Grandma's Marathon 2011

This recap is for my memory as well, so feel free to skip past it, as it likely as entertaining as going to the dentist. 
I am serious. I got bored just rereading it myself, and I WROTE it! 

Each time a person learned I ran marathons, they asked the question "Have you run Grandma's?" 
No, no I hadn't. I was the only  Minnesotan EVER to not have run Grandma's. Where is my Minnesotan pride? 


So, I jumped at the chance to run Grandma's this year. It did cross my mind that I had just ran the Minneapolis Marathon 13 days before, but as reason and sanity have never stopped me in the past...


One "mistake" I thought I had made prior to the MM (Minneapolis Marathon, I am shortening it from here on, because it is long to type, and I'm on one of those mini keyboards- seriously, who designed these!?) Moving on.
The Friday and Saturday before the MM were busy for me. I finished the school year that Thursday, wrapped up my classroom stuff Friday, had my BIL's graduation Friday night, his party on Saturday...I had planned to meet my sister at 6 p.m. on Saturday night to head to Minneapolis. I was still in Isle (2 hrs north) at 6:30 p.m. And I hadn't packed. I was at Sports Authority at 9:30 p.m. grabbing Gu packets and peanut butter M&M's. 


This time? For Grandma's? I was totally going to take it easy the day before. So on Friday, I woke up at 10 a.m., (2.4 hours later than planned) and hustled the boys out the door. We had to run to St. Cloud (1 hr away) to pick up our new car, grab some Gu packets (should keep these on hand in the future,) buy a father's day present, and be back to pack up to head 2 hours north by 5:30 p.m. 


Well, we made it to Duluth about 9 p.m., and stopped in at the Expo quickly. As Corey's luck would have it, everything was closing down, so I didn't have the opportunity to spend any money, because the only booths open were not good. Oh, and it was pouring rain. 
Driving to Two Harbors (which is the start of the race) Corey remarks, "Wow, I didn't remember Two Harbors being this far away. You have to run all the way back? That's a long way." 
You don't say? 


Saturday! Woke up and it was still raining. I will say this: I will take the rain over the heat and humidity ANY DAY. That was one of the draws of running in Duluth. Because of it's location on Lake Superior, it is naturally cooler there all year. When it is 100 degrees in Minneapolis, it will be 62 in Duluth. 
The rain lasted through the first hour or so of the run, but was only a sprinkle and actually felt pretty good. 

Fine, it is a bit blurry, but I had to stop and take a picture of this sign. I loved it! (This is the only pic in this post taken by me, Corey took the rest while I ran.)

I felt good, but was afraid to push it because of the experience at MM and stayed with the 4:30 pace group the majority of the time. 

Random: 

• Gu packets in Orange Vanilla are death in a packet. Obviously the taste testers on those had some numb taste buds. 

•There were people still wearing garbage bags at mile 13 (to keep from getting wet.) I have to say, you may have to suck 'er up and get wet at some point. 

• I hate porta potties

• It was FLAT! FLAT! 

Here is the MM elevation map on top, and the GM on bottom. Yes, keep in mind this is Minnesota elevation, so we aren't talking big numbers here to begin with!

• At about 12 miles, I had to use the ladies room. Since there were lines at all of them, I kept waiting for the next round (there are powder rooms every 2 miles.) Mile 16 had no line, so I stopped. A lady jumps out with a grimace on her face and says "good luck in there." I look past her and see what she is talking about. I made the executive decision that if I were going to have human feces on my body, it darn well would be my own and not some strangers. Condolences to the fellow runners who's GI tracts failed them here at mile 16. 

• It is always fun at "rural" marathons to watch the number of runners dive into the bushes, trees, driveways to mark a tree. There would be groups of 5-8 runners heading into a bush at the same time. 

• FIVE: Number of men who I saw lifting their short leg up to relieve themselves rather than pull the front down. Interesting. 

• Weather: 100% awesome! Wind blowing at our backs! Cloud cover! Cool! Happy Sara! 

• I need to do some work on my stomach around the 20 mile mark. It is touch and go there for a bit. 

•Someone moved the mile marker for mile 24. There is NO WAY you can convince me that wasn't more like 2-3 miles there between 23-24. 

• *TMI alert* I need to work on the whole hydration thing. With the Minneapolis Marathon, I didn't use the bathroom for 6+ hours, and only twice the rest of the day. Grandma's? I think I used the bathroom a total of 4 times Saturday. When you think of the fluids I took in both times? Yikes. 

The finish line was great! I came in at 4:27, which is not my fastest, not my slowest, but I was happy with it considering all things and the MM two weeks ago. I felt a few twinges in my right IT band from mile 11 on, so I was happy it didn't get progressively worse as I continued. I am planning to take a week or two off from running now to let it rest before it turns nasty. The last time it felt like this, I kept pushing and ended up hurt. 

On the walk (fine, it was more like a hobble/limp/crawl/sick looking movement) we passed 2 men with white shirts and HUGE red spots running down the front. MEN! Stop at the med tent and grab some vaseline. That has GOT to hurt. 

I felt great the rest of the day Saturday, and was not the least bit sore on Sunday. After the MM, I felt like I had been hit by a semi for almost a week. I had to walk down the stairs backwards for 2 days, and had a hard time even sitting. I was exhausted, worn out, and sick for 2 days after. Grandma's? I felt great, came home, did laundry, went grocery shopping, mopped, and went to Valleyfair for Father's Day on Sunday. SCORE! 

Finally, THANK YOU KACI and JON for hookin' me up! You are the best!