How Lucky Am I.....

 The Deadwood Mickelson Trail Race has been on my bucket list of races to do for years and years. This past weekend, I was finally able to run it. I had originally signed up for the full marathon, but had to drop down to the half-marathon because I injured my leg earlier in the year. It was a difficult decision, but after taking six weeks off to recover, I realized that with only eight weeks left before the race, I wouldn't have enough time to train properly for a marathon.

But the Universe had a different plan for me. She knew I was disappointed to not be running the full marathon with Amy, Carey, and Sam, so she gave me a new running partner for the race. 

My 14-year-old grandson Eli had just started training for a race in the Fall. He had come along to cheer us on as we ran, but at the last minute, he decided he should give running the half-marathon a try. The race was on Sunday, and he signed up on Saturday! Eli had never run farther than 10 miles, and even then, he had only done it once.

I was so excited to run with him! 

We had to take a bus to the start line. We were lucky enough to get on a bus that broke down on the way 😧 Thankfully, we only had to wait about 15 minutes for a replacement bus to arrive and drive us to the start.  

It is fun to put some beads on our shoe laces for a little inspiration while running. Eli thought he was pretty funny with his. 

We are ready to run!!

The day was very hot! It was 73 when we started the race at 8:00 and 85 when we finished. 

 Other than the last mile of the race, we ran on crushed limestone and gravel. The race was a lot harder than I thought it would be, with 90% of the half-marathon being downhill. I was surprised by how hard it was, given the heat and the elevation change from Minnesota. 

But even with all the struggles that day brought, I had so much fun!   

From the moment I learned that Eli would be running with me, my race-day goals completely shifted. From then on, my only objective was to make sure he enjoyed the experience and to help him reach the finish line in a time I knew he was capable of running.

When we got close to the finish line, I told Eli we had to cross the line together. He came back with no way, I am going to beat you 😂 And as you can see, he pulled away from me and soundly beat me by 4 seconds. Eli finished in 2:26:08, and I finished in 2:26:12. 

I could not have asked for a better day of making memories with Eli 💖

After we finished the race, we went on to cheer Amy, Carey, and Sam on. They ran the marathon, which has 14 miles of uphill!!! It was a very hard race! I am so impressed with all three of them. But Carey gets extra kudos because this was his very first marathon!!!! 

Carey and Sam at mile 18. I sadly did not get a picture of Amy at mile 18. It was close to 90 degrees by the time Amy, Carey, and Sam finished the race. It took so much grit for them to finish. 

Amy and Carey are running into the finish. They had less than 200 yards to go!

And here we all are, finishers of a very hard race!!! 

It was a fantastic weekend. I could not be prouder of how everyone did and fought on to the end. I look forward to running with all of them again. 

Do hard things....

Sharon 

"Certainly, travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living." - Mary Ritter Beard

 Our three-week adventure was so much fun! We did and saw so many new things. 

The van served us well. After three weeks of living in her, she proved her worth again, keeping us warm, cool, and dry through all the weather changes 

We took three days to get to Alabama. Our first stop was at Mississippi Riverfront Campgrounds. It is in the tiny town of Canton, Missouri. We were right on the shores of the Mississippi, and we were the only ones in the campgrounds. We had eagles sitting in a tree watching us. It was a perfect setting for the first night of our trip. 

Day two took us to Chickasaw State Park in Henderson, Tennessee. Sadly, we spent too much time on the road getting there, so we did not get to explore the park. It is a beautiful park and is on our list of places we need to go back to. 

Day three, we made it to our first intended destination. Alabama Coast Campgrounds in Foley, Alabama. We usually like to stay in State or County parks when we travel, but we were in Foley for the ASA Archery Event, so we booked at an RV park that was close to the venue. It ended up being pretty nice. Not too big, and as a bonus, they had free laundry! 

Rick has never shot an ASA event before, so he really did not know what to think going in. On Thursday, he shot in a team event and had so much fun! He got to meet and shoot with a great group of people. They ended up coming in 4th place in the team event. 

On Friday and Saturday, he shot in the individual event. The ASA shoot is at 3-D targets. Rick was in the Senior, marked 40-yard class, so the farthest he shot was 40 yards away.  He had a lot of fun and learned a lot. Now that he knows what it is all about, he wants to go back again. 

The weather was hot and humid for the first three days we were in Foley. On Saturday afternoon, we drove to Gulf Shores, Alabama, to pick up my race packet. We got to see the Gulf of Mexico for the first time. 

