On September 18, 2021, I was able to run the Mt. Rushmore Half Marathon in Keystone, South Dakota. It was a hard, beautiful, and possibly bittersweet race. The reason it was hard was because of the 8 mile hill at the beginning of the race!!
This picture of the hill kind of captures the steepness! It wasn't all this steep, but most of it was!
Part of the beauty of the race were the people running the race. At the beginning of the race, when the national anthem was played, there was a malfunction with the recording. But that didn't stop the song! We all started singing and finished it in a patriotic way!
Mt Rushmore could be seen in the distance many times!
Each of the three tunnels on the race course, Iron Mountain
Road, frames Mt. Rushmore. It is hard to see in the picture, but that is it in the distance.
There were many switchbacks and we could look up or down and see other runners.
After mile 8, it was all downhill...except for the one or two hills left!
The course also had turns called pigtails that looped around and back under
When I finished, I had the best volunteer give me my medal! Camden gave out medals from 7:00 to 11:30. He earned a $50 credit to another race....and I think he wants to use it!
The bittersweet part of the race is complicated to explain. The short answer is that I have a displaced vertebrae. The long answer is that I thought I had problems with my IT band after my race at Lake Powell in October 2020. After PT, assisted stretching, and seeing a chiropractor, along with running 4 more halfs, the chiropractor sent me for an MRI. In July I found out about my back and started getting nervous about running. My symptoms, though, came when I sat or laid down. They were painful at first in my thigh and then in my calf. Then numbness started happening more and more. Then I would get twinges of sharp pains when I turned certain ways. It was and is hard to roll over when sleeping and painful to dress. I stopped running for a while, but still was walking in order to be able to walk the Mt Rushmore half. And as always, when I exercised it felt better.
I also had to go to a spine surgeon. This visit sent my emotions into a tailspin. I was told I would need spinal fusion surgery. It was considered a severe displacement. And two steroid shots did not relieve the pain. And the numbness was a big problem. But what really was hard to hear was that after surgery, I wouldn't be able to run again. At that, I wanted to just keep running without the surgery. Just deal with the pain. But I was also told I could do permanent damage if I didn't get it fixed. After talking to people who have had surgery like this and run again, I asked the doctor more questions. He was more open about me running after surgery, just maybe not as fast. Like that matters! But I do know that it still may not happen and if it does, it will probably be a year before I can really start to do too much again.
After training for walking, with a tiny bit of running so that I could run over the finish line, the doctor asked me how my running was going. I took this to mean I could run the half! But this was 2 weeks before the race. So I wasn't in the best shape for running. But I did run the race. Yes, I walked up some of the very long hill, like many others, but I ran most of the race and my time was close to all my VR race times! Granted the downhill definitely helped my time. But I did it and can mark it off of my list as a state I have run!
So it was bittersweet because I actually ran when I thought I was going to need to walk. But this is my last half before surgery, hopefully in December. And as strong willed as I can be, I feel sure I will be able to run again. But if not, my boys said they would finish my list for me!
But for now, I am celebrating Mt Rushmore....the race and the great time we had when we were visiting South Dakota!!
I had to sign on Jefferson's face because of Virginia, The University!
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