Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Race Recap: Grandma's Marathon Part 1

Yes, 26.2....really, 26.2 can you believe it? Wait...what are you thinking about? I am referring to how many inches of rain fell on me before starting my marathon...but I see where you could have confused that with me basking in the glow of my accomplishment! That will come later, but here it is, the low down on the best, worst, longest, and wettest run of my life!

Friday-Pre Race
I'll start my recap on Friday, because I'd really be remiss in leaving out the fun that was had in the lead up to race morning. I was packed and ready to go by about 8:00am, even though I wasn't leaving until noon...excited much?!? I felt pretty confident that I had everything I needed, but continued to unpack and repack about a dozen times just to make sure I had it right. Finally it was time to leave to meet my ride...Ashley, Kandi, Erin and Paula from the Maple Grove Moms Run this Town group had an extra seat and generously offered it up to me, even though none of them had met me before. We got my gear loaded, decorated Ashley's van accordingly, I said good bye to Bill and the kids, and we were ready to roll!

A van full of Moms sans kids, this could be dangerous :)
Early on in the ride Erin gave me the disclaimer "We can get kind of inappropriate sometimes, hopefully that's okay." This came up because there was discussion about whether or not there would be time to play Cards Against Humanity that night before they had to turn in. I told them, "I love that game, I play regularly with my Mom". If  you are familiar with CAH, and you can fathom playing it in your mother's presence, then you know that the five of us got along just fine. The trip went quickly and before I knew it we were in Duluth getting the four of them checked into the dorms at UMD. It just so happened that they were staying in Goldfine Hall...MY DORM! Yes, I spent two glorious years living in 201B Goldfine while in college, and as we got into the room I was instantly transported back to 1990 and all the crazy times we had in that place. Now, this could have been because the rooms have literally not changed one bit in 25 years (seriously, the furniture is exactly the same!), but it was fun to reminisce a bit. We dropped our bags and headed out to the shuttle that would take us into downtown Duluth (if you ever find yourself doing Grandma's Marathon or the half, I'm telling you now...stay at UMD! There is a free shuttle all weekend to and from downtown and a free hospitality room for runners, it's so worth it!)

UMD sent out a great Welcome Wagon!
Our first stop was dinner at Grandma's Saloon. We met up with Morgan and Beth from the MG-MRTT group and their families. Even though "Marathon Spaghetti" was on the menu, I opted for a turkey burger and french fries, figuring I had done proper carb-loading up to this point. It was delicious, but in hind-sight, I probably should have done spaghetti as you'll read later, my energy reserves got depleted pretty quickly on Saturday. After dinner we headed down Canal Park Drive to the Grandma's Marathon offices, I had to pick up the bleacher pass I had reserved for Bill for the race. When we opened the door to the office, we ran right into a little old lady in a bonnet and long dress....GRANDMA! I couldn't believe it, we actually ran into Grandma, this had to be a good sign. She was very sweet, talking to us about the race and wishing us luck. We snapped some quick pics and grabbed the ticket, then we were off to our next stop, packet pickup!

Nothing like meeting the weekend's biggest celebrity in person!
The DECC was buzzing with activity, but thankfully didn't seem too crazy. We found our way down to the Expo area, passing by the huge set up for the spaghetti dinner that the race officials put on every year. Note to self, eat at the spaghetti dinner next time, it's cheap, it smelled delicious, and you will need those carbs! There was no line at all for packet pick up. I walked right up to the row for my bib number, told the volunteer "7065" he looked down at the first box and said "Linda McKee from Shoreview?" Wow! My packet was right on top, another good sign :) We walked the expo, full of awesome vendors and lots of excitement. I picked up a shirt from the official race merch shop to send to Jill for our "jersey trade" tradition, and got my hands on some cute Bondi Bands. We wound around all the booths and I found the Rock Tape station and got my knee taped up, that stuff isn't cheap, so using someone else's is a great deal. The taping booth was right next to the Another Mother Runner set up. We stopped and chatted with JoAnn, one of my Strava friends who was working the booth. It was fun to chat with her, and Erin and Ashley picked up some cool hats from the store. I told JoAnn to look for my "Badass Mother Runner" shirt on the course, she wished me luck and we were off! We spent a little more time touring around the Canal before heading back to the shuttle. It was a beautiful night, but I was excited to get settled in and ready for the race.


