Sioux Falls South Dakota Marathon

A person’s word should always be their bond, if you say you’re going to do something , than do it.  Just like anything in life, if you make a vow you should always keep it even if it is not always easy or fun, this applies to everything, marriage, parenting, your job, almost everything in life that is worth doing.  I have said that I wanted to run a marathon in every state and then made a promise to do so after one of my friends, Mike Edenfield, passed away.  He had been on this same quest when his life unexpectedly came to an abrupt end.  I became more determined to finish out the 50 state quest, partly as my own goal and also in memory of him.  Looking at some of the states, it seems really fun getting to see some awesome destinations but however, there are a few places that do not seem like great vacation hot spots but they must be done.

Just 3 weeks after my trip to Las Vegas had me scheduled to spend 2 weeks in the Midwestern portion of the country and spending a weekend with nowhere to be and nothing to do and thus looking for a nearby marathon.  The closest race  was a mere 12.5 hour drive away in Sioux Falls South Dakota.  I had planned to leave work on Friday and drive up to Omaha Nebraska to spend the night before finishing the final drive up to South Dakota the next day.  The trip was not that bad, going up through Kansas City and up to Omaha, I’ve spent a few trips in that area and really like Omaha Nebraska but north of that is a bit of a no man’s land.  I did not really know what to expect coming into Sioux Falls and found it to be a pretty small town but thought that it was kept looking pretty nice and the park around the falls was a positive experience.  I had anticipated the course to be pretty flat and assumed that it would also be a little bit cooler since it was now September and it is pretty far North.

I was a bit mistaken on my assumptions for this race, there were plenty of hills and the temps were in the mid 80’s plus there were almost no trees to keep the sun’s rays at bay.  I had hoped that this would be my chance to get back into the mix for running a fast marathon again but a week before I had a freak strain in my left hamstring that had me sitting out and not running at all in order to recover in time.  I just wanted to finish the race and go back home.  This race had a couple of pacers to stay with in order help some folks keep with their goals.  I started running with the 3:05 group but everyone including the pacer dropped off by mile number 8 due to the heat and humidity being a bit too much.  I slowed down as well and dropped back to the 3:15 group until the pacer apologetically had to tap out at the 12 mile marker.  There were also quite a few hills but the I did find the downtown area and the run through the Sioux Falls park to be quite nice until my hamstring began to hurt terribly around mile 15.  I should have stopped but I figured I could suffer for the next 11 miles and check this one off so I gritted my teeth and grinded it out.  I ended up finishing with a disappointing 3:45 marathon time but was glad to be done with it and go home.  All I could think about was getting some dry clothes on and a little something to eat but that did not happen right away.

I was pleased with the race shirt and the high quality medal that was given out at the finish line.  The race was a point to point course with a bus that was supposed to shuttle the finishers back to the start where we could get our cars.  Since the race was on Sunday and I had to be back at work on Monday, I planned on driving the 12.5 hours back in one day.  I figured since the race began around 6:30 that I could be done and back to my vehicle by 11 at the latest.  There were a lot of positives about the race but the experience became very sour when I realized that there was only 1 bus to take runners back to the start which left me waiting for 2 ½ hours until I could get back to the start line.  While waiting in the blistering sun, there was even one runner that passed out in the heat and had to leave in an ambulance.  That is how life goes, sometimes you must endure the bad to enjoy the good.  I made the drive back and got to the hotel late but am glad to have marathon #15 in the books.  Now I look forward to trying to rehabilitate my hamstring before running in Dover Delaware in less than 6 weeks.  This is going to be a rough ride.