Leading Ladies Marathon - Spearfish, South Dakota- August 21, 2016

Another state to check off for my 50 state marathon journey.  South Dakota.  This race was recommended by many for fast times because the race is mostly downhill.  The race started at 7 a.m. you had to be at the bus at 5:15 a.m. to catch the bus to the start. You miss the bus, you are out of luck.  Then you are dropped off in the freezing cold to wait an hour.  I personally think we could have met the bus a half hour later, but oh well.  The race started at the top of Spearfish Canyon in South Dakota. I didn't dress warmly enough, in fact I totally forgot to bring a throw-away jacket.  I was so cold at the start of the race.  At about 1/2 mile into the race I saw a girl throwing away her jacket.  I asked her if I could have it.  She didn't care.  I ended up wearing it for about 12 miles, then I finally warmed up. The race website is here.  My results are here.

I was running the full marathon and Amy was running the half.  We met my friend Sharon from Arizona to room with her.

When the marathon started out you had to actually run uphill for almost a mile, then most of the rest of the race was downhill or flat.  I was doing fine until about mile 4 when I started getting nauseous.  I walked more than I ever have in a marathon in the first 10 miles, but that was to help with the nausea.  After that the elevation must have been at a place where my body could handle it better.  I felt like a new woman by mile 12.  I took a few pictures along the way. I didn't like that the Full marathon finishing medal was exactly like the half marathon finishing medal.  That they should change for you are running twice as far, but everything else was nice.  Shirt was great, food after was nice.  Bus was on time to take you to the start, mini expo had some nice things to buy.  Packet pickup was organized.

Entering South Dakota

On the way down the mountain.  A gorgeous log cabin home.  I loved it.  There were many like it.

This picture doesn't do the scene justice.  It was so beautiful.  You can tell it was completely downhill.

Bridal Falls.  Totally awesome.

Finished.  

After the race.

Bib and medal.

Sharon from Arizona, me and Amy.

My official time

On the way home we stopped at the National Music Museum.  Totally awesome museum that I highly recommend visiting.

A gorgeous August day.

The Beach Boys' guitar signed by them.

Fargo Marathon - Fargo, North Dakota - Saturday, May 21, 2016

A great marathon in North Dakota that I think everyone should try at least once.  There are so many great things to say about this marathon.

It's a flat course, like flatter than flat, so if you like that kind of course, then you should run this marathon.
It seems like the entire town of Fargo comes out to cheer you on.
There are plenty of volunteers on the course
There are plenty of water stations on the course.
The finishing medal is really nice.
The expo was well planned out and had lots of vendors with freebies.
The race starts and ends indoors so IF it's bad weather you don't have to wait out in it.  However you can't start your Garmin indoors because you can't get the satellite so that bites.

The day ended up being hotter than Fargo usually has at this time of year. All the residents were saying how hot it was. It was a bummer because I don't run well in hot weather.

The results are here !    Lots of pictures are below.

About 30 minutes before the marathon began.

A bag given to us at packet pickup.  The bag is really nice and thick and I'll definitely use it again.

zip up jacket given to us for the marathon.

The marathon was about to begin.  They were announcing that we needed to line up.

Giant flag on the course.  This picture doesn't do it justice.  The flag was as big as a house.

Elvis sang to us.

My Garmin time.

After a shower wearing my new shirt with the finishing medal.

Marathon Bib and medal

Food after the marathon.  Pizza, water, chips, bananas, chocolate milk, cookies, and the best thing ever was cookie dough.

Mississippi Blues Marathon - Jackson, Mississippi - Saturday, January 9, 2015

I heard that the Mississippi Blues race was the best one in Mississippi to go do, so back in June of 2015 when I was planning some of my future races out, I booked this one:  Mississippi Blues Race Website Here!

Since the drive was 10.5 hours and since we may have needed to do a detour due to rising flood waters in Missouri, we (Jason and I), decided to leave on Thursday right after work to get a head start on driving.

Jason picked me up at work at 3:40 p.m. and we drove almost 5 hours south to a town named Ste Genevieve, MO which is a tiny town.  The hotel we stayed in was a very cheap/no frills hotel.  I didn't like it, but it was clean and good for the price.  After sleeping in Friday morning and a quick breakfast we headed to Jackson, MS.    As we continued South the weather became warmer and warmer, so very nice for a January day.  We stopped at one gas station and the temps were 75 degrees!  The grass was green, birds were singing and everyone seemed so happy.  Jason and I laid in the grass for a picture.

We arrived in Ridgeland, MS around  4p.m. at our hotel called Drury Inn and Suites, which by the way is an awesome hotel.  I love Drury Inns and will stay at them whenever possible.  The first thing I asked upon checking in was, "Can I have late check out tomorrow?"  They were totally awesome about it and let me have that.

