grandma's marathon race recap

My trek to Grandma's marathon began as an impulse back in April when I very randomly checked out their website, saw a cool logo and begged Nic to let me register for another marathon. He was very quick to point out that it was only four short weeks after the Fargo marathon and did a once over to check for any loose screws that were rattling around my head.

"Remember when you ran the Route 66 marathon and you made me promise to never let you run a marathon again?"

"Yeah - what of it?"


"What if you feel that way after Fargo?"


"Meh. I won't."

And I didn't {thank goodness}.

So I registered. And emailed my mom to see if she wanted to tag along as Nic wouldn't be able to go. Whoop for a girls weekend!

I took off for the cities on the Thursday before the race and the following morning (after a quick 2 mile run), Mom and I made our way to Duluth.

We played my favorite game on the way up. As you pass cars, you guess whether or not the passengers will A) be running the marathon and B) whether or not you will be faster than them.

Fun. You should try it.

I generally find that people driving Subarus, Volkswagons, and Toyota Rav4s are the runners.

I also made Mom promise me that she would not let me get freaked out at the expo and actually walk around and look at the booths. Crowded expos really freak me out - I like to get from point A to point B without having to bob and weave through 24,809,574 people. Besides picking up my packet, my goal was to buy a "26.2" sticker for my Rav4. I am a proud marathoner.

Funny story - after I told Mom about the 26.2 sticker, we passed a car (while playing the game) that had a sticker.  Mom exclaimed:

"Oh, so that's what that means! I always thought it was a radio station!"

Silly Mom.

We stopped off in Moose Lake where we were staying to pick up, Patricia, Mom's bestie from college. Patricia is always so nice to let me use and abuse her for her house whenever I run in Duluth. She has lived near Duluth for 17 years and this would be her first experience with Grandma's Marathon. Locals are very smart and steer clear of Duluth on marathon weekend.

Our first stop in Duluth was lunch. And you all already know how much I researched that! Our pick was "The Duluth Grill" and it did not disappoint. I had Mario's Hummus Wrap, sans cheese.

We zigzagged our way to the expo, dodging traffic and as much road construction as we could. We did the expo quick and dirty style - picked up my packet, browsed the booths, got my sticker and tested out some wine and granola bars. We were probably out of there within 30 minutes - despite the sea of runners.

We did some shopping at Canal Park, making all of the obligatory stops (Siverston Gallery, Duluth Pack and a few others), hit up Target and Gander Mountain, and then headed back to Moose Lake for dinner.

Quickly becoming a tradition (superstition?) I cooked up tacos for dinner - chickpea and chicken, helped Mom and Pat plan out their spectating plan, made it clear that we had to leave by 4:30AM at the very latest, and watched in awe as Mom made me a poster - finally dubbing me as her favorite daughter.



In bed by 9:30, read and slept until storms rolled through and kept me up for a while. Great.

4:30 rolled around and the three of us were ready to head out the door (I had coffee and oatmeal for breakfast). We drove through pouring rain for miles before they dropped me off just south of Duluth were I caught a shuttle to the starting line. Thank you Grandma's Marathon for providing these shuttles. We were able to completely avoid any traffic/road construction by using this service.



We chilled on the bus before we hit the road for the start line in Two Harbors.

While I relaxed on the bus, Mom and Pat grabbed breakfast at Perkins and made their way to mile 16 where they would wait for 3 hours until they saw me.


Pat was way excited to be up so early to watch me run.

Once we got to the starting line, the rain had mostly stopped and the temps were near 50*. I waited in line to use the restroom and then ditched my capris and long sleeved t-shirt (which I decided not to wear) at the bag drop. This was the first time I used this service at any race.

My goal for the race was to run an 8:44 pace, a pace that would get me across the finish line just under 3:50.

As I ran the first three or so miles, I decided to ditch the 8:44 pace and just run at a pace comfortable in that moment. It was a risky idea as I didn't want to burn out for the second half of the race, but I went with it.

And kept going with it.

I was keeping a pretty consistent pace at around 8:25.

Nothing during the race really stands out. I think I just kind of zoned out, enjoyed the beautiful views and ran.

I tried to stay in front of a pack of guys who were having way too much fun, but where entertaining without being annoying. They would cheer for the spectators that cheered for them.

I overhead a girl say her goal was to break 4 hours. I chimed in and told her breaking 4 was a great feeling and wished her luck. The last time I saw her she was on pace to run a 3:50. I hope she did it.

