beds. The park is home to one of the world's largest publicly-owned bison herds.

The ride was absolutely AMAZING!  Finished in Keystone just as it was getting dark and got a room there.

Next morning my plan was to go see Mount Rushmore. But it was yet another gorgeous day for riding, so I did a "drive-by" of Mount Rushmore and rode the scenic byways again before I had to return the motorcycle to Rapid City.




Am I ever glad I did!  As I was driving part of the Wildlife Loop,  I came upon a bison on the side of the road.




Further along, there was a burro smack dab in the middle of the road.  I'm not familiar with burros, so I wasn't even sure what it was.  I yelled at it, honked at it, flashed the high beams, but it was not budging.  Finally I took my chances and slowly went around it.
No reaction whatsoever.

It was getting close to the time that I had to return the motorcycle, so I had to change pace and high tail it back to the Harley dealership.  I returned the motorcycle, got back in the rental car, stopped in Rapid City for lunch, AND then went back to Mount Rushmore.

I spent the afternoon there taking in the beauty and symbolism of the four presidents.  I then had dinner in Keystone and decided to spend the night there again.  At just before 9 PM, I went back to Mount Rushmore for the Evening Lightening Ceremony.







This South Dakota marathon experience was above and beyond my expectations. I NEVER imagined South Dakota being so fascinating! If you have the opportunity, South Dakota is a must see.

33 - Deadwood Mickelson Trail Marathon - Deadwood, South Dakota

On the Sunday morning, there were 347 plus people in the town of Rochford for the start of the

 Deadwood Mickelson Trail Marathon,  "26.2 Miles of Breathtaking Black Hills Beauty."



The marathon course was point-to-point; we were bused out to the start in Rochford, a tiny old Western town with a population of only 25 inhabitants,  just after 6 AM for an 8 AM start.



Here I am passing the Moonshine Gulch Saloon during the beginning of the marathon.  I'm on the right wearing black sweatshirt and pants and white hat; it was cold waiting for the start.  The sweatshirt and gloves got tossed soon after this picture was taken.  The temperature rose quickly.



 
The majority of the race is on the George S. Mickelson Trail, an old railroad bed named in honor of a late South Dakota governor.   The "Mick," as it is called, is a wide trail of crushed gravel —not a "gnarly" single-track trail—thank goodness.  The marathon climbs for the first 14 miles to an elevation close to a mile up, before dropping again over the final 12 miles.  Both incline and decline are extremely gradual, but it STILL takes a toll. 

For the first half, I took it REALLY easy; then I enjoyed the decline the second half.  It seemed that all the runners settled into a pace and held it for the entire marathon.  My strategy of "picking off" runners toward the end didn't happen.  There was no one to pass! 


Final Results:
Overall place: 132 out of 347
Division place: 4 out of 32
Gender place: 29 out of 161
Time: 4:31:35
Pace: 10:22
13.1 split: 2:18:16
Gun time: 4:32:04

33 - South Dakota—Pre-marathon

Rapid City, South Dakota was my starting point on Friday morning.  After renting a car there and on my way to Deadwood, I stopped in Sturgis to see all the motorcycle hype...

Went to Sturgis Motorcycle Museum and Hall of Frame.

 Basically ... there are TONS of T-shirt shops in Sturgis !?!

It was a short drive from Sturgis onto The Lodge at Deadwood, where I stayed for 3 nights. This was also the host hotel and expo site for the marathon.  After checking into The Lodge, I first relaxed in my room and took a short siesta, then picked up my race number and explored the marathon expo for the afternoon.

For the evening, I headed into downtown Deadwood.  The Social Club was recommended for dinner, which is above Saloon #10. I had a scrumptious Alaskan Salmon and a delicious local wine, from Valiant Vineyards in Vermillion, "Artisan Cabernet."




After dinner, I watched a re-enactment of the shooting of Wild Bill Hickok in Saloon #10, and then the capture of Jack McCall, who had shot Wild Bill in the back of the head during a poker game, out on the street in front of Saloon #10. 

Saturday morning, I made my way back down to the marathon expo to get the low-down on what I should do for the day.  Sharon, who was offering free local coffee, was a wealth of information so I followed her suggestions.

Wild Bill Breakfast at the Hickok House Restaurant.  

Stopped at Chubby Chipmunk for some "melt in your mouth" chocolate.  

Drove the scenic route to Spearfish, along the Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway.  

Continued on after Spearfish to Belle Fourche, to see the Center of the Nation Monument.  

Headed west into Wyoming to see Devils Tower National Monument.  It is spectacular! Up there with Ayers Rock in Uluru, Australia but it's right here in the good ol' USA; a must see!  There is a 1.3 mile walk around the base where you can see the formation from every angle.  I took tons of pictures, was in awe every step of the way. 

While driving to the base of Devils Tower, I passed through Prairie Dog Town. Absolutely adorable!

Back at The Lodge that night, I had the obligatory pasta and added some extra carbs with a local brew, Pile O' Dirt Porter from Crow Peak Brewing Company.