We settled in and then went to Jackson to pick up our race packets.  The expo was smaller than I was hoping, but it was enough.  We were given a great laminated race bag with several things in it.  I would say it was the best swag ever given out at a marathon so far.  We stayed to listen to a great band and then Jason and I headed back to the hotel for dinner.

Drury Inn has this managers reception every night, some times it's just snacks and stuff, but this particular Friday night had baked potatoes, pasta and many other things.  I eat baked potatoes and pasta before every marathon so dinner was perfect and we didn't need to go out to dinner.

After a nice hot tub dip and setting out our stuff for the race, I went to bed early.  I was really worried that the race was going to be either delayed or cancelled because thunderstorms were predicted for the morning.  The radar looked bad.  I said a prayer that the storm would go around and that the race would start on time and that I wouldn't get pulled off the course.  I was very stressed about it and tried to put the thought of traveling all that way and not being able to race out of my mind.

Race morning.  I got up early and ate my half plain bagel with peanut butter and 2 electrolyte pills with a little water.  After taping up my knees, hip and ankle with my miracle tape called KT tape, Jason and I left for the race.

We found parking right away, which is expected when you go an hour early to a race.  And for a while we just waited in the car.  It was raining so we didn't want to get too wet before we had to.  After a half hour or so I needed to find a bathroom.  There were lots of port-a-potties, but  seriously for a large race I think they should always triple whatever they rent because the lines are always too long for the bathrooms.

We got through the lines to the bathroom within 10 minutes, and then hid underneath the side of a building to stay dry before the race started.

When it was almost time to start, after the National Anthem was played on a guitar, I lined up to start with the other racers in the rain.  The gun went off and I started to run.  I felt good from the start and decided to try and stay with the 4 hour 30 minute pacer dude.

The first 3 miles went well and fast, well fast for me.   We started down John R. Lynch street for quite a while. The rain even stopped completely and it was cloudy and cool out.  A perfect temperature to run in.  We ran through the city and had a lot of curves, ran on some brick  and came back through the starting line which was weird to me. Staying with the 4:30 pacer quickly ended and I then tried to stay with the 4:40 pacer and did for a while like through mile 9 then I lost him.

The hills seemed to be coming over and over.  I have ran hills a lot, but these were just killing me.  At this point I could care less if I was with a pacer or not, by mile 10 which is early on in the race all I cared about was finishing this hard race.  I felt the course was hard.  I started to wonder if I could handle any more hills.  Why was it so bad?  I don't know.  I kept running, but not at a pace I wanted to.

The first 18 miles the weather stayed nice.  We ran through beautiful neighborhoods on Meadowbrook Lake Drive, Twin Lakes Circle, and Eastover Drive.  I wanted to take pictures of all of the homes there, but knew I was there to run and not walk.  I did get a couple pictures as you will see below, because they were too awesome.  So obviously I was taking a fuel break to eat one of my BOOM nutrition packs and a couple more electrolyte pills.

At mile 18 the rain started, at first it felt nice until it poured on everyone at mile 20.  It was buckets of rain that continued to get worse.  By mile 21 there was thunder and lightening.  I received a text from Jason asking me if we were going to get pulled off the course.  I wrote him that I hoped not because I was going to finish the race since I was already this far.   I kept wondering with every step if I would get pulled off the course.  I wasn't sure and just kept running, but wondered if I had ran that far for nothing.  It was stressful and not fun.  My shoes were filled with water, my socks were soaked, my entire body was so wet.  It was really hard to run in the rain that heavy.  I've never experienced anything like it.

At mile 23.5 a car drove really close to me and splashed a huge puddle on me.  It was so much on purpose that others around me noticed and ran over to me to see if I was alright.  Something to remember for sure.  Funny, well not really, but I just couldn't believe it happened.  I was now muddy, very wet, tired and done.  Ok, not done, but I was feeling like I wanted to be done.

Just when I really wanted to give up and everything hurt, the sun peaked out over some clouds.  It was beautiful.  The rain slowed down and eventually stopped at mile 24.  I pushed through.  At mile 25.8 ish I wanted to stop so bad.  My legs felt like stubs on my feet.  I really hurt.  I think what made this marathon different were these things:  I only did a 21 mile run as my longest run in preparation for this marathon and I knew better.  For all the others I ran a 23 mile long run as my longest run and that is really what you should aim for in my opinion, and I should have trained for hills more. I still pushed on and finished, not in the time I wanted at all, but I feel that with more hills than I was truly ready for and the super heavy rain I did well.
Marathon #10 in State #10 done!

The Mississippi road sign announcing we were there!

Laying on the grass in the warm Mississippi weather.

