Terry and Jazmin's Crazy Horse half marathon

On Sunday, October 9, 2016 Terry and Jazmin ran their second half marathon together. The first one I took part in, but because of unceasing IT band knee pain, I wanted a long break from running. These two were more than ready for more though, obviously, so they signed right up.

Terry continued training right after our Deadwood half marathon in June. One Friday a month before the race Terry wanted to do a long run but I didn't want to sit at home and wait. So we all went! I pulled the two little boys behind the bike and Noah and Evie rode themselves. We all had our work cut out for us to keep up with daddy.

One week before the race, the six of us plus Chris and Jazmin, drove up to Crazy Horse to do a long practice run. 

It was a gorgeous Sunday afternoon. 

Even though Samuel learned how to pedal his bike back in June, he couldn't get himself started. He figured it out on this 10 mile ride though. It was all downhill so that made it easier for him to start and by the end it didn't matter if he was up or downhill - he finally had it figured out.

Chris took this picture of me and the boys one time we passed him. He was a great help with Samuel. If I was stuck behind with Ezra, Chris would help Samuel out. Plus he made Noah and Evie feel a bit safer since daddy had driven back down to Hill City and was running up towards us. 

About six miles into our ride and four into Terry's run, we finally passed each other. 

Jazmin will never again eat mac and cheese before a run - her stomach hurt her a lot.

Fast forward to Saturday, October 8 when I made a special pasta meal for carbo loading. 

It was seriously the best fettucini alfredo I've ever had or made. 

On race day morning David drove Terry and Jazmin up to Crazy Horse since I didn't want to get the kids up at 5am. Fist bump.

 Fist bump explosion. What a sunrise right?!!

What a gorgeous picture thanks to David! 

There he is :) 

About the time the sun was coming up at 7am we were finishing breakfast. I sent Terry this picture when he said they had arrived.

The race started at 8am sharp and they were ready to go.

We arrived just as the first runners were coming down the road from the Crazy Horse parking lot. It was only 8:24am or so when Terry showed up. He's wearing the lime green shirt to the far left.

We only had to hang out five minutes or so and Jazmin and a whole crew of others came into view. Go Jazmin! Unfortunately that was the only time we saw Jazmin until the end. 

We got back on the highway and could see Terry running along the road. At the first intersecting road, I pulled off and drove down a bit to this bridge. Terry crossed it after not long! 

The next intersection we had to wait a little bit at. But once I decided to climb down the hill, there was Terry coming out from under the highway. 

Next we pulled off at exactly the same place where we had passed Terry on our bike ride.  

It was so fun to cheer him on. WAY more fun than running.

Pretty much right around the corner was another pull off and I took it. At this point I could tell Terry was very tired. Afterwards he said I was right and that his legs just left heavy. 

A few miles outside of Hill City the Mick crosses over the highway. 

We pulled off one more time before the finish line.  

It sure went fast from our point of view! 

We parked in Hill City and not long at all later Terry came in to view at the top of the road. 

Go daddy go!!! 

His time was actually a bit less since he didn't cross the starting line until a few seconds after the clock began. 

We let him breath a bit and then went forward to congratulate him. 

Shortly thereafter we got back in the van to drive back up the highway in search of Jazmin. I felt bad we hadn't seen her but the course was such that we couldn't track both of them. However, we could not find her. The racers started to be walkers and we figured she was in front of us somewhere too far away to see. So we went back to Hill City and it was a lucky thing. Truly, as soon as we arrived, there she was.

Go Jazzy go!

Daw, what good runners they are. 

Fist bump. 

Fist bump explosion. 

Terry had been on a pop fast since April before our first half marathon and he continued it all summer. He was so ready for a Coke. 

Just like last time, he played dead. 

Jazmin's family came up to cheer her on! 

Jazmin crushed her previous time. She improved her pace by 30 seconds! Most likely because I wasn't there to hold her back! Ha! 

Terry improved his overall time by 3 seconds. He was bummed but I think he did amazing. 

He earned that Coke! 

Oh yeah! 

fall in Spearfish Canyon and our Iron Creek hike

On Terry's day off, Friday September 30, the six of us loaded up and drove north to Spearfish Canyon to take in the fall colors. I was worried we would have completely missed any color due to high winds the day before, but there were still more than enough leaves on the trees. 

It took what seemed like forever to get up there and we were thankful to get out of the Envoy when we reached The Latchstring Inn. The little waterfall across the road was the first thing to catch my eye.

Next we took a short 1 mile-ish hike down below the restaurant to Little Spearfish Falls. We crossed a bridge not long before the falls. Looking upstream.

Downstream. 

The falls plus four kids. 

We had Noah take our photo like back in the day when Terry and I posed here in our dating days. 

So pretty. 

Next we drove down the road a few more miles until we came to a small parking lot on the west of the highway called Iron Creek. There we ate our packed lunch before we went on a longer two mile hike. 

Looking further down the road to the north. 

South, the way we had just come.  

Just starting out on our hike. 

We brought along Ezra's Strider bike, which was a blessing and a curse. I ended up carrying it for at least half the time. 

Everyone was a bit tired from the drive and probably due to the overcast sky.  

Pretty little waterfall. 

We scrambled around down there for a while. 

Next to the waterfall was a little mining hole or something. The kids were all drawn to it but I checked it out first.

It went back way deeper than I figured and it totally freaked me out. 

Leaving the waterfall. 

Tired Evie sat still too long so daddy sprinkled leaves on her. 

Going through some tall grass, getting near the end of the trail. 

We turned around after about a mile of hiking when we reached a barbed wire fence. The creek had dried up, it wasn't as pretty, and everyone was tired. This is that same tall grass only from the other direction. 

The banks of the creek just got higher and higher so it wasn't as magical. Plus up higher the creek wasn't running. So weird. 

Almost back. 

This is my favorite shot from that day. Love it! 

I had to squat next to the creek bed to get this shot but I loved those red leaves. 

It started raining on us half back down the trail, hence the white sky. We were almost back at this point. 

I loved the yellow leaf strewn path. 

We got back in the Envoy and continued driving north. This is Bridal Veil Falls. Every time we came around a curve I wanted to stop and take pictures, everything was so beautiful. 

We stopped at Dairy Queen for a treat and then went and bought a four bike bike rack from someone in town whose facebook ad we had seen on the garage sale page. By this time the clouds had passed and it was sunny and hot. Too bad the clouds couldn't have cleared earlier but we still had a great day.