The 6 Bears: Terry's 2nd Deadwood Half Marathon

Ever since we both ran in a marathon relay in October 2015, Terry has been motivated to run more competitively. He's naturally gifted so it makes sense. In June of 2016 Terry, Jazmin, Emma, and I ran in the Deadwood Half Marathon. Terry trained kind of casually, roughly following what his Nike Run app suggested. He did the same in October 2016 for the Crazy Horse Half Marathon but had hopes to top his June time. However, he ended up being so darn consistent that he only was like one second faster overall! He was a little frustrated and decided to up his training. I got him a training book (Hal Higdon's Half Marathon Training) for Christmas that he discovered in Runners Magazine and he took great pains all spring, since March 12, to complete the advanced training plan. He was incredibly disciplined! He was up early nearly every single day, running sprints at the track, running from an hour on the weekends to eventually two hours! Finally the big day came on Sunday June 4, 2017 to put all of his training to the test.

We did not want to stay at a hotel again this year so we spent the night at Terry's folks and they watched the kids and took them to church the next morning. Jazmin also wanted to race again (her third with Terry) but didn't train as religiously as Terry. He was slightly manic, recording all of his training details like three times. Ha ha.

Jazmin met us at the ranch at 6:15am and I drove them up to the race drop off near Dumont.

I was a little nervous about being able to find Terry on the race course since I had never driven it before and it's more complicated than the Crazy Horse race. I had plenty of time to examine the various maps and I figured it out. I stopped at the first available place (Rochford Ridge Trail?) only a mile or two down the trail and found him!

Lookin good hon!

I took some video with my phone at the same time I was taking pictures. I'm so talented. ;)

The next turnoff was just off Englewood Road.

After this I had a little more difficulty. I turned off the highway to the Sugarloaf Trailhead but discovered that was wrong. Another dude helped me and we turned off on Kirk Road. I stopped right at that intersection because the trail crossed the road. However, the race course had diverted and I had to drive further down Kirk to find the correct place. I had to a wait a little longer this time. It was pretty though.

I love this trail!

Finally he along. I could tell he was wearing out with several more miles to go. It was so much warmer than last year, right from the start. Last year we were quite cold but not so this year. I took off my jacket at this point. Hot hot hot and it was only like 9am.

Video from the Kirk trail.

I took the chance and continued down Kirk Road to Deadwood. It paid off. Terry ran along that road right into the city. I took this from the road. He was so fast he was blurry! ;)

Poor guy checking his watch.

I went a short distance ahead and waited. I remember starting to get very hot at this point last year but it was nothing compared to that day.

This group kept together pretty well the whole time.

He kept up with them.

Another short way down Kirk I stopped again.

I remember hearing one of the other guys talking about how hot it was. Poor racers.

Very little shade from here.

I raced through town, afraid he would beat me to the finish line, parked at Taco John's where I probably shouldn't have, and ran to the line. I didn't have to wait more than a few minutes before he crossed.

How exhausted does he look...?!

...Not as exhausted as he looked in real time! I have watched this video over and over on my phone because it makes me laugh and giggle. For days afterward I'd watch at quiet moments and Terry would just roll his eyes. He has been trained to never ever just stop running, but to continue to jog to let his heart rate come down more gradually. But he sort of stumbled along as he was jogging and the guy handing out medals said, "All right Terry. Good job...You can stop now," as if trying to get him to stop running since he looked a little delirious. Good advice. He needed to quit!

From there, I followed him around as he cooled down. He drank the cold water they gave him, poured half of it over his head, and mumbled about how tired he was. He was stumbling along literally just like a drunk guy! I was actually scared he was going to pass out and sort of positioned myself to catch him if he did. He wouldn't stop moving but he couldn't walk straight. It was scary! The heat had done him in.

Finally he grabbed some watermelon and went over to the little patch of grass in the shade and stopped. He just collapsed in the grass.

He didn't have much too much to say but when we heard them announce an Erika had just finished he said it was the one we know. So I ran over there and it was indeed her, the woman the kids poop scoop for. She finished not many minutes after Terry and looked just amazing! Clearly the heat didn't bother her as much as some others.

I went back to Terry and he had his legs propped up on the little tree as is his custom to drain the blood out of them. He started telling me about how difficult it had been to keep going and finish. He compared it to the night before when we had been watching a show about a couple who were trapped in a blizzard and wouldn't let themselves fall asleep so they wouldn't freeze to death. They kept saying to each other "Stay awake," and Terry kept telling himself the exact same thing. He wanted to pass out while running! Yikes!

Done and done.

I went and got him some chocolate milk which revived him a bit and he started examining his pace numbers, etc.

Chocolate milk never tastes so good.

Holding up his race stats.

Guys, my husband is so fast! He ran 13.1 miles in an hour and 32 minutes with a pace of 6:59!!! He would say his adjusted average pace according to his bib timer was 7:04. He ended up 34th place out of thousands of people and was fifth in his age group. His goal was to be third in his age group so he was bummed he didn't get that. He also wanted to finish in 1:31 but he was so darn close!

He stood up and was finally ready for a selfie and some more food.

Picture time.

This year's Deadwood half was a lot harder than last year's because of the heat. Still, he knocked about ten seconds off his pace and at that speed, that is very difficult to do.

The traditional dead picture. Ha!

The stats.

We waited around for Jazmin for a while. We couldn't remember what she was wearing so we were checking in Terry's phone for the selfies he took at the start. There she is!

Looking good!

So close!

Go go go! Kinda sad I wasn't with her, but not really. Ha! I was actually totally fine to have not raced and trained this year. My knee can't take more than four or five miles before the IT band starts killing me.

All done and so happy about it! Her family came up to congratulate her and then we all left. She actually rode back with us to the ranch to fetch her Jeep. That was when I experienced the bad brakes and rotors on the van for myself - so shaky!!