 The Sioux Falls Skedaddle presented by Avera is excited to welcome to our elite athlete field; from Bismarck, North Dakota, April Lund. Career Highlights:
For more on April checkout this feature in Runner's World  AuthorThis article was produced by the 605 Running Company marketing team. If you would like to submit a story idea please email greg@run605.com
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 I've been saying this for several months now. The Sioux Falls Skedaddle really is a weekend adventure. I love this city and have called it home for most of my life. As a new parent I've really grown to appreciate some of the truly wonderful experiences our big-little city has to offer. Today I want to highlight The Great Plains Zoo. Let's be honest. As runners we can be pretty selfish when it comes to planning a race weekend. As I've gotten into race management and being a new parent I've really tried to look at all of the things it would take for me to commit to a race these days. Having stuff for my family to do is a big deal. During the pandemic the zoo has consistently been a safe place for us to go to escape our house and burn off energy. Chelsea and I have had a zoo membership for years. Even before we were parents the zoo was very flexible with our membership and allowed us to add our nieces and nephews to our membership. That meant whenever they visited we had an affordable option to create lasting memories. On our recent trips to the zoo we've really gotten some great close encounters with wildlife! Tigers with a roar you could hear throughout the grounds, primates hooting with delight, the elegance a grace of a giraffes movement and recently Violet's favorite the massive rhino! As frequent guests at the zoo we've even shared some great experiences with the zoo keepers too. Did you know that they have an armadillo at the zoo? Violet was treated with a rare look at this unique animal on one of our more adventurous visits (it was kinda cold outside, but we needed to get out of the house). We also were treated to a wonderful song from the singing dogs! Trust me if you are bringing kids to Skedaddle weekend you are going to want to checkout the zoo! If you go: Great Plains Zoo 805 S. Kiwanis Avenue, Sioux Falls, SD 57104 (605) 367-7003
Over the next few weeks we will be introducing you to some amazing runners coming to race in the Sioux Falls Skedaddle Half Marathon. Coach Benson Lang'at has been working very hard to recruit this group of athletes to join us on race day and we are thrilled to be offering the highest level of running competition in the Midwest.  The Sioux Falls Skedaddle Half Marathon presented by Avera is excited to welcome to our men's elite field for the 2021 race, from St. Paul, Minnesota, Tyler Morey. Career Highlights:
  You would be hard pressed to find someone that has made as much of an impact on the local running community in the past five years as Nate Schwab. This local filled in some pretty big shoes for his tenure as President of the Sioux Falls Area Running Club. What might be more impressive is his ability to pass the torch successfully. For anyone that has worked in the non-profit world you know how tricky that can be in such a passionate space. Nate has successfully grown the trail race series, organized the run club board and structure and made lasting relationships across our great community. We are all very thankful for the dedication and commitment from Nate and we are very excited to highlight Nate as a local runner today. Enjoy getting to know Nate in his own words. What/who inspired you to start running? I started running in earnest after college. I was working a lot and started going for runs on beautiful days to spend some time outside and to get some exercise. Then a good friend invited me to run the Canaries 5k with him. I had no idea what I was doing or if I was in shape enough to run it with him. I just tried to stay with him the whole time and ended up getting 3rd! During the game they called my name and I got a trophy, and after that, I was hooked. I started running more, getting all the gear, and signing up for every 5k I could. That was 15 years ago and the rest is history. Where is your favorite place to run? I have a deep love for running on trails. My first trail run was the Newton Hills 10k back in '08 and it completely changed my life. Running through the woods made me feel like a kid again. I was already running more and racing, but now I had a deep desire to seek out and run trails whenever I could. Unfortunately, I didn't know about most of the trails around Sioux Falls, and a lot of them didn't even exist. I'd travel to destination trail races and always ran Newton Hills when I could. It led me to start the Trail Series and help grow the trail running scene in the area. I've been on some beautiful trails over the years but Newton Hills will always hold a special place in my runner’s heart. If I'm just in Sioux Falls my favorite place to run is out at Great Bear or Big Sioux Rec. What is your favorite weather to run in? I absolutely love running in the fall with peak colors. The temps are cool and the scenery is gorgeous. A close second is a winter run while snowing or right after a snow. Temps between 25-30 and no wind. It always feels so magical like I'm in a snow globe. Everything looks like a postcard with the beautiful snow covering everything and even running on pavement feels great with the extra cushion below every footfall. Do you prefer group runs or solo runs? I have to say I really enjoy both. I always enjoy a group run or simply running with a good friend. It makes the miles fly by and I get to spend some quality time getting to know people or catching up. I also really love running alone. I'm a huge fan of music and have an extensive and ever growing catalogue to listen to. I create playlists of my favorite new music for every race I run. Have you experienced any dreaded injuries, and if so, how did you cope and persevere? I have had my share of injuries over the years. Nothing serious, just overuse injuries for the most part. I've found the key to staying healthy is moderation. I usually don't run more than 3 days a week and as the years have passed, I've started to cross train more and more with mountain biking, soccer, and most recently climbing. You can never go wrong with strength training and yoga too. What’s your favorite post-run meal? I have always had a weakness for chocolate milk and ice cream. What are some barriers you have faced in your running journey? I ran my first marathon in 2009 and I started cramping up after the halfway point. I stuck with 1/2 marathons after that and would inevitably run into cramping issues at the end of almost all those races too. I was in this rut for