Finish line getting prettied up for the big day!
The Lift Bridge, this will be the beacon of the finish line tomorrow!
Couldn't have asked for a more fun group of women to share my first marathon experience with!
We got back to UMD to pick up my stuff so Ashley could drive me to my home for the night. I had planned to stay with Stacey, the girlfriend of one of the Gopher coaches who lives in Hermantown. She was gracious enough to offer me a bed Friday night and a ride to the start line bus on Saturday morning. As we were getting ready to head out the door, I said "Next year, I'm bunking with you guys". At which Ashley said "Why don't you now?" See, Erin had brought a blow up mattress because she didn't want to sleep on a dorm mattress, so there was an open bed! I felt a little bad bailing on Stacey, even though it was going to be so much more convenient to stay at UMD (Ashley didn't have to spend an hour driving me to and back from her house, Stacey wouldn't have to get up at zero-dark thirty to drive me to the bus), but I gave her a call and she sounded fine with it, win-win! So, I got myself settled and unpacked my race day gear. Even after my ritual repacking of the morning, I was relieved to find I had remembered everything I needed. As is tradition, we laid out our race outfits to take a picture of our "Flat Mamas"...things were starting to get real...

No chance of missing us on the race course!
Alas, it was late, so there were no Cards Against Humanity dealt that night.  The other ladies were all doing the half-marathon, so they had to be up for their bus at 4:00am. We said our good-nights and hit the hay.

Saturday Morning-Pre Race
I had my phone set to go off at 4:45, even though I figured I probably wouldn't sleep through everyone else moving about at 4. But, it didn't matter, as someone's car alarm thought we all needed a 3:30 wake up call instead. I tried to get back to sleep, and I did doze off and on for about another 20 minutes, but by 4:15 I was up and at 'em. Everyone else was already dressed and getting their gear ready. I tried to just stay relaxed and rest, but I was so excited. I didn't know if I should eat yet, I had only planned a piece of toast with peanut butter and a banana for my pre-race breakfast, and it was only 4:30, so I had over three hours until the gun went off. But my hunger got the better of me and I ate my rations at 4:45. At 5:00 I said my good-byes and good lucks to the crew as they headed off to the start line bus for the half. I was alone with my thoughts and my gear staring me in the face, so I suited up. It was 5:10...the first bus for the marathon wasn't leaving until 5:45! I decided to sit on my foam roller for a bit, responded to some early well-wishers on Facebook, and managed to kill 30 minutes in a state of relative calmness. Finally, it was 5:40...I double checked that I had my gear bag stocked, wrote a quick thank you note to the ladies, and headed out.

Bus #2, no turning back!
A home town ride to the start!
The sky actually looked pretty clear, which was great. There were thunderstorms predicted for start time and it seemed as if they would miss us. It was crisp, but not cold, perfect running conditions. I walked through the lobby of the main residence hall, there were bagels and coffee set up for runners, but I passed them by (I would later regret this). I made it out to the pick up circle right at 5:50 to find one bus already departing and a small line formed for the second one. There were pockets of conversation, but most folks actually seemed to be keeping to themselves. Our bus pulled up and I had to smile, the bus taking me to the start line of my first marathon had traveled to Duluth from Lino Lakes, my neck of the woods, I took this to be my third "good sign" of the weekend!

