I ran Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, MN on Saturday!!
I want to get a little recap up on the blog before I forget everything I felt and thought that day. The one constant mantra I repeated to myself throughout the day was that there would be lows, and there would be highs, so push through those lows. It was fitting; a few times during the day I actually felt like it was one of the happiest days of my life. Cheesy, but true. But now I’m getting ahead of myself…
My friend Hillary and I woke up around 6:00 AM to get ready to race. I ate one half of a cinnamon raisin bagel with a little jelly and a banana (sadly no coffee.. and I survived!), threw my gear on that had been laid out the night before, and drank a little water while we waited for her dad to show up and give us a ride to the start line. Her husband is one of Brandon’s best friends, and we all roomed together at the hotel in Two Harbors. Our families were in town and her brother was running the race, too, so we had a full support crew that we were EXTREMELY grateful for throughout the weekend.(PS – My friend’s dad has run Grandma’s 6 times, and at least once went straight from the race to the Boundary Waters for a week of canoe camping!!! Intensity.)
We got to the starting line around 7:00 for the 7:45 start. The was crowded with the huge crowd of runners but well-organized (read: lots of porta potties). We hit the portapotty line, then got into position in the corral between the 4:30 and 4:45 pacers, and shook off the too-small garbage bag we were wearing as raincoats as the minutes ticked closer to the start of the race. After so many weeks worrying that I would sweat myself into the ground on a hot, humid race day, the temperature hovered below 50 and the race condition flags read “risk of hypothermia”. The national anthem played, the music seemed to get louder, and the pack of runners started gradually speeding up toward the starting line. This was it!! We were running 26.2 miles. Time to buckle up!!
Miles 1-10
Over a delicious home-cooked pasta dinner the night before the race, compliments of my friend’s mom, we talked about a goal of 4 hours 30 minutes and decided we could hit it if everything went perfectly. Our little running crew planned to start off the race with those splits in mind and see how things would go. I was the only one of our trio with a watch that read out pace, and I tried to keep us at a slow 11:00 min – 10:40 min / mi for the first 2 miles. I had heard over and over again to start VERY slow and try to pull a negative split if anything (negative split = run the later half of the race at a faster pace than the first half).
Around mile 4, I kicked off my fuel plan of a small sip of Perpetuem every 30 min washed down with water. We chatted as a group and the miles flew by really quickly.The boys showed up at mile 3 and our energy was still high and our legs felt GOOD as they cheered us past the mile mark. I LOVED the giant yellow balloons that marked each mile and you could seem them from nearly a half mile away, so there was almost always a goal in sight. I tried to keep my head “in the mile” and didn’t think far beyond the next stop where we would see our cheer squad. Hillary’s family popped up at mile 5, and the boys circled back looking a little more awake themselves at mile 9. More Perpetuem around mile 7, and I was taking in at least a half cup of water at every aid station the whole race.
Miles 11-13
I had to pee. And I struggled to trick my mind out of calculating the distance ahead of me. I bargained with myself that I would take another hit of Perpetuem at mile 10, take a quick potty detour, and then turn on my playlist. The portapotty lines along the course were long, so I took a little pit stop in the woods around mile 11, which left me with a rock in my shoe that I stopped and dug out a few miles later. Somewhere in the second 1/3rd of the race, my stomach started bothering me. Not in a debilitating way, but enough to distract me and make me question my fueling.
The music provided some much-needed mental relief and I started to perk up again. I repeated to myself again that there would be high points and low points during the race and when it was a low point, keep pushing through ’til it felt better again. These miles were mentally tough with the starting-and-stopping but seeing my friend’s family again at mile 13 gave me another lift and I got ready to settle in for the long second half. I overheard another runner saying that “Once you hit mile 20, you’re halfway there” and I kept that in mind as I focused on running tall and turning my feet over, again and again. Running with Hillary and her brother absolutely saved me during the first half of the race, and the camaraderie of having someone nearby for a quick “how ya doing?” or “still feeling good!” exchange really helped the miles tick past.
Miles 14-17
After turning my music on, I turned into a running robot and took off at my own pace. I was so mentally focused inward that I honestly couldn’t even turn my head around to see if they were right behind me or not and I just kept on trucking. This is also the point where I remember starting to truly feel warm. Up until this point, the fog and mist was so thick it obscured views of the lake and it was hard to tell if I was sweating or that’s what it feels like to run through a cloud.
Yes I’m only stealing the photos where I look good. I definitely PR’d in smiling at the race photographers.
Between 13 and 14, I thought about the fact that I knew there was a Clif gel station coming up at mile 17. I had planned on one more sip of Perpetuem at mile 16 but it wasn’t going down as easy as during my long training runs. I decided to ditch my fuel and convinced Brandon to give me a sweaty kiss at mile 16 (it helped, I swear!) and then pushed through to the gel station at mile 17. Then, it was time to face the longest stint of the marathon where I would be by myself – I had lost my buddies when I zoned out around the half, and we weren’t planning on any more spectator sightings until mile 24.
Miles 18-23
My playlist saved me. I kept telling myself to “just keep running”, and whenever I started to feel like giving up, I remembered that it wasn’t going to get any easier at this point so I might as well keep pushing! Mile 20 was both a blessing and a curse. I remembered the sentiment that this mile marked “halfway done” and had a moment of dread about what might come in the next few miles, but then felt a huge rush as I realized that I was confident I could make it to the end. I mentally feeling out what hurt, how am I feeling, how am I thinking, hoping I wasn’t being overconfident about hitting “the wall”… but it never came! Fatigue was setting into my feet and hips and every single step felt like an effort all the way through my legs but save a few weak moments, it never felt like reaching the end was impossible.
