Grandma's Marathon

I got to the start line via schoolbus right at 7am for the 7:45am start. But it was only just enough time to drop my bag, use the restroom, and get into the corral. The biggest issue was the long restroom line.

I managed to get up towards the 3:15 pacers in the corral and sync up with Rebekah. The start was not a big production, which I liked. We headed off and the first couple miles with the 3:15 pacer were spot on. But we wanted to get out ahead of the glut of runners going for 3:15 so we ran out ahead a bit so that we could spot Remin, who was spectating after the 5K split. 

The 7:26 pace felt nice and relaxed. My breathing was totally normal and relaxed. This is big improvement from London, where even though I was holding back for the first 5K, I still felt a bit out of breath at the start.

I took an Envervit Mango gel at 5, 10-ish, and 15-ish miles. I think after that I had maybe a half a gel to keep my stomach settled. I drank only water at ever stop except for one small Powerade. My stomach felt pretty good this time around. Grandma’s Marathon waterstops are well designed, but runner courtesy was a problem with people stopping short in front of me a few times.

A little after the half marathon mark, I noticed that the 3:15 pace group was catching up to us again, so we sped up a little to keep the 30 to 60 second buffer. The pace wristband that I got at expo was super helpful, I checked at most miles to make sure I was 30 seconds to one minute ahead of the 3:15 group. My Apple Watch showed a 7:19 / 7:20 overall average pace for most of the race, from what I remember. I would keep an eye on my rolling mile pace and adjust accordingly to keep it around 7:20 for much of the race.

Somewhere between the half and mile 18, I lost Rebekah. I was starting to feel myself fade, but I really didn’t want the 3:15 pacers to catch me. I kept myself locked in with a few mantras, “left-right, left-right,” “you trained for this,” “you’re worthy of this,” “you got this,” “don’t let go now,” and a new one I learned on the course “don’t think, just run.” That helped me get up Lemon Drop Hill at mile 22. 

There’s some debate about whether Lemon Drop Hill is easy or hard. I found it to be very testing, mentally. It’s steeper than I expected it to be and when you're approaching it, it looms in the distance. You can see it maybe a half mile away. I kept saying to myself “don’t think, just run” in mind, but after I crested the hill, it really wiped me out. Not long after that, I took a 10 second walk break to reset and get moving again.

Coming into downtown Duluth, I really wanted to walk, but I kept thinking “hold on, don’t let go.” And I would force myself to smile. Before I knew it, we were running down towards the convention center, which meant we were getting pretty darn close to the finish line. 

Even with a quarter mile to go, I wanted to walk. I really wanted to. But checked my watch and realized that the 3:15 goal  was going to pass me by if I can’t hold on for just a little bit longer. I pushed harder than I ever had in that last little bit towards the finish.

I don’t really go for those dramatic all-out finishes, but for this one, I had to give up control. As much as I love coming into the finish with relaxed form, I just wanted sub-3:15 more than anything in this moment. After crossing the finish line, relief wasn’t immediate, which was a new experience for me. I managed to get myself back together to claim my medal and finisher tee.

I was delighted to see my finish time, and later to discover a halfway negative split by 30 seconds. This was shocking to me. In the second half I was feeling like the wheels were just starting to come off, and I felt like I was fading, but the numbers showed that I held on and kept super consistent pacing throughout the race.

I’m delighted with my finish time, the even splits, and the overall Grandma’s Marathon experience.