Battle of the Dakotas... South kicks the North's butt

The past 2 weekends in a row I've had the pleasure of touring the Dakota's to knock state #43 (south)  and #44 (north) off my list. Kim was with me for both weekends, and we generally try to 'experience' the city we're in, even if its just for a small period of time. Not ever having visited either, you would think they would both be similar, however what we found that South Dakota was HANDS down better than North Dakota as there was much more to look at and experience.

Highlights from the 'non racing' part of both states:

South Dakota
Naturally when you think of South Dakota, first thing that should pop in your mind is Mt. Rushmore. We originally were going to go into the park and see it, but instead, we just pulled off to the side of the road and had a stranger capture this gem. Sure beats the $11 parking to get the same photo op!

En route to Mt. Rushmore we had seen a billboard for the Naked Winery. Kim had sampled their wine the week before at the taste of Oregon (they have a branch in Bend, OR), so we decided it would be worthwhile and funny to see what the winery itself had to offer. How random that not only had Kim been introduced to them just the week prior, but out of their 3 locations, one of them happens to be near our destination in Custer, SD... its a sign we HAVE to drink there.

They have a 6 glass wine sample for $3- what a steal! I loved how all the names of the wine were naughty- perfect for a girl's night out. Despite it being 1 in the afternoon, there was a bachelorette party celebrating here with all the puns and witty names. I took a few photos with me and a shirt that says Climax, unfortunately my face is not appropriate for public view, so instead, enjoy these signs below... 

Although we didn't see any bears, we were promised it was Bear Country... and here I thought that was Alaska.... 

Despite lack of bear sighting,  I DID happen to see and go inside a teepee outside the Tatonka reservation. 

Apparently Kevin Costner owns this Bison attraction  that teaches you all about the difference between bison and buffalo, along with some sculptures of the animals as well. When we first stumbled upon this attraction, we were headed to expo and didn't have a lot of time, so we never ventured back to see what all the fuss was about. 

Before heading back to the airport after the race, Kim surprised me with a trip to the Berlin Wall. Sioux City, SD is a sister city to one of the German cities, therefore they were sent 2 pieces of the wall along with a lot of different signs to read about this historical point in time.  For those who aren't aware, I grew up military and was in Germany when the wall fell. I've always had a love for the country, so this was a real treat to further my knowledge. It's crazy to re-live history from a totally different perspective and at an older age who can now better comprehend what was going on. 

North Dakota 

When I think of Fargo, I immediately think of the 1996 film with their thick accents

My cousin lived in Fargo the past 4 years for school and SWEARS up and down its exciting, however Kim and I managed to mostly see strip malls and food chains. Unlike SD which has the Black Hills, gorgeous greenery and hills, ND is pancake flat with not a lot of vegetation. I was informed yesterday that due to the flatness of  the area + extreme conditions in winter, the winds get so high they blow down trees, move grills across patios, and make it difficult to be outside. Suspicions of never wanting to live here confirmed.

Immediately leaving the packet pickup we headed to Scheels (similar to Bass Pro Shop) and we found bronze statues of Abe Lincoln, Ronald Regan, George Washington, and one more who I can remember but that is who Kim took a photo with.  I went for my tallest option, honest Abe. It's really sad when you get excited by statues, but I'm pretty sure Kim is starting to share in my fascination. 

 Inside of Scheels there was a ferris wheel that you had to be a certain height to ride, if I bent down, I'm almost there.

 After race we were searching for something to do so we figured we should head to the downtown area- I saw this bison from the car so I made Kim pull over (Bison is North Dakota State University's mascot) So I've learned they are popular in SD AND ND.

The colorful bison was on top of the hill, and when we looked down we saw a huge art fair going on, so we decided to stop by.  I know I said there isn't a lot of vegetation in ND, which is why I took this photo- it was the exception to the general rule.

 Despite the ridiculous heat, I had fun and even picked out my own letters to spell out travel. They framed and mounted it for me and I have big plans for choosing favorite photos from certain races to make a memory wall.

The other major score was finding these flavored mixes that you either add 1 bottle of white wine or 1.5 cups of vodka to, add to a giant plastic bag, freeze for a few hours and voila, adult fun slushie. I bought 2 at the art fair and happened to find another vendor when I went to MN state fair few days ago that had some flavors you add red wine too. Looks like I'm in for some fun times ahead! 

Sadly that was about the extent of the fun had in ND. I dropped Kim off at the Fargo airport so I could make a headway on the long drive to Buffalo, MN to stay with my bestie, so I was only in the city for a grand total of 19 hours... I guess when you look at it that way we did have some fun. 

Someday I'd like to go back and explore the Black Hills in SD some more, however I'm pretty confident there is no need to ever go back to ND. 

Leading Ladies 1/2 (South Dakota)

The Race:

Leading Ladies 1/2 

State #43 - South Dakota

Lifetime 1/2: 53

13 in 13 Progress 11/13

Official time 1:47:52

Practically twins....

Last  year this race fit nicely by having a double header in North Dakota the day prior- I tried to convince Kim to do it as SD and ND are not cheap to get to, however she already had racing plans that weekend in VA and promised we'd do it for 2013. We stalked and stalked this weekend waiting for dates to be announced, but sadly, the ND 1/2 might have been disbanned as there was never any updates for 2013. 

We decided to do this one and ND solo and the main clencher... downhill hill course (a first for both of us)

Kim had big goals for this race, and I originally had the brilliant idea to do a full. When that didn't pan out I decided it would be my shot to break 1:40-- laziness, hectic work schedule, travels, and injuries has kept my weekly mileage under 20 miles for the last month, so most of my ambitions were just lost. 