I thought about the miles ticking down to less than a 10k to the finish, and remembered the fast (for me :)) 10k I had run earlier in the spring. I moved my feet to my music, turned up the volume somewhere around mile 21, and took the last fuel I had, a Huckleberry Hammer gel. Mile 22 was a slight hill over an on-ramp, and I got a kick out of passing a few people that had probably sped past me when I was running an overcautious 11 min/mi the first mile of the race. Every block after mile 18 had a ton of people cheering along the course throughout the city of Duluth – grilling out, sitting on patios, cheering with funny signs. All of the sights and sounds kept me entertained while my playlist shifted to the loud and fast songs I had “saved” for those final miles.
Miles 24-26.2
At the end of the course, spectators are able to cheer at mile 24 and then cut back to the finish line in time to catch their loved ones at the finish. Those 2 miles between seem like an eternity as a runner!! I started looking for my parents and Brandon after mile 23 and after what seemed like forever, saw each group somewhere in downtown Duluth between 24-25. When I saw my parents for the first time, I almost started crying I was so excited and yelled to them, “I’M DYING!!!” and smiled and waved. Brandon motioned to KEEP. ON. GOING!!
This really is at mile 25!! So happy to be finishing!!!
At this point, I knew I was going to make it, and just wanted to be there at the finish so bad. The course weaves through downtown Duluth, and I tried to keep up with a girl near me in blue shorts who kicked past me at the end as I wondered when we were ever going to see the finish line. We took a right around one last corner and the finish line was visible down the road. I found the strength to pick it up just little at the end and ran over the finish line and timing mats, so relieved, tired, happy, and excited to have reached this goal after a long training cycle and so much anticipation.
After crossing the finish line, I walked in a daze through the finisher shoot and burst into tears as I reached the volunteers handing out medals. I was so happy and almost in disbelief to be crossing the finish line, and at the same time, my whole body hurt and I couldn’t wait to sit down. The awesome volunteers handed me a space blanket, carnation, finisher’s shirt, drink ticket… I could barely keep a grip on all the loot (or my ability to comprehend real life) as I tried to figure out the fastest way to get out of the crowd and how to find my family.
The food at this race is so great – I was so out of it and NOT interested in food I can barely remember all of the options, but there were bananas, oranges, whole containers of strawberries, bagels, chips, ice cream sandwiches!!! and Powerade. I grabbed a banana and got the heck out of there, struggling to hold all of the stuff in my arms while every cell in my body begged to sit down.
I sat down twice as I wandered toward our meeting spot and finally found my parents and Brandon. That man saved my life!! He brought me a whole little survival pack with baby wipes, flip flops, my Hammer Recoverite drink that keeps me from turning into a shivering, hangry-but-nauseous mess for the rest of the day after a long run, and a change of clothes. We walked around while trying to figure out when our friends were finishing and where we should all meet up. I started feeling better pretty quickly after taking my recovery drink and we were soon at an Irish pub celebrating and cheering on soccer games with burgers and beers.
The #1 most awesome thing about the day was the love I got from my family and friends all weekend. By the time everything was said and done, I think I shed happy tears about a half dozen times after the race was over as I caught up on emails, voicemails, texts and Facebook posts from so many people wishing me good luck and tracking my progress. The mental boost from knowing my friend’s family, my parents, and Brandon would be cheering along the race course was huge!! and I felt really lucky to share the day with people I love a lot. Yes, extra cheese with this blog post, but honestly, I was bursting with gratitude all day long and well into the work week.
I could not be happier with how this race turned out. My A+ goal was to run the race in under 4 hours 30 minutes, but on race day, I gave my best effort and am so gratified with having such a positive experience, finishing strong, and running pretty consistent splits. Also – Grandma’s is HANDS DOWN my favorite race course and experience so far. The race is so well organized with crystal clear communication before the day-of, and you can’t beat the scenic route ending in beautiful Duluth. I highly recommend registering early and opting to have your race packet mailed to you if you will be getting in late on the Friday of the race. I am already dreaming about when I might think about running Grandma’s again… I loved it THAT much!
(If you think this picture is rough, you should see the race pictures I didn’t post. And I’m not talking about the lake.)
Thoughts on my training plan… I used the Grandma’s sponsored Novice training plan, which required 6 days per week of running including hill workouts, interval workouts, and (short) tempo runs. A few things were less than ideal this training cycle.
a) I wish I had worked harder at building a more solid base before kicking off training.
b) When (if?) I run another, I will be looking into plans with less days per week of running. 6 days was too much for my schedule/willpower, especially when traveling for work during the week.
The combination of my not-great base mileage and messing with my training plan to “make up” mileage when I inevitably skipped a few days contributed to some aches and pains (tight calves and painful arches) toward the end of the 18 week training cycle. I’d like to do more cross-training the next time around, maybe some strength training/yoga. Any suggestions for training plans with 3-5 days of running per week that include cross-training? I will also be more committed to hitting closer to 100% of the workouts next time around. I get better with the mental/commitment aspect of running with every race.
So that’s that! My first 26.2! I’m looking forward to riding my bike around the lakes, maybe busting out some TurboFire, and saying goodbye to 4 hour weekend long runs for a little while! Hope you enjoyed the storytime and let me know if you want to run the next one with me 