Around mile 12 I saw a white flag signalling that we were all at risk of getting hypothermia. I scoffed as I dumped a cup of ice down my sports bra. Maybe the flag was meant for the spectators.

I found Mom and Pat at mile 16 - right were they were supposed to be. The only thing I asked Mom to do during the race was to be somewhere between mile 16 and 19, ready to trade me a full water bottle for my empty one.



This is me yelling at her to give me my water bottle. She had it in her hand that was holding the camera that was taking this photo. There was no way I was going to stop and talk - my pace was just too good.



I am pretty sure I threw my empty water bottle at Pat - at that time I could only assume they thought I was a meanie.

After the race, Mom told me she thought for sure I would stop and talk {as that is what I did during the TCM} and told Pat as much. Sorry! I've come along way since 2009 and have a race to run! :)

I continued to feel strong and kept up my pace after seeing Mom and Pat. I ran near a husband + wife pair that had music blaring from a speaker that he was wearing on a belt. That kept me entertained for a few miles (I had my iPod but didn't have it on).

I did hit the proverbial wall around mile 20. My hips were hurting and I had to keep talking myself out of taking walking breaks. A nice man run up next to me and asked how I was doing.

"F me. That is how I feel."

Awwwwkward, right?

He kept with me and I did a quick attitude check.

"Let me try that again, I am on pace to break my PR by 8 minutes, so I am doing great! How about you?"

It was his first marathon. His brother, who was a few minutes ahead of us, had talked him into registering. He lives in Wisconsin, but grew up in Iowa. I told him he was awesome and running a sub 4 hour marathon his first time was amazing. We chatted and ran together for about three miles. I tried to be super positive and might have been overly so.

My pace was slow as I was running with this guy, but I am certain it would have been much slower if he hadn't asked me how I was doing.

Around mile 23 I did some quick mental math and realized that if I was able to really kick it into high gear I might be able to break 3:40 and qualify for Boston (right...will 3:40 still qualify or has the time already changed to 3:35?).

I picked up my pace, thankful to be downtown Duluth with a lot of spectator support. At mile 25 I was surprised to see Mom and Pat again. I started to sob with excitement, just like Fargo, as I handed Mom my empty water bottle. She asked what was wrong, but I kept flying.


Here I come!


And there I go. {What is up with my hamstring??}

I had my iPod on at the time and repeated my new power song over and over again for the last two miles.

Mile 25 was 8:01 pace.

Mile 26 was CRAP - my watch died. Seriously? I have like 1/2 mile left. Damn watch.





I crossed the finish line at 3:44:29.

My hips hurt and it took a lot of effort to stay upright as I made my way through the medal and t-shirt line. I randomly stopped and bent over trying to ease the pain, but not staying put too long as to attract a medic.

I got my tin foil blanket and made my way to the family meeting area. I dropped to the ground and waited for Mom and Pat to find me.



This is how they found me and my face does a pretty good job expressing how I felt on the inside.



I was in good spirits though.





This is how I stood for the next 20 minutes or so - seriously, hips hurt so bad!



I was very happy to have Mom there. Although no one can replace Nic, she did a pretty spectacular job and surely she had some fun doing it.



Patricia is no longer a Grandma's Marathon virgin. Although I am not sure if she'll be back at next year's event.





When I was finally able to move again, I picked up my sweat bag and traded in my drink ticket for a glass of merlot, which I gave to Mom and Pat.

We made our way to the Blue Lake Gallery where I picked up my celebratory bowl and coffee mug. I told the sales lady that I had spotted them the previous day and promised myself I would pick them up if I set a new PR. She was so excited she gave me 20% off. Hazah!

We grabbed lunch at Valentini's (gnocchi for me), Great Harvest for bread and a cookie, and then headed back to Moose Lake.

In Moose Lake I proceeded to eat back the calories I burned by eating at least 6 freshly baked chocolate chip cookies and two butterfinger malts, while getting my fill of HGTV.

Mom and I headed back to the cities around 6:00PM, thus bringing and end to my 2011 Grandma's Marathon race weekend.

Stats:
Total time - 3:44:29
Average pace - 8:35
Overall place - 1,642 (of 6,337)
Gender place - 406 (of 2,679)
Age group place - 228 (of 1385)

Up next - the Twin Cities Marathon (unless I really go crazy and find something else to register for before October.)