Grandma's Marathon

Grandma's Marathon in Duluth, MN. They were forecasting mid 50s for the start, but it ended up being in the 60s. Overcast, breezy, so it felt pretty good, and the high was 67, so the temperature shouldn't have been a factor. We got up at 4am, got ready, then drove into Duluth, leaving the hotel at about 4:50am. We got parked in the garage and onto the bus shortly after 5:30, then up to the start not much after 6am. We relaxed for a bit, then at about 7 got in line for the bathroom, then into the starting area ready for the marathon to begin.

The race got started shortly after 7:30, I had started around the 4 hour pace group, with the plan of running around 9 minute miles for as long as I could. Got going and was able to start out at a pretty good pace, with the first 6 miles in 9:00, 9:02, 8:59, 9:06, 9:14 and 9:20. I hit the 10K time in 56:47 for a 9:10 pace, so pretty good so far. The pace wasn't as easy to run as I expected, with my heart rate averages about 159. Mile 7 I scarfed down some shot bloks so had a 9:43 mile, followed by 9:01, 9:19, 8:39, a 23 second lap to get back on the mile markers, 9:31, 9:50 and 9:56. Right before the half marathon split I hit the bathroom real quick, then got going, so 2:02:43 for the split, a 9:22 pace, but a 9:34 pace for the 6.9 miles from 10K to 13.1, so I was already starting to slow. 4 hours was out of the question, and 4:10 would be tough.

Mile 14 was 10:02, then I did a 1 minute split to get on track for the mile markers.Splits of 10:00, 10:33, 10:46, 11:51 (shot bloks again), and 9:45 followed. The 9:45 was my attempt to get running faster, but it just didn't feel all that comfortable, and this mile was followed by a 16:30 mile where I walked most of it. This brought me into the mile 20 split in 3:20:28, a 10:01 pace, but more importantly 11:16 pace from 13.1 to 20, so I was really slowing down. With no chance of a PR, I felt my motivation drop. I knew I would make it, but I wasn't really going to worry about my time. Under 4:30 would be nice, but it would mean picking up the pace. I ran a 12:59, 13:17, 12:54 the next 3 miles, so I knew 4:30 wasn't going to happen. This was followed by a 11:34 and a 12:14, hitting the 25 mile split in 4:23:55, a 10:34 pace, with a pace of 12:05 from mile 20 to mile 25. I thought I'd at least be able to run it in from mile 25, but I found myself taking a walk break, and had a 11:27 mile, then finished with a 1:44 for the final .18 miles. Total time of 4:37:52, average pace of 10:37.

I got done, grabbed a bit of food, got changed, found that I had a blister on my toe next to the big toe on the left foot, and then walked back to the car to get the camera and drop off some stuff. I then went to the bathroom, and walked back to the marathon area. I went to the blister tent to get my blister taken care of. Then I waited for Judy to finish. I had signed up for the text updates so I knew where she was and such, but she still called at mile 24 to tell me she was slowly making it in. By the time she finished, they had taken away the post race food and water, but we were able to get a few things in the after race 'party' area, then we headed back to the car and to the hotel. After getting showered and changed, we went to the Black Bear Casino and to the buffet there. It was very good, and I managed not to over eat too much. Then it was back to the hotel, relaxed for a bit then went to bed.

After finishing, I was disappointed. I had somwhat given up after the half way point. Rather than pushing it I was content with coasting in. But after a couple of days of thinking about it, I realized that my time was pretty good, the course was not 'flat' - but seemed to be never ending rolling hills. It was a fun marathon overall, and it's on the short list of ones to do again some day.