This is the first of three posts about my South Dakota trip. 

32 - Fargo, ND - Henry

During the Fargo marathon, there were some out and back portions where we could see the runners before us and behind us.  At one point I saw Henry, the marathon man I met in Oklahoma.  Henry was running his 799th marathon that day ...  Sunday, the next day he ran in Green Bay, Wisconsin, his home state for his 800th Marathon (see his photos from that marathon below)!

Henry finishing the Green Bay Marathon on Sunday.

 Cake the race committee had for Henry after he finished.

Henry and his cake...


Congratulations Henry!

32 - Fargo, North Dakota

Start slow and easy, finish fast and strong— this is my marathon philosophy.  Sometimes this transpires during my marathons, but other times I start slow and easy, but finish even slower and easier! However, the stars were aligned for the Fargo Marathon and my marathon philosophy panned out.   What can I attribute this to? My pre-race dinner, running Kentucky 4 weeks prior, the Tyenol 8 hour I took prophylactically an hour before the start, the Vibram FiveFingers I've been running in more consistently, who knows?  All I know is that I felt FANTASTIC!

The Fargo Marathon was listed as the "8th Best Overall Marathon in America" by Runner's World in January 2010.  So Fargo became my choice for my North Dakota marathon.  "Yah, you betcha!" But to be honest, I did not really look for other North Dakota marathons.

This is a popular marathon, as I discovered when I was trying to book a hotel room for the weekend.  Everything was sold out.  I decided to wing it and find a room once I got there.  I flew into Minneapolis, rented a car, and drove to Fargo, which took about 4 hours.  Marathon "headquarters" was the Fargodome; number pick-up, the expo, the starting and finished area for the marathon were all there.


The hotel search was on after I picked up my number and walked around the expo. Across the street from the Fargodome I saw a hotel, stopped in there first.  They had one room left...and it was mine, luck of the Irish, thanks Dad!

The women at the front desk recommended a local Italian restaurant for dinner. I drove into downtown Fargo and found the restaurant, but there was a wait.  Every runner in town must have been there. I noticed a funky little place around the corner that wasn't too crowded ... HoDo Lounge, in Hotel Donaldson.  It seemed like the "place to be."

They had an adequate dinner menu, my pre-marathon dinner was there.  Some runners who had run the 5K that night came in too.  It was fun to chat with them and get the low down on the local scene.  This WAS the place to be.

Started with a salad,
Organic Garden Greens
mixed greens, tomatoes, cucumbers,
red onions, carrots, croutons, choice of house made dressing

And then, for my main course, had the bison (remember, I'm in North Dakota!).
Bison NY
black truffle and yukon pavé, wild mushrooms, broccolini,
micro greens, shaved black truffles, white peppercorn demi glacé

Everything was delicious.  And everyone was so friendly!

On my way back to the hotel, I stopped at Cherry Berry a self serve yogurt bar.
While I was sitting out front eating my yogurt, I met Ryan Taylor, a North Dakota senator running for governor.  Literally and figuratively: running for governor.  He was running the marathon the next morning.

Saturday night after the marathon,  I followed the same pattern, dinner at HoDo Lounge and desert at CherryBerry.  As Mae West said, "Too much of a good thing, can be wonderful." My cuisine choices were a little different,

Started with,
Fresh Manila Clams
white wine broth, grilled bread 
and Grilled Olives
artichoke and tomato beurre blanc, crostini 

then had a
Bison Burger
local bison, lettuce, tomato, grilled onion, Wisconsin cheddar . 

The night before the marathon, the sound of heavy rain woke me up.  In the morning, it was thunder and lightening.  Chance of rain was 80% for the day.  But the 20% won out!  It didn't rain for the rest of the day.

I felt mellifluous during the run— yes, mellifluous!  The course was flat as they said, and there was lots of music along the course to keep it interesting.  I held back, took it slow and easy, until mile 20 and then I started to "pick off" people.  My strategy is to find a target person ahead of me, catch them, run with them for a little, and then find another target ahead.  And I keep doing this for the last six miles; it helps to pass the time and makes it a little more fun.  As you can see from the following results, I passed 195 runners. I'm sure it wasn't all in the last six miles, but many were.

After the run I happily walked across the street to my hotel, took a long hot shower, and then crashed for the afternoon.  VERY happily, since I had a room and didn't have to drive anywhere!

For the movie buffs out there, the movie "Fargo" is named after the city but was not shot in or near Fargo.  It was filmed in northeast Minneapolis and the local areas around Grand Forks, ND.  "Fargo" as the title was chosen because it sounded more interesting than "Brainerd."

Enjoy some more pictures from Fargo...

Two weeks until South Dakota.  Maybe I should have just stayed?

31 - Louisville, Kentucky

This marathon was part of The Kentucky Derby Festival, a two-week long, community-wide celebration for the Kentucky Derby.  Mark came along to continue his 60th birthday celebration.  When will his birthday celebration end?!?