As suggested by the name, this was an all ladies race. I'm going to be honest here, all that 'girl power' and 'empowerment' annoys me and I try to avoid them.... what's ironic is this race followed by ND and MN the following consecutive weekends are all female races as well...

Pre- Race

We decided to skip the hotel shuttles to the race start and instead drive our rental to the finish and catch those shuttles up the canyon- best idea ever considering we left shortly after race, stopped for coffee / food, AND sat in hotel hot tub before the shuttle even brought back the first round of ladies. 

A wrong turn on the bus drivers part once we got to the top of the canyon yielded us to spot hidden port o potties before we were dropped off at our location... We were the only ones apparently who saw these as most just waiting in long lines at the start. . 

We stayed up by the lodge till the sun came out and mildy stretched and talked to kill the hour before our 6am start time. I kept trying to get into Pandora (since I lost my ipod this is how i've been listening to music the past 3 months)- unfortunately no internet on top of Spearfish Canyon = no music 

The lodge

The race

We all kind of half-hazardly line up for the start and my lack of motivation is kicking in as I have no idea what I could do. My make-shift plan was to just go out easy / fast and just see how it feels. I have a rule of thumb that my first mile will make or break my race- from there I would then decide how the rest of the 12 miles were going to go. 

I could be making this up, however I felt like the first mile was the steepest or largest amount of loss, thus resulting in an almost effort-less 7:15 pace. I say almost effort less because even though my breathing was fine, my shins and calves were already hurting. The calf pain I can mildly deal with, but shin pain really bothers me because I have no idea what is going on. From a stamina standpoint, I felt like I could continue with this pace for a bit, however from the "I have 4 more half marathons in the next month" stand point, I really can't afford to push too much. A decision was made to just go easy and have 'no goal'. Man is that hard for me to do. I guess I had a mini goal- since I had no music and this is my first half without it, I could hear myself breathing--- goal was to not sound like a fat kid in need of an inhaler. I guess it worked because one of (the many) ladies who passed me halfway had said good job and when I responded with a "thank you you look great," she shouted back, "you sound like you're not working very hard" to which I replied "ya, no goal for this race" - she is only 1 or 2 people that I ended up passing back the ENTIRE race.

I took my time at the aid stations which were spaced out about every 2 miles. They had an assortment of goodies, so I tried peanut m&ms... I am not great at multi-tasking and trying to eat these while running was miserable. I managed to eat 2 and then threw the rest of my handful off the side of road. Although I love chocolate, it does not bode well while running. 

Although the scenery was gorgeous, it was really hard to keep my mind occupied because it all looked the same

I kept reminding myself how breath taking the hills and rock formations were, but then negative nancy reared her ugly head and starting vomitting about how I didn't care, I'm sick of running half marathons, can't wait to be done, I hurt, this sucks blah blah blah. This was not one of my best mental race days and I just felt like I was going through the motions and was checked out.

Although the course is downhill, its a LOT of winding as you can see from the photo- this took a toll on ankles making those sharp turns, but also from going back and forth between the main road and on the left of white line. The main traffic on the road was actually spectators in the cars driving up and down cheering on the runners, so I didn't mind too much getting over for them. Call me crazy, but prior to this race, I thought that running a downhill course meant:

• I would be able to go faster (nope, robot pace up until mile 11)
• I would feel it in hips, quads, calves (although quads and calves are sore NOW, they were fine while running)

FINALLY at mile 8 everything stopped hurting. Since I already committed to not pushing it, I remained at robot place (8-8:15) until I happen to notice at mile 11 I had internet so I turned on m Skrillex pandora and was rejuvenated. I'm the classic case of pavlov's dogs- I hear music and I immediately go faster. Since my headphones were actually around Kim's Ifitness belt I borrow (thanks Kim!) I had to just hold my phone in my hand while running to hear the music. I found it funny as I was catching up "you look great" girl that Skrillex was blaring from my phone, if I were her I would have been annoyed. When I finally passed her I apologized about my music blaring and she laughed and said it was okay. I ended up beating said girl by 3-4 min so she must have really died down after I passed her. 

Once I passed my 'friend', the rest of the race was pretty uneventful other than I finally picked up my pace so I could just be done already. It wasn't that I was hurting, it was more mental than anything. Looking back conditions were perfect- zero uphill with mostly downhills / flats, overcast, low 60s with a slight breeze, no humidity, no large crowds to bop around, perfectly placed aide stations- yet I was just not into the race. 

The last 1/2 mile was on a path that led to the park where we finished. There was an annoucer shouting everyone's name as they turned the corner for the last 100 m  and she got really excited when she read where I was traveling from (mostly a local race). Upon finishing I received my medal and rose from a ridiculously good-looking minor in a fake tuxedo shirt.

I grabbed a fruit pizza and a can of coke and went back to cheer Kim. We took a few photos, checked our results (got 5th in my age group), and then headed for some caffeine, food, and quality time in our hot tub. 

hard to tell, but there are roses in our mouth 

Despite what Kim says, I actually like my gray and purple shirt 

Medal was quite large yet it didn't say anything about South Dakota on it, which I find strange. 

Despite my lackluster attitude during the race, I would recommend it to cross off South Dakota. Although it wasn't fun getting up at 3:30, it WAS nice being finished by 8am so you have the rest of the day to yourself. The scenery is gorgeous, the temperatures were perfect, and it was extremely easy with logistics to get in and out of the state and race- as an added bonus I'm pretty sure I paid less than $50 for registration. 

State #43 complete- next up this weekend, #44 with Kim again in the 'other Dakota'