A Running Doc’s Life: South Dakota Senior Games 2024!

Last week Sarah and I spent 4 days in Pierre competing at the 40th Annual South Dakota Senior Games. It is a lot of fun, but also a lot of work. Between the two of us, we competed in 17 events, which included biking, running, strength training contests, and jump rope. This week has been a little bit of a struggle trying to recover, but we now feel we are getting back to our usual self.

We started off Thursday afternoon with power lifting contests. This included, bench press, barbell curls, planks, pushups, wall sits and jump rope. We have been working this last year working on strength, and Sarah stepped out of her comfort zone on a few of these.

Friday morning was a 20k bike ride, about 12 1/2 miles. We both have to admit, we had not done as much bike riding as we would have liked. Some of the people in these races travel to all of the different states and just compete in these bike rides. They also had a 5k and 10k time trial, and we held off on this.

Saturday morning brought the 5k run, and Sunday the 10k run. Our legs were struggling on the runs from the bike ride on Friday!

All in all, Sarah had 7 events, and I had 10. We won 17 medals. 8 Gold medals, and 9 silver medals. Each category is based on our age group.

These were the medals before the last event. Tons of fun, and everyone cheers each other on. It gives us some new activity goals to work on each year.

Here is a picture of the statistics for the athletes participating this year. 435 total athletes and included 18 different states! They have bowling, pickleball, basketball, track events, walking, running, strength softball throw, and on and on! Something for everyone!

The next 2 years will now be in Huron, so we will be staying with Sarah’s parents during the games. We are already marking our calendars for early August next year. There are always new goals to achieve, and different ways to achieve them. You just have to remember to have fun along the way. There was a 92-year competing, and would put the majority of us to shame, especially when he can do 17 pullups! Pullups–one of the most difficult exercises to do! Way to show us all how it is done! Keep moving everybody!

Dr. Dan

Consecutive Exercise Day of Newest Streak: #172