{"id":132,"date":"2025-10-31T20:14:53","date_gmt":"2025-10-31T20:14:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/marathonmarty.com\/website_01c4e708\/?page_id=132"},"modified":"2025-11-03T00:34:59","modified_gmt":"2025-11-03T00:34:59","slug":"crazy-horse-marathon","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/marathonmarty.com\/website_01c4e708\/crazy-horse-marathon\/","title":{"rendered":"Crazy Horse Marathon"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n

Crazy Horse Marathon Review and Trip Report
Race Cost: $113 (w\/ t-shirt) \u2013 registered in May 2025

Flights: LGB-DEN Southwest\/ DEN-RAP United
(bought tickets in May 2025)
Departure: 3 Oct 25 (Fri) LGB-DEN-RAP 0750-1603
Return: 6 Oct 25 (Mon) RAP-DEN-LGB 1118-1550
Cost: Southwest $270 \/ United $238 (May 2025)
Transportation to\/from airport: Rental car
Rental car: Thrifty (AAA) \u2013 3 days $254
Start\/Finish is 35 miles away from RAP airport<\/p>\n<\/div>

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Primary Hotel: Best Western Golden Spike (3 night \u2013 $447 total)
Older hotel \u2013 indoor pool\/Jacuzzi but not well kept; smallest fitness center ever
Room \u2013 suite; carpet; windows open; wall a\/c unit; good walls \u2013 no outside noise unit
Lobby and public spaces are older \u2013 free parking
Distance from bus pick up\/finish of marathon: 400m\/800 meters
Distance from Expo: 800 meters

Other Hotel Options: xxx (host hotel)

Post Race Hotel in Grand Rapids (closer to the airport)
Hilton Alex Johnson (1 night \u2013 $130 total)<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Expo Thoughts \u2013
Location: Hill City Boys and Girls Club
Size: Medium \u2013 packet pick up with around a 2 vendors
Time to see it all: 10 minutes<\/p>\n<\/div>

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Bus Departure from Rapid City\/other locations (0700)
Race start (0800) \u2013 Start at Crazy Horse Visitor Center- 20 min shuttle ride from pick up location (located 400m from the finish); indoor staging area in Visitor Center; lots of restrooms; chill crowd, start right outside Visitor Center

Finish was located on Main Street in Hill City \u2013 literally they closed off part of the main street in the town for the race.\u00a0 Finish was completely open which was nice \u2013 no segregated runner area because it is a small town race.\u00a0 Food available for runners.\u00a0 Beer (Michelob Ultra) was provided at Bumping Buffalo Bar and Grill which was 100 feet from the finish line.\u00a0 Seating at the local restaurants and shops along main street.\u00a0 Gear check right by the finish and easy to get to.\u00a0 Finish was upper 40s which was chilly but everything was close and easy to access.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Post-race party \u2013 not really, instead restaurants around the finish line were open and provided food and drinks; , snacks; no vendors; complimentary beer at Bumping Buffalo restaurant<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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The Race: Overall the race was a smaller race (under 200 people for the full marathon). Full and half marathon started together in the same location. You start at the Crazy Horse Monument Visitor Center and proceed to do a 3-mile loop along the paved and dirt roads of the Crazy Horse Monument with great views of the monument. After that you proceed to the Mickelson Trail. The Mickelson trail is a hard dirt packed trail that is about 6 feet across and goes for 100 miles. From the Crazy Horse Monument you run to the city of Custer where you turn around a little past mile 10. After that you run 16 miles along the trail back to Hill City Main Street where the finish is. The trail is secluded at parts but always at least 20 feet from the state highway. Miles 3-10 are a gentle downhill; Miles 11-17 are a gradual uphill and the rest is a gentle downhill. One of the prettier races that I have run; reminded me a lot of the Cheap Marathon in New Hampshire.
The course was also the bicycle paths for most of the marathon with the exception of the last 1000m that was on the road to the finish. There were a couple of small sections of boardwalk as you ran over some marsh\/river area. What I enjoyed the most is that most of the race was shaded by large trees lining the bicycle path so the amount of direct sunlight was limited at parts. This helped prevent me from getting sunburn and enjoy the race. Lots of greenery and rural areas.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Grocery Store in area:
Grocery store \u2013 Krull Market \u2013 100m from hotel- Water; Energy Drink; Bananas; Oranges; Bread; Chocolate

Food \u2013 Hill City
Night Before the Race (Italian options): Hill City Cafe (where I went); Pizza Mangiamo (closed for private event); pre-race pasta event at Crazy Horse Visitor Center (7 miles away from hotel)
Other Restaurants: Alpine Inn (dinner Friday night)\/Bumpin Buffalo (ate at for lunch and post-race meal)\/ Lemongrass Bar and Grill
Food- Rapid City \u2013 Independent Ale (pizza)(dinner Sunday night)
<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Weather \u2013 Start: ~44 degrees
Finish temp high 40s; cloud and some mist
Over the 3 day trip: Started in 70s, then cold front lows in 40s; highs low 50s.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Breweries\/Drinking establishments<\/td><\/td><\/tr>
Tin City Saloon (Hill City) \u2013 Friday night drinks<\/td>Lost Cabin Brewery (Hill City)<\/td><\/tr>
Firehouse Brewery (Rapid City) \u2013 Sunday drinks<\/td>Independent Ale (Rapid City)<\/td><\/tr>
Prairie Dog Taproom (2 miles outside Hill City)<\/td><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Crazy Horse Marathon Review and Trip ReportRace Cost: $113 (w\/ t-shirt) \u2013 registered in May 2025 Flights: LGB-DEN Southwest\/ DEN-RAP United (bought tickets in May 2025)Departure: 3 Oct 25 (Fri) LGB-DEN-RAP 0750-1603Return: 6 Oct 25 (Mon) RAP-DEN-LGB 1118-1550Cost: Southwest $270 \/ United $238 (May 2025)Transportation to\/from airport: Rental carRental car: Thrifty (AAA) \u2013 3 days […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-132","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nCrazy Horse Marathon - Marathon Marty<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/marathonmarty.com\/website_01c4e708\/crazy-horse-marathon\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Crazy Horse Marathon - Marathon Marty\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Crazy Horse Marathon Review and Trip ReportRace Cost: $113 (w\/ t-shirt) \u2013 registered in May 2025 Flights: LGB-DEN Southwest\/ DEN-RAP United (bought tickets in May 2025)Departure: 3 Oct 25 (Fri) LGB-DEN-RAP 0750-1603Return: 6 Oct 25 (Mon) RAP-DEN-LGB 1118-1550Cost: Southwest $270 \/ United $238 (May 2025)Transportation to\/from airport: Rental carRental car: Thrifty (AAA) \u2013 3 days […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/marathonmarty.com\/website_01c4e708\/crazy-horse-marathon\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Marathon Marty\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-11-03T00:34:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/marathonmarty.com\/website_01c4e708\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/CH-Shirt-1-1024x768.webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/marathonmarty.com\/website_01c4e708\/crazy-horse-marathon\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/marathonmarty.com\/website_01c4e708\/crazy-horse-marathon\/\",\"name\":\"Crazy Horse Marathon - 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