Sunday was my big day. I ran the We Run This Beach half-marathon. It was the best I have ever felt running a half-marathon. It was 39 degrees with 22 mph winds when the race started. But I did not let it bother me; I had been training hard in the cold and wind all winter. I felt so good the whole time I ran; not once did I get into my head. I just ran with joy the whole time. The course was so pretty; the whole thing was in Gulf Shores State Park. We got to run along the Gulf of Mexico for a lot of it. 

I ended up with a PR!!! I was so happy! I could not have asked for a better race. 

It was the perfect way to end our time in Alabama. 

We set off for our next destination on Monday morning: Texas. We spent one night at Sam Houston Jones State Park in Lake Charles, Louisiana. We spent the afternoon biking along some of the trails. 

It was really pretty. 

A day later, we made it to Henly RV Park, in Henly, Texas, to meet up with our friends Jane and Paul. 

We had so much fun with them. They took us all over, showing us the sights. We ate at such great restaurants! 

Our first stop was at Blanco State Park. Rick was very excited that he got to do a little fishing.

We also stopped and visited LBJ State Park

You cannot go to Texas without stopping in the little town of Luckenbach. It is this tiny little town that country singers love to stop by and sing. They have had many famous singers stop by. 

After 5 days visiting with Jane and Paul, it was time for our next destination. 

We spent the next 5 days in Caprock Canyon State Park in Quitaque, Texas

The park is the home of a herd of 300 bison. They roam freely throughout the park. On our first evening there, we decided to take a little hike on a trail near the campgrounds. We got about a half mile in and ran into about a dozen bison making their way down the trail...we turned around pretty fast and made our way back 😂

I picked this park to stay at because of the miles and miles of mountain biking trails. I am not a big mountain biker, but Rick loves it. 

The trails started up pretty easily, but then they were not! I had to walk my bike down several of the hills 😆, it was way out of my comfort zone. But I hung on and managed most of it pretty well. We did run into bison on the trail again and had to change our plans. But at least we were near an intersection, so we did not have to go all the way back from where we started. 

After a day of biking, we got to go on the hike we got chased off of the day before.

 

So many pretty and challenging trails to hike. We saw a few bison near the trails, but we managed to get past them. 

This is a picture of the trail! It was a little challenging going up the rocks! 

The views from the top were worth the climb up. 

Right outside the park is a trailway system that is on an old train track. The first 2 miles are in the wide open and seem like they will go on forever. But soon we were in the canyon area of the trail. 

The trail is known for this tunnel. In the summer, it is the home of thousands of bats. It is pretty dark in the tunnel. As we went in, I soon discovered that I should be on the side that Rick was on. My side was deep soft sand. The side Rick was on had wood planks to bike on. I, of course, got stuck in the sand and then proceeded to fall over. I was covered in gross bat poop sand!!! Thankfully, I had some wet wipes in the backpack so I could clean up. It was pretty comical. 

The rest of the trail was very pretty; we saw several deer and a cow on the trail 🐮. We biked 20 miles that day. 

I was sitting outside the campervan, relaxing, and I looked up to see three bison within 20 yards of me! Needless to say, I went inside the van to watch them until they moved on down the campgrounds.  

One last day to hike, our longest hike so far, 6.7 miles with an elevation gain of 981 feet. It was so beautiful.  

A great way to end our time at the park. 

We had three days to travel home, so we had planned to stop at the State Park in Kansas for two days. After checking the weather, we discovered that most of Kansas was under severe thunderstorm warnings and tornado watches. So we decided to stop in Oklahoma for the night because the weather looked much better with just rain in the forecast for the night. We stopped at Salt Plains State Park in Jet, Oklahoma. 

It is a nice little park right on the Salt Plains fork of the  Arkansas River. 

We got to do a little biking and check out the dam. Only two other campers were in the campgrounds. 

That night, Mother Nature decided that she was going to change the path of the storms and put them right where we were 😮. We were right in the path of a tornado!! The campgrounds did not have a storm shelter, but we took our chances and ran in the pouring rain and hail to the bathrooms in hopes that we would be safe. The tornado landed less than a mile from where we were. I was terrified. It finally passed, and we made our way back to the campervan. We got woken up at 2:00 AM to 60 mph winds and rain. Needless to say, we did not get very much sleep. The next morning, on the way out of town, we came across several power lines snapped in half. It was quite an exciting end to our trip! 

After all of that, we decided to drive the 10 hours home instead of spending another night on the road. We just stayed ahead of all the severe storms that were still in the area. 

We had so much fun on this trip. It is so nice that we are both retired and we don't have to stick to any schedule anymore. We love getting out and seeing the country. The campervan is the perfect way for us to travel. It is our second home on wheels. We are already making plans for our next year's winter trip...

Let the adventures begin....

Sharon