Crazy (for doing this 45 times) Horse Marathon #45

It's March 2nd, and instead of folding laundry I've decided to try and challenge myself to remember a marathon I ran back in October. Because at 47 (almost 48) I hear it's good to challenge your brain. I ran the Crazy Horse Marathon in Hill City South Dakota. The race takes place in the Black Hills which is a beautiful part of the state, and also where Mt. Rushmore is located. The last time I was there was when I was 16 during a road trip with my dad. For some reason, I remember having to walk up hill really far to see the spectacle, but this trip, I just drove up to a parking garage and walked a comparatively short distance to see the four faces. 

While Hill City is beautiful, the restaruant scene does leave a little to be desired. However, the craft beer scene as solid as the granite rock of Mt. Rushmore. The night before the race I sampled one of the beers at a local brewery, Miner Brewing Company. Unfortunately as I write this post, it looks like it's no longer open, but if you are in the area, I'm sure you can find many others just as delicious. The weather was cool and sunny....perfect for carb loading. I wanted to try more, but since I had this pesky marathon to run the next day, it was one and done. 

So now it's race day. The race started at the site of the Crazy Horse Memorial. It was clear and cold and the buses schleping us to the start line left very early. Thankfully, we were allowed to wait out the start clock in the warmth of the Crazy Horse Memorial Museum. Warmth and real bathrooms made this one of the best race starts. a real bathroom versus a port-a-potty scores lots of points. We need to talk about this memorial. The end result is supposed to be Crazy Horse riding a horse, pointing into the distance. So far, we have a profile and a finger, which has taken a remarkable amount of time. The first blast on this rock was 1948. His face was complete in 1997. I'm not sure when this thing will be done, but I can only imagine it will be amazing, and a very long time from now. 

Back to the race. A nice twist on the race start included traditional Native American drum music to kick things off. Incorporating this Native American tradition was a condition on the memorial allowing the marathon to start there. I thought it was pretty cool. 

Much of the course was run on the Mickelson Trail which covers over 100 miles. Thankfully, I wasn't running the entire trail. Not a lot of crowd support, but the scenery made up for it. 

Slow and steady, I finished #45. Two fun things awaited me at the finish line. 

1. A pretty cool medal. 

2. The largest Smoky the Bear Statue in the world. 

And hopefully his message of preventing forest fires is heard by all in close range because Smoky would go up in flames in a blink of an eye. 

I did not partake of my usual post-race oysters, since, well, it's South Dakoat. Instead, I treated myself to a soak at the Moccasin Springs in Hot Springs, South Dakota. I feel like all my races should take place in driving vacinity to cities called Hot Springs (had this pleasure as well in Arkansas). I think the funnest part of the hot springs was the drive. I went from the mountains of the black hills to the plains where the buffalo roam and antelope play. Literally, there were wild buffalo, antelope and a ton of cute prarie dogs popping their heads up in the tall grass. 

The mineral springs were also very nice and had mulitple pools of varying temperatures to choose from. It was pretty crowded in the warmest pools becuase it was chilly out, but being there solo, I was able to squeeze in pretty much wherever I wanted.                                          

I was planning on visiting the Badlands the day after the race, but ended up shortening my trip in South Dakota a day early to beat the approach of Hurricane Milton which was headed to my home. I did squeeze in one more brewery in Rapids City, the Last Mile Brewery. Again, solid showing from South Dakota in the craft beer game. Also, the patrons and the bartenders were exceptionally friendly.  

That wrapped up my races for 2024. There were a lot of things that made training challenging last year, and so far, life in 2025 hasn't made it much easier, but I will keep pushing to get these done as long as I can, albeit slow and often painful. Idaho and New Hampshire are on deck for 2025! 

Alaska - #44

I am way behind on posting, as usual, and have done another race since this one, but there are too many good photos to share that this had to be it's own post. 

Last June I took on my 44th state with the Anchorage marathon. This is one where we definitely made a vacation out of it. One, it takes a while to get there from Florida, and two, there is so much to see. I had my husband and racecation buddy Bethany and her daughter Gilly with me. And the motivated, ambitious Gilly took this on as her first marathon. Considering the 20+ year age gap, she definitely finshed well ahead of me, but we we did cross the start line together! 

But before we even got there, we made the mistake of going hiking the day before. We all thought, ok, we'll do an easy hike. So we picked a short one. While it was short, it was steep and we instantly all regretted it. At times we were pulling ourselves up the hill. We thought about turning around, but going down a steep hill is worse than going up one, at least as far as increasing your chances of injury. So we persevered. The view was worth it, although the next day, I'm not sure I agreed once I felt the fatigue in my legs the next day. Oh well, live and learn (probably not though). 

First of many scenic vistas

See dark shape in the distance: Moose

Back to race day. Weather was perfect, dry, cool but not too cool. While a fairly scenic course, it was definitely not the most scenic part of our trip. Alaska basically looks like a post card anywhere outside of Anchorage. But not to downplay Anchorage, it's a great place. And when we where there, the sun really never was down. Thank goodness for blackout curtains. But I digress. This was definitely an emotional race for me. Two days before we left for Alaska, I had to say goodbye to my best friend of nearly 19 years, my dog Dean. He truly was the best dog a girl could ask for, and was always the best running and travel buddy. Nothing like a good run cry. Well, it can be cathartic, but not ideal during a race since it does sap both physical and mental energy. Of course, those feelings come an go, and certainly helps to see things like a moose on the course to distract you. Thankfully it was a bit off the couse as I've heard those things can be mean! 

