{"id":3910,"date":"2016-06-26T18:04:56","date_gmt":"2016-06-26T23:04:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/?p=3910"},"modified":"2016-06-26T18:04:56","modified_gmt":"2016-06-26T23:04:56","slug":"grandmas-marathon-recap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/?p=3910","title":{"rendered":"Grandma’s Marathon Recap"},"content":{"rendered":"

June 18th was the 40th anniversary of Grandma’s Marathon. MFH (My Favorite Husband) and I decided to make the trip to Duluth, Minnesota, to the race for our annual vacation. \u00a0I was registered to run and he was my cheerleader. \u00a0He’s sweet!<\/p>\n

We left Tuesday evening before the race and drove up into Tennessee before stopping for the night. \u00a0I think we pulled into our hotel around 9:30 that evening. \u00a0We slept fitfully. \u00a0It was an old hotel. \u00a0It was clean, though! \u00a0Really no complaints…I think I was just too excited about finally being on the road. \u00a0That and I had forgotten my medication at home so I was nervous about getting it filled at a new pharmacy in the morning.<\/p>\n

We got the medication refilled without any drama the next morning and were on the road by 8:30 am. \u00a0Again we drove until late and were up early for the last day of driving to Duluth. \u00a0It was a lovely drive! \u00a0Super pretty weather! \u00a0Lots of fun.<\/p>\n

We checked into our hotel (it was Thursday by now) and then we went over to the Expo. \u00a0I knew Friday the Expo would be a zoo so I had really wanted to get there on Thursday. \u00a0MFH and I hopped back in the car and headed across the river into Minnesota (our hotel was in Superior, Wisconsin) and Ta-Dah! \u00a0We were in Duluth and at the Expo. \u00a0*This is me in a very long line waiting to get my Bib.<\/p>\n

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Once I had obtained my bib, MFH and I strolled around the Expo. \u00a0You never know what kind of goodies you might be able to find there! \u00a0I was a lucky girl in that I got to meet Jeff Galloway!!! \u00a0What a very nice man!<\/p>\n

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After meeting Jeff Galloway, we went on a little walk and ended up at an Italian restaurant. \u00a0It was delicious food. \u00a0Kind of pricey but very tasty! \u00a0We hadn’t realized how hungry we were from our travels. \u00a0We stopped for food and all but burgers on the road? \u00a0They really don’t do the job like a solid meal. \u00a0MFH had some fancy, wide noodles. \u00a0They had fresh peas and bacon in them. \u00a0I had Fettuccine Alfredo with a Portabella mushroom. \u00a0Mmmm!!!<\/p>\n

Friday was a rest day. \u00a0The race was Saturday morning. \u00a0We were bused to the start for this race. \u00a0You could NOT drive to the start. \u00a0Everything was blocked off (road wise). \u00a0We had a bus in front of our hotel at 5:30 am. \u00a0I hopped on the bus and chatted with other runners. \u00a0We had a lovely drive to the starting line where the bus stopped and kicked us off.<\/p>\n

Now, I had worn my Zensah compression sleeves to the race. \u00a0These are the calf\/shin sleeves and are terrific for shin splints! \u00a0As soon as I got off the bus, I knew it was too warm to be wearing them. \u00a0The compression sleeves are the greatest things ever but they are toasty. \u00a0It made me sad but I took them off and ditched them. \u00a0I will be ordering some new ones!<\/p>\n

As we lined up for the start, they announced the temp was 72*. \u00a0I have no idea about the humidity. \u00a0People were saying it was humid but I think Mississippi humidity and Minnesota humidity are two different creatures.<\/p>\n

I am used to freezing my fanny before a race but I was almost a little warm standing at the start. \u00a0This concerned me. \u00a072*? \u00a0That’s not too terrible. \u00a0I can do this! \u00a0That’s what I told myself.<\/p>\n

Right before the race started, I ran into somebody I knew! \u00a0This sweet lady and I have the same coach. \u00a0We were kind of told in no uncertain terms that we HAD to get a pic of us together. \u00a0We smiled for the camera and chatted a bit. \u00a0Such a nice lady!!!<\/p>\n

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They sang the National Anthem. \u00a0The gun went off and so did we!<\/p>\n

It really was nice running through the first 10K. \u00a0We were chatting and having a nice time. \u00a0I was with a pacing group. \u00a0My pacer had actually paced at the Mississippi Blues Marathon this past January and he was doing an excellent job. \u00a0Kudos to him!<\/p>\n

Soon, we could feel the temps rising. \u00a0It wasn’t any 72* anymore.<\/p>\n

The weather forecast had called for rain and a high of upper 60’s. \u00a0The weather people were very sadly mistaken. \u00a0It was full sunshine and warm. \u00a0Actually a beautiful Minnesota day….except we were trying to run a marathon in those toasty temps.<\/p>\n

Grandma’s Marathon is pretty much all along hwy 61. \u00a0This follows the shore of Lake Superior. \u00a0A stunningly beautiful marathon course! \u00a0Just beautiful!<\/p>\n

There. Is. No. Shade.<\/p>\n

Under normal circumstances, this would be awesome! \u00a0This was not normal circumstances. \u00a0We were trying to run a marathon. \u00a0The weather was not our friend.<\/p>\n

There is this “thing” called the flag system. \u00a0It is used in road racing to communicate to runners the weather conditions. \u00a0When we started the race, the flags were green.
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The first 10K (6.2 miles) took about an hour and in that hour’s time, the flag had changed to red: \u00a0High.<\/p>\n

