Big Sioux River

Can’t change the weather but you can still run 50K every day 🙂

3am alarm, 0n the road within 30 minutes, 2-hour drive to today’s course.  Extra nite in the same hotel.  No regrets; sleep does a body good.  Woke ready for the last leg of my Prairie adventure.  Truck-stop coffee & early morning rain.  Notta downpour, no wind, no hail… just light summer drizzle.  Would keep temps at bay a third straight day.

Lotta laps & a slow Half for Guinness Mom.  Stroller-push over rock & dirt on Baltic’s River trail not ideal.  Mom/daughter took a couple aid station breaks; I’d bust out a quick lap then rejoin.  Gal’s great company/been there every day — always with fun, young person life-stories.  Journey’s lot easier with 13+ miles under your belt.

2nd Half, Senior Olympics Day — me & German runner, Bolle.  Conditions suited me better.  Light rain, trail mud, lotta opportunity for aid station fuel.  Out-n-back just over a mile.  Would have to lap Bolle 4x to complete my distance ahead of his marathon.  I’d draft close, he’d push faster.  Popped in my ear buds, music blaring, cap low, eyes focused forward.  Hour slower than the 2 Sioux City(s) — today, trail — but another 50K first.

Final course awaits, route straddles last 2 states: North Dakota & Minnesota.

Prairie Series — Baltic SD

Montana/Wyoming/Idaho/Oregon — all states I enjoy for their Rocky Mountain similarities.  Other states, close friends or family reside.  Then... there’s a random handful I can’t explain why; I always race well & just feel at home/super comfortable — Minnesota, Kentucky and… Iowa.

Quick 10-minute drive to Riverside Park.  Dragging this day.  Out late [the] night before, enjoying the ‘social’ in social running.  Or… could just be the ‘Day 5’ blues — middle days of a long series are mentally tough.  Folks have come/gone.  Focus shifts to what’s hurting vs what new joy the day brings. Opportunity here.  Turn that frown upside down, McGruff.  Not my first rodeo 🙂

Easy scenic bike-path on Lewis and Clark Trail, alongside the Big Sioux River.  Cool comfortable morning temp.  Fields of purple.  Deer.  Leafy shade.  Slow start; progressively got faster.  Ran with Dollar Bill/the Ohio Exterminator, later Guinness Mom Chey.  2nd Half — Jason, our TV anchor from Columbus & finally, Bolle from [East] Germany.  Push, push, push.  Fastest finish of the Series.

Story of two different runners.  Quiet/negative-spirited guy at 5am & alter-ego medalist 5 ½ hours later.  Hung ’round, cheered on others, chatted with a local (John) completing his first marathon. Practice flipping mental slog/dark mindset will be a great tool for my 100-miler 👍

Less folks making the trip north to the Dakotas.  More goodbyes.  Rare 3-nite hotel stay, followed by a dark-hour morning commute to our only Prairie Series trail run in Baltic, South Dakota.

5 down, 3 states to go.  Momentum a shiftin’.

Prairie Series — Sioux City IA

Mainly 50 Award

Monday, Monday.

Long commute day prior but Day 4… your boy’s a well-oiled machine.

Shower, Applebee’s steak dinner, race-clothes prepped, 6 hours sleep.  Motel coffee early a.m. — ready, ready to run.  Crystal Cove Park, South Sioux City NE.

Welcome turn in temp.  Yesterday’s rain forecast wasn’t missed, just delayed ’til nightfall.  15-20 degrees cooler than Kansas — it’s still summer, but highs in the 70’s?  Unexpected gift.

Lost my run-bud Angela to the work week so no excuse this day.  Another quick first Half, running lotta miles with a raccoon exterminator from Ohio.  Conspiracy theorist.  New stories, new energy. I’d lose him at the Half & kept steady strong.  Music blaring, sunshine skies, a competitive marathoner from Columbus GA actively right on-my-tail.  Would cut an hour-half off my best Prairie time but still finish distance a lap after this guy’s marathon.  He’d razz me tonite at dinner, asking why I tanked a late walk-lap — fully deserved, but tomorrow’s his Day 2.  We’ll see man 🙂

Nebraska Welcome Sign: ‘the Good Life’.

That sums Day 4.  50K every day.  Living a mighty good life ❤️

Prairie Series — South Sioux City NE

[Asked a local runner, why GOOD life?  He said in Nebraska its not a GREAT life.  LOL>]