Grandma’s Marathon Race Report
Wow – we had somewhat great race weather in Duluth for Grandma’s Marathon today and I DIDN’T PR! Ha, let me tell you why…
First, though, logistics. I stayed at a (beautiful!!!) rental house with Gina, Bob, and Jessica. They planned this trip a while ago and Gina invited me to join them in April! We left the house at 4:30 am and drove to the DECC (Duluth Entertainment Convention Center) to park. Grandma’s Marathon is point-to-point and we parked at the finish and took the train to the start (you can take the train or bus to the start, but you can’t park there).
I laughed when I got on the train and saw it was basically a Metra car! Then I was worried it would eff up my piriformis like my rides on Metra to the city do, but it didn’t. Phew.
It was an hour and twenty minute ride! Then we got off and immediately got in hella long porta pottie lines.
Jessica, Bob, Gina, me
We walked to the start a few minutes before race start (7:45 am). Luckily we could line up by our estimated pace time, even though we got in so late.
There’s no corrals and we all took off as one big group. It was crowded and I tripped and landed on my hands and knees a quarter mile in to the race. I felt shook up, and looked for Gina (for emotional support) but didn’t see her and kept running. (She later told me she saw someone hand me something, but didn’t see me fall.)
I texted my dad and snis to tell them what happened and ask for encouragement (no, I was NOT using my phone when I fell). They sent me some and I tried to get out of my head about the fall, but I did think about it for a few miles.
Then I decided to ignore it and stick to my goal 8:46 per mile pace plan. I took gels every four miles and was having stomach issues (needing to poo, and having cramps). I went to the bathroom at mile 9 and got back on pace until mile 14, then it went downhill (not literally, it was up and down for most of the race). My stomach felt jacked up, and my knee was starting to hurt. Sigh.
I went in to survival mode and put a smile on my face and did what I could for running and walked when I needed to. I was trying not to be frustrated and to still have a good time. I had been using all my mantras hoping I could get my pace back but it just wasn’t happening. I was frustrated that I couldn’t even hold long run pace for very long!
Gina passed me around mile 16 looking awesome (she got a PR!!!) and she made sure I was gonna be okay. I planned to do whatever I needed to get my medal and finisher shirt!
Spoiler alert, I got it
It had been foggy all morning and started to rain a bit at 17, but only for a few miles. The temperature actually dropped during the race and the breeze felt great (it was 61° and 82% humidity when we started and 49°F and 96% humidity and cool when we finished). My face felt too hot when I started, and for a few miles, but it really wasn’t bad.
I was doing a run/walk and getting lots of comments on my knee (which I was trying to ignore – my knee, not the people!). I went to the bathroom again at 19 (ugh) then kept going. During mile 22 a course marshal approached me and asked if he could help with my knee and I started crying. Sigh. So emotional. My knee was bugging me more and more as it began to scab over. Some Navy people cleaned it a bit and bandaged it up and sent me on my way and it felt stiff, but better.
I kept going and Bob approached me around mile 24 which was a lifesaver. I picked it up a small bit with him (as much as I could!) and we finished together, in 4:36:36. Quite a bit off from 3:50!
I was so hungry when I finished (which is odd since I was having gels every four miles despite my stomach feeling messed up). And cold. We found Gina and Jessica (she PR’d and BQ’d!!!) and went to the medic tent to get me cleaned up (and get some asphalt out of my knee).
So that was my race!
Steven asked if I wanted to do another marathon right away. Nah. I think I’d rather just train long and not race!
A few notes:
- I saw a lot of funny signs including “if MPR raccoon can do it, you can too!”
- I appreciated the texts from family, and Bobbi to see how I was doing. I appreciate Bobbi waiting WAY after her half finished to see me come in. I appreciate xaarlin writing just what I needed to hear when I told her I was struggling.
- This race is well done! I think I’d like the course better if I wasn’t all effed up, though. Ha ha.
- We all loved the tall balloon mile markers – we could see them coming up, even with the fog.
- Sometimes you can see the finish way off, on clear days. I was happy it was foggy and I couldn’t!
- The rolling hills did seem to get to me, which was disappointing – I hill train and run inclines on my long runs. A lot of times I’d be like, “this effort feels hard, am I on an incline?” Ha. A LOT OF THAT.
- I’m so excited for Gina and Jessica and so appreciative of Bob!!!
- Ha. So when I did check the weather when I was packing, I didn’t even think to check the START town. I checked the finish town! Lesson learned for point-to-point race weather checking!
Themocracy
Ahhhhh I am so sorry! I did that in Hawaii (and still have the scars three years later!) and it really does mess with your mojo even if the knee pain isn’t that bad. I know I kept being paranoid it would happen again and had a much harder time focusing! I’m glad the weather was so good, it was so hot in Chicago I was worried for all y’all this weekend but yay for MN coolness (coolth?)!
Sorry you didn’t get the time you were hoping for, but dude – you ran a marathon on a banged up knee! Badass!
I am sorry it happened to you too! It shakes you up so much! I was like “why am I STILL thinking about this?!” a few miles in. Ugh.
I was so glad the weather was good too! My friends running are all from TX and it was a big relief from what they’ve been running in! hee hee.