More course views

Again, the race was a hard one for me physically and mentally for many reasons, (refer to dumb hiking idea above), but Gilly and I both finished with no need for medical attention, which is a win-win. And what an accomplishment for Gilly on her first marathon! Hopefully she's been bitten by the bug and will join for another. 

More from the course

The next day after the race we headed to Seward and stayed there for a couple of days and then headed to Homer and stayed there a couple of days. There are way too many cool photos and experiences to share along the way, so I'll highlight some of my favorites.

1. Tiny plane flight over Denali where I got to sit in the copilot seat. 

Denali

2. Countless oysters, halibut cheeks (try them if you have the chance), amazing seafood and a restaurant you have to take a boat to. This was in Halibut Cove where the community is basically on stilts in the water. 

Obligatory post-race oysters

Entering Halibut Cove

Floating restaurant

3.  All the wildlife. We took a Kenai Fjords cruise and saw so many animals: puffins, an albatross, humback whales, sea lions, bald eagles, a pod of orcas, and sea otters. While not an animal, we did see a glacier, and walked paths where you could see where the glaciers used to be. Climate change is happening, that is clear. We saw salmon jumping and swimming upstream. We saw cuddly bears (in the safety of a nature preserve/zoo), and more moose! 

Giant grizzly

Glacier

Orcas

It's rough being a sea lion

4. All the scenic views. Grabbing dinner near Seward, driving to Seward, dinner in Homer on the spit, hiking to a beach. The list goes on and on. 

On the way to Seward...and then Homer

View from our Seward dinner spot

Dinner on the spit

The beach

5. And all the fun other things: Freezing cold boat ride to eat at a floating restaurant, quaint little towns, so many hikes, seaside hot tub, and fun road tripping. Alaska is a cool place. 

In memory of my favorite travel and running buddy. Miss you everyday.

Photo credit: Todd Winters 

#43 Sharing Alabama Christmas vibes in May

I'm finally catching up on writing the post for my last marathon. Remembering the cooler temperatures is helping as I suffer through the 100+ heat index right now in SWFL. Last December, I checked off Alabama with the Rocket City Marathon in Huntsville. I was pleasantly surprised by Hunstville, and enjoyed my time there a lot more than I thought I would. Some great breweries, great artists and of course...rockets! 

I started my day when I arrived by grabbing my race packet and then headed to their version of a Christkindl German market. This one was significantly smaller in scale to the one I'm used to in Chicago, and was disappointed there were no commerative boot-shaped mugs. There were a lot of artists booths set up which I spent some time browsing, and I found some holiday gifts at one booth, Davida Holiday Designs, where the owner takes old decorative tins and turns them into fun jewelry. Definitely check out her shop on Etsy. https://www.etsy.com/shop/DavidaHolidayDesigns

After the market, I headed towards downtown Huntsville, where I had bought tickets for a luminary walking tour of some historic homes. I went to Green Bus Brewing to carb load with a beer and kill some time until it got dark.
I didn't find this out until I was nearby, but the event had moved from Saturday to Friday night because some rought weather was anticipated for Saturday. In all fairness, there was a tornado watch in effect that night. However, the weather seemed fine to me so I started out to do my own walking tour. Although the luminaries weren't present, the homes were still shining their lights. 

None of them were over the top Griswold style, but they were very tastefully and beautifully decorated. 

After walking around looking at historic homes, I headed to dinner at Oshi Poke Bowl and Sushi downtown. This place definitely gets points for presentation. 

After dinner, sticking with the holiday vibe, I strolled back to my hotel via Huntsvilles' Tinsel Trail, which is a park full of hundreds of decorated trees. 

Business and individuals from the area sponsor and decorate each tree differently. Here are some of my favorites. 

Now onto race day. The forecast called for rain, and it was raining when I woke up that morning. This did not bode well. Miraculously, the rain stopped about 10 minutes before the race did. Hallelujah! The temperature was also perfect. The course had some rolling hills here and there, but overall was a pretty nice course to run. And we did run through NASA's Space and Rocket Center.  This is also where Space Camp is. Anyone remember that '80s movie? 

This race allows runners to run the front half marathon, the back half marathon or the full marathon. So if you run the full, you get a medal for finishing the front half, the back half, and the full. Maybe some people would appreciate this, but after running a full marathon, the last thing I want is a lot of heavy metal hanging on my body. But if you like a lot of bling, this race is for you! 

In typically fashion, I followed my race with post-race oysters at a place called the Corner Pour. This was a cute beer and wine bar in downtown Huntsvillt that also happened to have some live acoustic music to add to my Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately, my search on Yelp shows this place is no longer open. But thanks for the friendly bar chatter while you were open Corner Pour! 

After oysters and other snacks, I went to try out another brewery, Innerspace Brewing. I had a sampler there and second dinner as well, since they also made wood-fired pizza. Who can be around the smell of pizza and not partake? I took that to go so I could eat shamelessly in private in my hotel room. :) 

I took another loop aroud the Tinsel Trail after dinner, and grabbed my final meal in Hunstville the next morning. If you're looking for a decent coffee and a good breakfast, try the Cozy Cow. Overall, Hunstville was a great host, and I was pleasantly surprised by my first visit to Alabama. Next in the queue, another A state, Alaska next month! I'll be sure to share some great pics with you all probably next December when I finally sit down to write it!