I don't do well on buses, and my nearly empty stomach, nervousness, and the bumpy roads made the 20 minute drive to the start line less than pleasant. I had my eyes closed and was doing some deep breathing to try to keep myself from hurling all over the place. Hopefully it just looked like I was meditating to everyone else, I certainly didn't want anyone to have thought they were going to have to start the race with my peanut butter toast and banana all over their shoes. Thankfully, we soon turned off the express way and into the parking lot that would serve as the start area. The bag drop was the first thing I encountered. It was only 6:45, so I had plenty of time before I had to get rid of it, but I reasoned that I didn't have anything in there I needed. The sky still looked relatively light, so I convinced myself that I didn't need to break out the plastic baggies I brought to cover my shoes, or poncho that Erin had so generously gave me the night before. I stood in front of the drop can for a couple minutes, hemming and hawing...I didn't want to have to deal with baggies and ponchos if I didn't have to, I had a throw-away wind breaker on, that should suffice. So I tied up my bag and dropped it in. BIG MISTAKE. I proceeded to the porta-potty line and about 30 seconds after I got there the rain started coming down. It started as a light drizzle, but by the time it was my turn to go into the john, it was full on pouring. I was never so happy to be inside a porta-potty before! I didn't even really have to go, one bonus to being up so early was that I had a chance to poop not once, but TWICE before I left the dorm room (sorry...TMI). So I sat down and just relished the fact that I could likely eek out 3-4 minutes of dry time in here before anyone would be the wiser. I did consider for a moment that I would just stay in here for the next half hour, or at least until I couldn't hear the "tap-tap-tap" of the rain on the roof anymore, but alas, it WAS a porta-potty, and no matter how dry and warm I was, there was no way I could stomach an extended vacation in there. I got out and looked at my watch. 7:15, still 30 minutes to the gun. I looked around to see if there was anywhere to get some shelter. The only tent set up was a small medical area that was already packed to the gills. There were several volunteers with big umbrellas, but again, none had any room at the inn. I decided I was just going to suck it up and be wet. Thankfully it was about 62-degrees out, so I wasn't freezing, but I was starting to worry about my feet. My toes go numb pretty easily and my shoes and socks where soaked. I looked around for a spare trash bag, but didn't see any. I wandered over to the opening for the start corral and sat down on the base of a race flag, tucking my knees up and covering my feet with my jacket. I'm pretty sure this did nothing to keep water out of my shoes, but I had to try something. I willed myself to stop looking at my watch...the minutes were creeping by. I closed my eyes and did some visualization, thinking about the water stops, when I was going to take my energy gels, and hoping that the weather would let up at some point.

Finally it was 7:30 and the announcer started his comments welcoming us to the 39th Annual Grandma's Marathon. I took this as my cue to make my way into the start corral. My plan was to start the race with the 4:45 pace group. It was a time I felt pretty comfortable with based on my training runs. I also thought that if I was feeling really good, I could pick up the pace mid-race, and if I was struggling, it still gave me some cushion to hopefully finish in under five hours. I saw the sign for the 4:30 group, and the sign for the 5:00 group, but no 4:45. I decided that my pacer must be keeping dry somewhere, so I just stood in the middle, figuring it was as good a spot as any. A few minutes later, a tiny woman with a huge pile of black hair on top of her head walked up next to me...she had a giant garbage bag on that pretty much covered her entire body, but out of the bag poked her arm holding the 4:45 sign. This was Star, my pacer, and soon to be my best friend and mentor. I introduced myself, told her it was my first time and made friends with a few others standing around. By this point I was soaked solid and water was dripping off the brim of my hat on to my face. Star noted that I was smart to have a hat on, that even though it was soaked it was probably keeping me warmer than if I was bare-headed. She told us this was her 11th time running Grandma's, and in all those years, this was by far the most miserable start she could remember. So, we had that going for us ;) We chatted some more, and welcomed a few more people into our band of runners when the national anthem finally started. This was it, in just a few minutes I was going to start running my first marathon....a little chill ran up my spine, it may have just been the cold, but I was so excited!

Smiling through the rain....Let's get this party started!

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