Thanks!!! 😀
Oh Kitteh! I am so sorry that your knee got all jacked up and I know that will make recovery that much longer 🙁 Still, I need to recognize this: your injured finish time is AWESOME! It my not have been your goal but WHOA! **I can only hope (and train) for such a time**
It will! And I just want to ride my bike and swim and walk! In time.
Thank you so much! I know you have that time or faster in you!!! :-*
I’m so sorry you didn’t have the race you envisioned today. 🙁 I was tracking you and saw your 10k split and was so excited for you. Marathons. Sigh. So much can happen over 26.2 and it’s tough when things don’t go as planned- especially stuff out of our control. I know how much work you put into this race and I’m so incredibly proud of you- and inspired. You are amazing. I’m so glad I could assist today from afar. I’m happy you finished and got that cool medal and shirt.
The MPR raccoon sign made me laugh. It truly was a captivating story.
How does the train mess up your PF? From standing?
Anyways. Congrats again on the finish and seeing this through to the end. 🔥
I was so excited too! The pace was feeling good and I was making sure to take it easy in the beginning and I was like “I’m gonna do this!” Then all of a sudden, no. I tried to rally and when my mantras and pushing weren’t working, I figured something was actually wrong. WAY too early in the race. But yeah – it’s such a long distance and SO much can happen. They can’t all be great. Hee hee. Thank you for saying that. And again, for helping me yesterday!
That was sooooo my fave sign. There were lots of good ones but that one took the cake!
Sitting on the sloped stiff seats! The springs in the train car I take to work are so stiff and I am sitting at a somewhat sloped angle that every week my PR is SCREAMING about ten minutes to when we pull in the station. Ouch.
Thank you!!! 🙂
Goodness, that’s quite the war wound!
Congrats anyway. Sometimes (all the time?) finishing is winning!
Thanks! And you are right – finishing was winning for this one!!!
Awww, I’m so sorry you had to deal with all that! But you pushed through and made it, and for that you can be proud of yourself. Well done. And hugs!
Thanks! I am hoping I will become more proud and less embarrassed (of my wacko splits) soon!
I’m sorry about your fall and the “not your day” run in general. This will make your next strong performance even sweeter. I know you put in a ton of work in the training and give you a lot of credit for pushing through to finish!
Thanks! Hopefully I do have a better race in the future. The far away future!
I was so bummed for you when I saw what had happened on Instagram. DANG IT!!! It sucks that you fell but my gosh, you got back up and ran your wounded leg off! That’s impressive, and your splits are nothing to be ashamed of. I hope you can look at your medal with pride, because you really, really earned it!
Thank you! I feel like I am getting there (to pride), slowly!!!
That is such a bummer – I’m so sorry! And you are a serious trooper/badass. I’d say it’s a LOT harder to push through when you’re not having your day, so way to hang in there.
Thanks! I am glad I finished. And was SO glad when it was over. Ha.
YIKES, what a wound on your knee! I can’t believe you managed to make it through another 26 miles like that! I’m sorry to hear about all your stomach woes – that doesn’t sound like fun under any circumstance, but especially not during a marathon 🙁 I think it’s awesome that even with so many things that didn’t go according to plan, you still managed to get through all the way to the end. I think that’s a huge accomplishment! Hopefully the next one (whenever it comes around) is a lot friendlier to you.
Also, WHOA that weather! I can’t believe how much the temperature dropped over the course of your race! Especially considering how sweltering it was in Chicago that day.
Also also, I’m so glad to hear I’m not the only one who hates the seats on the Metra! I find them SO uncomfortable and they always make me ridiculously achy if I’m on the Metra for more than like 20 minutes. I dread the day I move to the suburbs and have to use the Metra to commute – it’s so uncomfortable!
Thanks! I am glad I could make it to the end too. I still feel like I am using those things as excuses for a weak mental game, but hopefully that feeling goes away soon.
Right?! Man, I could not believe how horrible it seemed in Chicago. Yuck yuck yuck. Yuck.
I’ve noticed some Metra cars will have better seats, even on the same train! My problem is that I want to sit in the quiet car (which seems to have crappy seats on the trains I take). The worn out seats seem to actually be better cause the springs aren’t as hard! Maybe they will fix it by the time you move and have to use it, ha!
Ouch – what a painful injury! I’m amazed that you were able to power through and finish after dealing with something like that. My mom has fallen on so many runs that I’m always so nervous for her when she races. Hope the knee is healing ok!
Thank you! Oh, that’s right! She must be clumsy like me. Like seriously, what are we doing that we fall?! No one is pushing us! We aren’t tripping on anything but our feet and the road! LOL.
I am used to falling in trail races, but this really ate up my knee. It seems to be healing well though!
I know you’re a few days out now and feeling better, so I will spare you having to read a sympathetic comment when you’re over it. You did a great job staying positive, and I think that’s amazing! I’m glad you had support along the way and know that your 3:50 race is coming! <3
Thank you! 🙂 I am proud that I didn’t let my attitude go to complete shit! And I am hoping to continue working on that and get more ideas from Deena’s book!
Thanks, I think so too!
I’m so sorry that it didn’t go to plan. The knee is bad enough but there is just no fighting stomach cramps 🙁
So glad you finished tho…good job!!
Yeah. I was really surprised by the stomach cramps. I sometimes have to go on a long run but then I feel better and that’s it. Not this time.
I am too, thank you!!!