When we arrived at the Half Marathon point, the half way spot, the black flag was flying. \u00a0This was not good.<\/p>\n

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The real temps were in the low 80’s now and the heat index in the low 90’s. \u00a0This was some seriously toasty weather!<\/p>\n

I knew by this time the nice little PR I had been training for was long gone so I changed my race plan to #survivalmode. \u00a0I started chatting with the people around me more. \u00a0Enjoying the beauty of the surroundings instead of grinding out the miles. \u00a0It was fun! \u00a0It was hard, but fun!<\/p>\n

Now, in just about every race I’ve run, I’ve witnessed people losing their breakfast on the side of the road but never to the extent I did at this race. \u00a0The heat was making people’s tummies revolt. \u00a0I felt bad for them but…it happens.<\/p>\n

I also saw an incredible number of sag wagons! \u00a0The sag wagons were short school buses (at least the ones I saw). \u00a0They were packed with runners who had either quit or had been pulled from the course. \u00a0I have NEVER witnessed this before! It was sobering. \u00a0I knew I was hot. I knew I was getting dehydrated. \u00a0I knew all of that but hey! \u00a0I’m from Mississippi. \u00a0This is part of being a runner in Mississippi, right?<\/p>\n

Miles 18-20 we were in the Duluth city limits now. The neighborhoods were out cheering. \u00a0Water and sprinklers were available almost every block. \u00a0One person handed me a Gin & Tonic. \u00a0I’m not a big Gin fan but it had ICE in it! \u00a0It was COLD! \u00a0It was glorious!<\/p>\n

Mile 21? \u00a0Where there was supposed to be an aid station? I witness the people running the water stop folding up their table! \u00a0Another person was sweeping up the empty cups and throwing them away. \u00a0I thought, what’s with that!?! \u00a0The course was open 7 hours! \u00a0Surely they’re not packing up shop yet? \u00a0The course was still open another (almost) 2 hours!<\/p>\n

All the way until mile 25, all the aid stations were packing up for the day. \u00a0I couldn’t believe it. \u00a0That’s a very long way to run without any hydration. \u00a0No shade. \u00a0That was very, very wrong.<\/p>\n

When we reached mile 25 and I saw a paper cup with some water? \u00a0I was actually crying! \u00a0I really was dehydrated by now and discouraged. \u00a0This last little part of a marathon always kicks my tail under the best of circumstances and this was NOT the best of circumstances. \u00a0I mentioned to the worker at the water stop about the others closing up. \u00a0The man looked puzzled. \u00a0I don’t know if anything was done about it. \u00a0All I could think about was all the other runners still behind me. \u00a0I knew they would be needing that water and there wouldn’t be any unless somebody made those places set back up. \u00a0I was a very sad panda.<\/p>\n

Then, right past the spot marking mile 25 and that last wonderful water stop, I heard somebody yell my name and kind of run out to meet me. \u00a0It was MFH!!! \u00a0I love that man!!! \u00a0He took all of the extra stuff I was carrying to lighten my load for the last 1.20 miles. \u00a0He told me to RUN and he would meet me at the finish.<\/p>\n

So, I RAN!<\/p>\n

I crossed the finish!!!<\/p>\n

I was done!!!<\/p>\n

Success!!!<\/p>\n

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Here is my official race pic.<\/p>\n

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I have to give a shout to ChafeX. \u00a0I sweated off 6 lbs on this race, even with starting hydrating at the very first aid station. \u00a0With all of that, I didn’t have one single bit of chafing. \u00a0I was doing the Happy Dance about that! \u00a0Excellent product!!!<\/p>\n

My first marathon, in Bar Harbor, Maine? \u00a0I used to say that was the hardest marathon ever. \u00a0I’m going to have to say that Grandma’s Marathon has taken that spot. \u00a0Not because the course is that hard. \u00a0It’s a beautiful course and I think if the weather gods had been smiling on us, I would have waltzed away with that PR. \u00a0The heat? \u00a0Killed me.<\/p>\n

I found out later that in the 40 years of this race, I was lucky enough to run it on the second hottest race on record. \u00a0Lucky me? \u00a0 Hahaha!!!<\/p>\n

Even though I grumbled about the aid stations being taken down, those poor people had been standing in that heat for hours! \u00a0They had to be as hot and miserable as those of us running the race. \u00a0Without volunteers doing things like directing traffic and running aide stations and all the other little behind the scenes things, terrific races like Grandma’s Marathon simply cannot happen.<\/p>\n

Huge kudos to those who worked behind the scenes at this race. \u00a0They were fabulous! \u00a0This is a definite, “I’ve got to run this thing again when the weather is more cooperative!” \u00a0MFH and I might be driving up north again in a year or two. \u00a0Why knows? \u00a0Maybe I can get him to run it with me next time?<\/p>\n

#IRun4Aiden<\/p>\n

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#teamZensah<\/p>\n

#AbbottWMM<\/p>\n

#OiselleVolee<\/p>\n

#ChafeX<\/p>\n

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June 18th was the 40th anniversary of Grandma’s Marathon. MFH (My Favorite Husband) and I decided to make the trip to Duluth, Minnesota, to the race for our annual vacation. \u00a0I was registered to run and he was my cheerleader. \u00a0He’s sweet! We left Tuesday evening before the race and drove up into Tennessee before […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[21,6,8,3,7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3910"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3910"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3910\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3920,"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3910\/revisions\/3920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}