Brian Johnson (MM8807, DA707, HF7287)-
- Marathon 39
- State 23 (and holding)
- Sioux Falls Marathon (August 28th)
The Sioux Falls Marathon was one that I was a little torn about doing. It’s a hometown race and chance to go home for a few days. The race also had 2 years in a row where they had to cancel the full marathon.
What made me decide to take the risk was two reasons,
- The 50 States Marathon Club was having a quarterly meeting there
- There was a chance to meet Steve Yee, “the Prez” of Marathon Maniacs and one of the three founders.
Steve was in the process of completing his 50 state journey, and needed to complete a marathon in South Dakota. The Sioux Falls Marathon was going to be that race.
That was enough for me to decide to do it.
The race was also going to have a large contingent of Marathon Maniacs/Half Fanatics present. It was a great chance to meet a number of amazing people whose stories I have only read online.
The race itself is ok. Its a smaller race with a 6 1/2 hour(ish) time limit.
On race morning, we started with an overcast sky, but when the sun came out, the day changed in a hurry. By the end of the race, it was 87 degrees and 70% humidity.
The race course is a running tour through Sioux Falls. The first 14 miles have some decent elevation change.
The full marathoners start about 30 minutes before the half marathon starts. we all run the same course. The views can be really cool. In all the years I lives in town, I never stopped and went on on some of the streets on foot.
When you get to around mile 7, the half marathoners make their turn and the full marathoners are on their own. It can get extremely lonely very quickly if you are a 12 -14 Minute mile runner.
Mile 10 came close to my moms house. I made sure the knew where the course was. She drove the 5 blocks over to see me come by.
The second half of the course goes runs primarily on the bike trail around the city. Once we got past the soccer fields, it got pretty quiet.
I did get to see 2 friends from high school that I hadn’t seen in more than 10 years along the race course. They were helping out.
Now…About the rhino.
The race course runs right behind the Great Plains Zoo. It was pure luck that as I was running along I looked over and saw the rhino.
I remember thinking to myself, “Holy crap, that’s a Rhino!” I quick took a photo.
Right after I took his picture, it was like her realized I just did it, because he tried to go inside and hide.
Somewhere around mile 19, my leg started to cramp. I realized if I kept running that I was going to have a bad day. So I started to speed walk instead. I speed walked the last 7 miles in to the finish.
The race has a 6 1/2 hour cutoff. I knew I was going to have to chance it when I was only at 24 1/2 miles at the cutoff. Thankfully, it wasn’t an issue.
I was able to get to the end and complete the race in a less-than-stellar fashion. 7:03:59
They did have ice cream waiting at the end. The beer was out.
I was glad to complete the race. It was my 11th marathon in 10 months since I returned to racing after breaking my wrist.
This race did take a little more out of me than I had anticipated. the recovery has been a bit slow.
Next stop, New York Marathon in November.
Photo Credit Brian Johnson and Steve Yee and the Marathon Maniacs Facebook Pages.
I have a hometown marathon that I have run many times. My mom came out the first time I ran it and was at the finish line. Mohawk Hudson Marathon. No animals along it but we did used to have a half marathon in our area that was more out in the country and we used to run by alpacas!