At the expo with my race bib checking out the marathon route.

Both of our race bibs.

Some race loot.

An awesome house I ran by.

Another fabulous house I "ran by".  Ok walked by.  I had to have a picture.

Jason right after he finished the race.

Jason and I together for a quick selfie right after I finished the race.

Here I am soaking wet and super sore, but I did it!  10th marathon completed in my 10th state.

The beautiful finishing medal honoring B.B. King.

Columbus Turkey Trott-Thursday, November 26, 2015

On Tuesday of this week I had two surgeries. Not super major, but surgeries.   One surgery was on my toe and I was awake and numbed up.  That lasted maybe 10 minutes.  The 2nd surgery I was put under and it lasted about an hour.  Then it took me over an hour to wake up. I was told that for the 2nd surgery that healthy people recover from it in 1-2 days, and unhealthy people could have up to a week of recovery.  The doctor said to run the race only if I felt good in two days, but to take it easy and not speed race.
I was determined to feel great within 36 hours so I could register and run the race.  I woke up the next morning and did feel better.  By that afternoon I felt great, as if nothing had happened.  I registered for the race for the next morning.  Jason decided to run it with me to make sure I didn't speed race.  Plus I think he secretly wanted the Turkey medal.

The morning of the race was a gorgeous day.  A cold day, but not too bad.  I didn't need a coat to run in and even my shirt became too hot.  It was perfect running weather.  I started out at a decent speed, but not too fast.  My insides felt okay, but not exactly wonderful.  I knew I needed to be careful.  I was able to keep about a 10-10:15 minute per mile pace.  So it felt like a training run more than a race, but I did complete it and only had mild cramping later in the day.

Before the run took place.  Me wearing my turkey tights,turkey headband, cute socks and arm sleeves.  AND of course the Hawkeye shirt in Buckeye land!

Bibs with medals

My garmin showing my time.

After the race back at my parent's home.

The cute turkey medal.  Glad I ran the race to get it.

The next day I felt like running again.  I ran 6 miles and while on the run saw this sign.  I had to have a picture since my maiden name is Lewis!

White River Marathon for Kenya - Cotter, AR - Saturday, November 21, 2015

Left on Friday, November 20th for Arkansas.This was my 9th scheduled marathon in my 9th state.  Picked up Amy around 10 a.m. and we were on our way.  The drive down was nice until the Ozark Mountains.  My satellite on my phone went off, so my directions that were being spoken to me by my phone quit.   It was dark and we were within a half hour of being to our destination. I was driving the wrong way for about 20 minutes, then when I realized it and woke up Amy and we got the directions back it took us another hour to get to our hotel that we should have been at 45 minutes earlier.

Plus because the roads were winding around and around, up and down, Amy got sick and threw up and threw up for a while (outside the car thankfully).  We did finally arrive and I got all my stuff layed out in our room for the race the next morning.  We went to dinner and had some pasta.  It was good.

A picture on the way there.

A funny sign. Who names their town Licking?  Seriously.

Arkansas was really flat and beautiful.  It was 60 degrees when we arrived.  If only the nice weather would have continued the next day when it mattered.

Imagine the absolute worst weather ever for a marathon.  Like rain, freezing cold, high winds, and sleet.   Then imagine running in that crap for 26 miles.  It is not fun at all.  It takes everything in you to complete a race like that.  But I did it.  I was tempted to be done at the half marathon mark, for you had to run right by the half marathon finish line to turn around for the marathon.   I was tempted, but thought, "I drove all the way here to do a marathon in a new state and I will do just that."

Here I am in the car about an hour after I finished with my medal.  I feel this was super hard to earn.  My face was windburnt but I'm still smiling.  State #9 done!

Not my best time, but I didn't run the entire way either.  There were periods of time where the wind was so harsh in our face that I would walk with my head down to shield the bad conditions.  It seemed like the wind was always in our face the entire 26 miles and it would blow so hard it would push you backwards.  Crazy awful conditions.

A link that shows me finishing the marathon.  Around 13 minutes into the video you can see me in the distance, all dressed in black.  At 13:50 into the video I appear.  Crying again like usual.  Every marathon is so emotional for me to finish.  

Results if you want to see them.  I placed 9th out of 13 in my age group.

Amy being silly, wanting a picture with a sign.

Both of us being silly, trying to take a picture of ourselves.  We had to sit on the ground to get this picture.  I could hardly stand up after.  My legs were seizing up.

Up close of the gorgeous medal

A message in our elevator.  I love it.

Amy and I in our awesome race shirts the night after the race.  

Awesome people we met from Arkansas

Amy drinking shots.

On the way home in a gas station in Missouri somewhere I found this giant snickers bar.  I didn't buy it, just thought about it.