Leading Ladies Marathon (#12)... Race RUNdown

This weekend I'll be completing my South Dakota Marathon- and guess what? It's all women!!!





Inspiration Points...
1. No boys allowed!!!!
2. This race is all downhill!!! They bus you out to the start at 6,000 ft and run to the bottom at 3,400 ft. FUN!
3. 9th State this year... I will get my 4th spinny star on the maniacs!!!
4. South Dakota Redemption!!! Scroll to the bottom to hear my SD running story from 10 YEARS ago! I will get you back South Dakota!

The RUNdown #12 Leading Ladies Marathon
When: Sunday August 16, 2009
Where: Spearfish, SD
Year Running: 5th!
2009 Expected Field: 107 Currently Signed up
Age group Expected: 7 Currently Signed up
2008 Field: 97
...Females: 97! DUH!!!
...Age Group: 4
2008 Avg. Finish Time: 4:46:04
Weather:
Ummmm... can we say IDEAL? Yes, yes we can! Upper 40's??? OMG I'm beyond excited! I haven't ran a marathon in the 40's or even 50's since... well, ever!!! All of my races have been super hot and I'm SURE are in some part a cause to my leg cramps.

If there were just a few showers through the race I would be VERY happy... Do you hear me mother nature??? If I have ideal weather conditions and make a PR I will plant a TREE!!!!











Course:
DOWNhill! It's supposed to be very fast and beautiful!
Some excerpts from Marathon Guide on the course...

~"This was, by far, the most beautiful course and one of the fastest courses I have run yet. Spearfish Canyon is not only breathtaking; it also has PR potential." (sounds like a plus)

~"I am not kidding when I say that the race runs entirely downhill - there are no flats to be found. There were points in the last eight miles where I thought I seriously wasn't going to be able to finish because of the pounding my legs and joints were taking" (Something to watch out for)

~Beautiful scenery the entire way; mostly downhill; great aid stations

... and I'm not just pulling out the "good" ratings. I didn't see a single bad one!

Race 411:
~Race Director, Elaine Doll-Dunn, is supposed to be amazing! Very inspiring and energetic. You very rarely hear people's ratings include comments about the director! I was shocked to see just HOW many people were raving about her.
~Water Stops- I've seen mixed reviews on the water stops. Some say they're fantastic and some say they're scanty. I will check it out this weekend and report back!
~This is a smaller, quieter marathon so the spectators will be far and few between. In this case, I'm ok with that! If you read the post on Hatfield-McCoy, I really enjoyed the quiet among the beautiful scenic view! This race is supposed to have amazing scenery.

Race Plan:
I've been feeling a little under the weather, but hopefully that clears up real fast!!! If the weather stays as perfect as it looks now I'm going to try for a hard race. We'll see how that goes! Of course I'll be bringing my many leg cramp remedies with me and testing them out. I will report back asap.

South Dakota... 1999:
10 years ago I was in 8th grade... yikes! I really don't like that I can remember 10 years ago, but that's a whole other story. Alright, in 8th grade I went on a Paavo running camp. Don't know what paavo is? It's an older running method that involves putting in a LOT of miles-- even for high school kids. In my experience it burns people out, but hey! it works for some.

The camp I went to was Paavo West-- two weeks of traveling by 15 passenger vans from IL out to WY then back, stopping 3 times a day to run... and by run, I mean run FAR! When we got to SD our mid day run was a 10 miler in the middle of summer, in 90-something degree heat with 100% humidity on black top. Who thinks this is a bad idea?? I DO!!!! About halfway we got to Mt. Rushmore, which is the last thing I remember seeing before waking up in a hospital. Something like 5 of us went to the hospital that day with heat exhaustion.

My goal? Get BACK at Mt. Rushmore!!! I'm 10 years stronger and I'm determined to have a much improved performance from my last visit! Bring it South Dakota!!!