We arrived late on Thursday, April 26.  On Friday morning, we went over to the marathon packet pick-up, which was across the street from our hotel. The afternoon we spent exploring downtown Louisville.

We walked along Riverfront Park, stopped by the Fest-a-Ville on the Waterfront, and explored the Frazier International History Museum.  If you are interested in guns, this is the museum to visit!
For dinner we stopped at Bristol Bar & Grille, where we met a waiter who was running his first marathon the next day.

The marathon started at 7:30 AM in the downtown area, just was a quick walk from our hotel.  I was excited to run through Churchill Downs which was at about mile 8.  Once we arrived at Churchill Downs, we ran under the grandstands, through a tunnel entrance onto the infield, around the infield service road, and then out again.  There were horses warming up on the track as we ran by, which put a little pep in our step!

After Churchill Downs, we were off to a run around Iroquois Park, which was planned by Frederick Law Olmsted. This was the hilliest part of the course. As I was leaving the park at about mile 15, I saw the waiter from the night before.  He was quite chipper and still in good spirits.

The remainder of the marathon was uneventful and flat.  At mile 20 I started talking to a friendly women from Tennessee.

Friend from Tennessee is behind me in the white tank top.  We hadn't met at this point when this picture was taken. 

She had started with her boyfriend, but he cut it short and only ran the half marathon course.  She and I chatted about everything, which helped to pass the last 6.2 miles.

If you can believe it, Mark was waiting at the finish line!  I know that it helped to call him about an hour before I was planning on arriving at the finish line to give him a heads up.

After the run, we went back to the hotel and I took a nap to get ready for Opening Night for the 2012 Spring Track Events at Churchill Downs.  John Fox, a friend of ours, got us tickets.  Thank you John!

Our seats were just past the finish line.  We got there early to walk around and of course to have the
obligatory Mint Julep.  I totally understand why it is called a "sipping" drink! Actually, it tastes pretty bad — maybe it's an acquired taste?

Mark read "How to Wager" in the program and much to his dismay, I did not follow any of the advice in the program.  My betting plan was to pick the horse with the worst odds... to win.   We came out a whopping $0.60 ahead by the time we left!  No worries about me getting a gambling addiction.

30 - Surfside Beach, Texas

Thunder, lightening, pouring rain, and 26.2 miles on the beach — all made for an unique marathon in Texas.  This was a small marathon with less than three hundred runners, and Surfside Beach is a cool, little beach community.

I flew into Houston, rented a car, and drove south to Galveston. I then continued driving another 20 miles west along the Gulf Coast to Surfside Beach.

Back in December I booked a room at Cedar Sands Motel for $50 per night, but when I arrived to check in the price for my room had doubled!  I cancelled the reservation and figured that I would be sleeping in my rental car since this was the day before the marathon.  Fortunately, the Surfside Motel was just around the corner  and they had a room available for $60 per night.  By this time I was getting hungry, so I stopped for lunch at Kitty's Purple Cow

and had a delicious burger.  After lunch, I drove over to the start / finish area at Stahlam Park to pick up my race number and T-Shirt.  

Stahlam Park Pavilion

The T-shirt was very cool!  It looks more like a surfing shirt than a running shirt and even has a hidden little zipper pocket.  Also, for first time Surfside Beach Marathon runners were given a gym bag with the Surfside Beach Marathon logo on it.  Yes, I know no one needs another bag, but it was the thought that counted.

While I was driving around Surfside, I saw a beach / surfing shop called Bingo Boards and decided to check it out.  Little did I know that it was also a surfing museum.  The owner, Bing Cosby, is a 60's guy who had competed around the world in his younger days. He still is a big surfer and the surfboards in his shop were amazing.

For dinner, I stopped at the Red Snapper Inn and had Shrimp Jambalaya and called it an early night.

The next morning I woke to a cloudy sky.  When the marathon started it wasn't raining, but within 10 minutes the heavens opened — pouring rain, thunder, and lightening.  At the starting line, I started talking to Sarah

Sarah

and ended up running with her for the entire marathon.  Sarah was using this marathon as a training run. She is doing the Ironman Texas on May 19, 2012.

Ready, set, go!

Sarah and I kept waiting for us to be pulled off the course since the rain, thunder, and lightening didn't let up, but we never were.  By mile 15, our sneakers were completely soaked and filled with sand. Sarah and I decided to take off our shoes and carry them for the rest of the marathon.  It was much more comfortable running barefoot in the sand.

Sarah was trying to beat her time from last year and she was able to better her time by about 5 minutes. She came in first in her age group, and I came in second in my age group.

After I got back to my motel, I took a long hot shower to warm up!  Then I drove to Galveston to check out the Mardi Gras festivities.  Unfortunately, the "festivities" didn't start until later in the evening and I couldn't find a hotel room there, so I headed back to Houstan and got a room near the airport.

This was a first for me, running in the thunder and lightening.  Not sure how safe it was, but I'm here to write about it.  What I love about doing these marathon in different states, is the interesting people I get to meet.  Sarah is an amazing person, and I loved running with her and hearing about her life.