years. Finally, in 2017 I participated in a beet juice running study with Lizzie Kasparek. Within the study I had to take a sweat test and found out that I sweat out salt 3x more than the average person. No matter how much Gatorade or whatever I drank, I would have never replaced enough salt to keep from cramping up in longer races. Armed with this knowledge and using special hydration, I've now completed a couple 50k races and a random quarantine marathon at Good Earth. What advice would you give to somebody thinking about starting to run? Find what makes you happy. Some people find love on trails and others on the bike trail. Some are motivated by races while others prefer to run solo and never post or record it. Sioux Falls has two huge running communities with SF Women Run and 605 Running Company/SF Area Running Club. There are so many awesome people to meet and run with, that just getting out and meeting some of these people, could change your whole outlook on running. Every one of us runners was you at some point, so just don't be afraid to start and more importantly, keep going! Describe your best “runner’s high” moment. I've had several runners’ high moments, with most of them coming while racing. I can remember vividly turning the last corner to start heading downhill for the final 3/4 of a mile of the Newton Hills 10k, and Metallica Dyers Eve, coming on my playlist and just flying down the hill with chills on the back of my neck. I had another similar experience at the Brookings 1/2 marathon entering the last mile and Sturgill Simpson Call to Arms came on and the adrenalin flowed as I poured all my energy into finishing the race. I'll also never forget getting through two-thirds of the Black Hills 50k and realizing I was actually going to finish a 50k. I just thought of my wife and kids and shed some tears as I ran through the wilderness, so thankful for the experience and wishing they could have been with me to experience it AuthorThis article was produced by the 605 Running Company marketing team. If you would like to submit a story idea please email greg@run605.com  Our friend Chris has an amazing ability. Really, you might consider it a super power in the running world. He can run at any pace, with almost any member of our running community, with the exact same stride and effort. You would be hard pressed to find a better ambassador for our local running community than Chris Anderson. He finds joy in volunteering at freezing cold ultra-marathons, meets countless different groups of friends all across the city to run with throughout the week, gives some of the most thoughtful gifts in celebration and willingly shares his passion and knowledge of birds in the coolest possible way. Ladies and gentlemen we proudly present our nationally recognized Meet the Local Blog series post today; in his own words, the man, the myth, the #CaNotOnInstagram – Chris Anderson. Who/what inspired you to start running? Both of my parents were runners, and I remember watching my dad run local road races when I was young. I’m not sure if I thought it looked fun or painful…probably some of each. It eventually led to trying cross country in high school, and never looking back. When did you start running? In earnest during the summer of 1995, before starting high school. Where is your favorite place to run? Locally, Good Earth State Park or the gravel roads north of Sioux Falls. I also really enjoy the extensive trail system in Columbia, Missouri where my brother lived for several years. What is your favorite weather to run in? I prefer the cold over the hotter times of the year. 45-50 degrees and calm with a few clouds would be ideal. Do you prefer group runs or solo runs? I primarily prefer running with other people, but there are also times where I enjoy the solitude of going by myself. Have you experienced any dreaded injuries? How did you cope/persevere? I’ve had one stress fracture, one broken foot, and several other drawn-out overuse injuries (IT band, hip flexor). I don’t enjoy cross-training very much, but with the bone injuries, I did spend a lot of time in the pool. As with many things (and it’s especially true of life during the last year), you do your best to adjust, find some joy in your new routine, and shoot for improvements in other areas while plotting your return. I also ate a lot of cheesecake. Favorite post-run meal? I love pancakes and eggs after a weekend run. A little chocolate milk after a long run is pretty good too. Advice you would give to somebody thinking about starting to run?Keep it fun and a source of stress relief rather than stress creation. Don’t worry about what anybody else is doing, just focus on your path and improving yourself. When I first moved to Sioux Falls, I was coming off a several bumpy years and time away from running. I decided to start again, but I could barely make it 3 minutes without stopping to walk. It was discouraging, and difficult not to make comparisons to my past self or other runners I knew. But I kept doing run-walks, and over time the running intervals got longer, the increments began to add up, and eventually I was running 3 miles without stopping. Eventually, I joined one of the Sioux Falls Area Running Club group runs, and being part of a group provided additional motivation to push farther than I had gone before. Describe your best “runner’s high” moment. A few years ago, some friends and I ran the Whistlestop Marathon in northern Wisconsin, and I learned the value of starting conservatively. Training had gone terribly that summer, with some small injuries and other interruptions, and I wasn’t sure I would be able to finish the race. I ran the first half very cautiously, monitoring my legs but also just taking in the picturesque surroundings (perfect weather and peak fall colors along Lake Superior). After the midpoint, I realized I felt really good, like maybe this wasn’t going to be a disaster after all. Another few miles went by, and I noticed my mile splits were getting slightly faster each time. I struggled to wrap my brain around what was happening, and thought “Aren’t you supposed to be falling apart at this point, not going faster?” Apparently not this day. While the feeling didn’t last forever and the usual rigor mortis did finally set in, it was only for the final few miles rather than the usual eternity. Stiffly making it through the final twists and turns, I knew that I had run exactly the right race to not only survive but actually feel good for as long as possible. It was far from my fastest marathon, but it was my best. AuthorThis article was produced by the 605 Running Company marketing team. If you would like to submit a story idea please email greg@run605.com |
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