Back In Duluth

Grandmas Marathon, the place where these 37 marathons started. 19 of those are The full monty version. It’s where this crazy roomate named Drew wanted to start running and we would venture down to the lake walk and run till the next light pole as we were bOth out of shape. That was then, this Grandmas Marathon day I had other plans. To take that Fargo Marathon PR and erase it with a new sub 3:50 marathon.

Coming off 5 days of reSt from IRONMAN Wisconsin 70.3 I had no iDea what i had left. The plan was to hang with the 3:45 pacer for as long as i could. To be honest, i diDn’t think i would survive and pictured myself hitting the wall about 18 miles in. Having ran 8:30 miles at Madison, i figured i could Push Hard to the half way point then liMp in if needed with a 8:45-9:00 mile pace.

While that seemed like a logical game plan, i managed to run pretty eVen splitS the whole race. It was an awkward cool and humid morning with plenty of fog and mist coming from Lake Superior. As i ran past fellow runners thier hair was just dripping with moisture and I’m sure i was too. Mentally I broke the run down into 3 mile segments which I’ve done all spring with my runs taking a Cliff Blok after each 3 miles.

The miles kind of Flew by uneventfully till mile 20. If you have ever ran grandmas, you know what happenS then. You come into the city limits I guess on LondOn Road and the college aged kids take over. Lets just say the beer was flowing at high rates even thou it was 10am! Once you get past the beer gardens you get the joys of Lemon Drop Hill. It’s just an overpass over I-35 and to me not even the worse hill on the course. As you make your way to the DECC and Amsoil Arena, you also go down a steep road and then climB an overpass again. The Step downhill paired with the quick rise of the overpass really kills your mojo at what is probably mile 25 and some change. Luckily, there are piles of people cheering you on anD you just feed off the energy.

​Well, it was either the energy from the lake, the crowd or the fact I wanted that PR BAD! Mile 25 was at an 8 minute pace and mile 26 was 7:50 paCe bringing me to the patio of Little Angies in 3:46:02. It was a great day and an end to a crazy stretCh of events. A maratHon, 70.3 IRONMAN anD another marathon in 30 days. While some call me crazy or stupid, to me, I’m just having fun! Only thing that would have made this stretch better is if Sherpa Kia wouldn’t be working crazy hours and could have been there. I guess I’ll plan a race on your weekEnd off ;)

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