avondale training journal, starting Dec. 2018 (comments welcome)

[RuntheMouse]

Great job!

 

[Herding_Cats]

Congrats on surpassing your goal for your race! Looks like a lovely course.

 

[avondale]

@GollyGadget @WillRunForPizza @The Expert @RuntheMouse @Herding_Cats Thanks so much! I appreciate it!

 

[avondale]

Aug. 9 - 10, 2025
First part of South Dakota Hiking Trip

Saturday (Aug. 9)

We arrived in Rapid City, SD reasonably on time. We ended up with a few hours to fill before we could get into our rental house, so we walked along Rapid Creek in Founder's Park, which is downtown in the city.

• time: 56:02
• distance: 2.25 mi
• average pace: 24:50
• elevation gain: 49 ft (corrected)
• comments: It was in the 80s F and we were still in jeans, so this was definitely too warm.

Sunday (Aug. 10)

Two hikes in Custer State Park.

Sunday Gulch Trail

• time: 2:06:38
• distance: 4.17 mi
• average pace: 30:23
• elevation gain: 847 ft (corrected)
• comments: This was a fun hike. The first part goes around Sylvan Lake. Then the trail plunges into the gulch. This would be a lot of boulder hopping and scrambling except that they've put in lots of metal handrails, so you can swing yourself over gaps and level changes. Fun and very scenic. After about 1.5 miles, it turns into a pretty normal trail through the forest back to the lake.

Cathedral Spires Trail

• time: 1:04:46
• distance: 2.16 mi
• average pace: 30:02
• elevation gain: 607 ft (corrected)
• comments: This hike was basically just blasting straight up to an overlook. We passed through a number of the interesting rock "needle" or "spire" formations, but I didn't think the actual overlook at the end was particularly outstanding. It was fine.
• comments: As we were coming back from the overlook, the clouds were definitely looking darker. There weren't thunderstorms in the forecast, but we were glad to get off the trail. Within an hour, there were isolated thunderstorms throughout the area.
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