· Date: Saturday July 6, 2019
· Where: Phillip, South Dakota to Pierre, South Dakota
· Total Distance Covered: 87 miles
· Running Partner: Rob
If I’m honest, today was difficult waking up. It was raining buckets and there were no signs that the rain would let up soon. This would be the first day where we would be running in the rain for the entirety of our miles. Considering we had been on the road for three weeks; we were lucky this was the first time. We had been super fortunate with the weather throughout the run so far.
This morning, we also didn’t have a lot to eat and hadn’t had a lot the night before either. Phillip, South Dakota was a small town and I’m not even sure people knew we were there. This was one of the hosts where we were told the code to the door and not much else. Combined with the fact that we woke up before the rest of the town, the only place to obtain food was the gas station where I had gotten the bag of beans the night previously. If you know me well, you know what happens when I am hungry.
Fortunately, we didn’t have far to run today. For some reason, the plan from Ulman only had the team collectively running eighty-seven miles to Pierre. This meant that each pair of runners would only run six miles. This would be one of our shortest days throughout the entire summer. I couldn’t help but wonder why we would be spending so long in South Dakota when we could have easily added this mileage to other days.
As we started running, we all soon became soaking wet. To maintain team morale and overall positivity, we still got out of the vans to cheer on the other runners coming in. Now, the van was hot, sweaty, and drenched in rainwater. The smell of wet running shoes combining with body odor was not pleasant, to say the least. It didn’t help that when we stopped the van on the side of the road, we couldn’t leave the doors and windows open as we usually did. The rain truly soaked all our belongings. Not having this frequent ventilation only worsened the stench. I think the team consensus, whether it was said or not, was that we were excited to finish the day and shower at the host. First, we had to survive the rain, humidity, and our own smells.
Today, I was running with Rob. Rob was running in honor of his father who passed away from cancer. We were both excited to finally be running with one another. From early on, I could tell that we had similar morals and beliefs. There were multiple times where we stayed up late talking. We both wished we had more than just six miles to run today so we could spend more time together. We weren’t sure if we would be able to get to run together again before we got to Boston. Our six miles felt like a sprint to me. Rob was quick and he pushed me a lot. Despite having to stop and use the bathroom and the cars that splashed water onto us in passing, it was a great time. Even better was the fact that the rain was now a drizzle.
Our van’s portion of today’s route was finished the fastest we had ever finished. In fact, both vans were done with their respective miles before noon. I guess our early morning start and the low mileage paid off.
Becca, who was still visiting from the Ulman Foundation, taught us how to play the cow game while we were in the van today. She and her team had played this as they ran across the country when she did 4K. I could be remembering this incorrectly, but essentially, anytime we passed cows, you claimed them for yourselves. Whoever was first to shout, “My cows!” counted as many as possible before they disappeared. These would then be added to their ongoing total. Whoever got the most cows got bragging rights. Whenever we passed a cemetery, whoever shouted this out first would have a huge advantage. This would cause everyone’s cow count to go back to zero. I think the same rule applied to bodies of water. I was terrible at this game and quickly became someone with no cows. I gave up fast. I’m still not sure I liked the game.
The host tonight was incredible. It was an old church with a three-story school attached. We set up our stuff in the gymnasium and asked our host if we could help with anything. Even though we were hours earlier than expected, they told us to enjoy our time off and enjoy our shortened day. They were nice people that wanted us to fully take advantage of our situation. Knowing it would be a while until we ate, a few of us decided to go to a diner close by. It had been over a day since we had an actual meal and we were starving.
After showering and relaxing a bit, John-Hanson, a few others, and I decided to walk to the South Dakota State Capital Building. At this point, the rain had stopped, and the capitol building was about a half-mile away from the church. A little way past that was a veteran’s memorial. It had a reflecting pool, fountain, life-size statues, and plaques honoring each veteran that ever served in South Dakota. The peace, quiet, and solemnity of the place spoke volumes and made the whole display powerful. What was crazy was that we saw maybe five other people on the capitol grounds. There was a lot of people out on the streets, but we saw almost no one on the grounds of the capital. I thought it was strange until I remembered it was Saturday. I still couldn’t believe that a capital city could be so quiet. John-Hanson and I later learned that the population of Pierre wasn’t even 14,000 people and is one of only four state capitals to have no attachment to an interstate. We were in the capital, but we felt isolated. It showed just how rural South Dakota is.
I remember talking with John-Hanson on the way back about our experiences with our schools and fundraising for 4K. We had a lot of similarities and ran into a lot of the same troubles with fundraising. It was a really good conversation. John-Hanson also ran into problems with not getting responses from people, other university clubs and organizations preventing certain fundraisers, and dealing with the overall politics of an educational institution. We both agreed that we got support from our schools, but we both wished that they had given us more as well.
The host that night was as nice as they had been during our arrival. We hadn’t had a community dinner for a few nights now and we were able to share our stories and hear theirs. We bonded and grew closer as we ate and intermingled. I remember speaking with one man who ended up being the organist for the church. His family had a close connection to cancer, and he shared with us his appreciation for what we were doing. I could see the twinkle in his eyes as he spoke.
Once dinner had ended, Luke and the organist decided to play some music together. The church was soon filled with beautiful music. Luke is an accomplished classical pianist who was able to complement the Organists’ style of music. It amazed me how after over three weeks of not practicing, Luke still had amazing skills on the piano. He only practiced if the host happened to have a piano and allowed him to play. Usually, these were churches. Their playing reminded me of my mom’s piano music, and it made me miss home a lot.
Tonight, was my favorite community dinner we so far.
After dinner, everyone started settling in for the night since we had an early start to the morning coming up. Rob, Rizwan, and I were packing away food for the night and organizing it to have an earlier start the next morning when we decided to have a little fun. We started to sneak around the church, grabbing people and sneaking them into a storage room with no questions asked. Soon, Rob, Rizwan, and I started challenging each other to see who could grab more people without being noticed by those left outside. We wanted to get everyone inside the storage closet without Becca knowing. People started disappearing left and right without a sound. When we snuck out to see who was left, those that noticed people were gone looked beyond confused. When Becca finally did find all twenty-eight of us stuffed into the closet, it was hilarious.
Looking back on this, I’m not sure what caused us to start discreetly gathering people up and hiding them. I’m not even sure if it’s funny to others reading this. But with my exhaustion, I thought it was the funniest thing ever.
Then we all stayed up later than we probably should have and played sardines for the next hour or so. It was so much fun and even though we probably should have been sleeping to rest up for the next day, it was totally worth it.
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