Grandma’s marathon June 21, 2003  Buck Hales

Had a marvelous experience, all and all, running Grandma's marathon on Saturday June 21, 2003. Being the Summer Solstice certainly energized the  day, and it was a beautiful day indeed. Peak temperature running was about 75 F, but the very bright sun and reflection off the water seemed to add to the heat. The cooling breeze, which we encountered about 75% of the time made it very pleasant, but at times, when the wind was either at our backs, or blocked, made it seem very warm. Joseph Kamu posted a winning time of 2:11:22, suggesting that the heat may have affected the results.  Interesting to note that there were 6833 finishers with a average time of 04:19:44. My 4:26:10 put me right at the top of the bell curve. 

This was my 19th marathon, and my 200th road race--and about the 10th or so I’ve run with Saint Stephen. This was the first marathon that we finished together which was great. We finished a 50K and a 50 miler together, but never managed to hang on for a whole marathon before. And it really helped a lot. A few times I started to pick up the pace and push ahead, and he reeled me in. Thank goodness, I surely would've bonked early had he not. As it was, I made it all the way to 25 feeling pretty good before that marathon thing happened-- and it was all I could do to continue. My last mile, 12:12 was considerably slower that all the others. And it seemed to take an hour. The finish of Grandma's is pretty tricky as it winds around the convention center and under the highway before you get a straight run to the end-- though you are within earshot of it for 2 or 3 miles. Cruel! 

Another distinguishing thing about this marathon was my departure from one of the BIG RULES-- never do anything new for the marathon that you hadn’t tested before. And perhaps the greatest sin of all-- run the marathon in new shoes, never before run in. Well, I did it. On Wednesday before the marathon I went and bought some new Avia ECS shoes, wore them around for 2  days, then ran the marathon. My last tune-up run on Tuesday gave me the feeling that my shoes were flat and I worried about wearing them, considered wearing my other Avia's-- so I added up my miles-- 250 for the  "new" Avias but nearly 600 for the older pair. Yikes. So I bought new shoes. And also a new singlet and shorts. But I did wear test the clothes on a run. It was odd, in a way, not being a fashion plate, wearing a new outfit for a marathon. But the Sugoi singlet with the new high tech fabric was really nice and I was glad to have worn it. And the shoes-- no problems at all. The pavement was hot and this always causes some distress, but I am sure the older shoes would've made it worse. 

Karen, Ryder and I left Thursday and drove to Duluth from Chicago in two days. This was very pleasant and we had a restful night of sleep in Eau Claire that night. On Friday we drove on in to Duluth, were there before noon, and enjoyed a leisurely day waiting for all our buddies to show up.  Grandma's is the single largest event of the year in Duluth and every possible accommodation is taken. We arranged for a hotel room in Spirit Mountain with the Alpine Runners club and shared the room with Steve and Mary. It was a great adventure for Ryder camping out with his two best buddies. All the way driving to Duluth he kept saying "going to Minnesota to run a marathon!" he was psyched. 

We were joined in Duluth by Jennifer Murphy who had chosen this for her first marathon. Our buddy Mark Rudnicki and Jen traveled to the race and through the entire race together. We connected with other of our long time marathon running crew-- Bob Bell who is on track for running 70 marathons by the time he turns 70. Not sure how many this is now, but he is just about to turn 65. We also had the pleasure of sharing the hotel with a huge crew of Alpine Runners from the northwest Chicago suburbs. 

Steve has run Grandma's for about the last 8 or 9 years in a row, so I put myself into his capable hands. We agreed that we would run this marathon following our training plan, which was to run a mile, then walk one minute.  Because this was a chip-timed race, and we did plan on walking every mile from the start, we started with our heels on back line at the very back of the pack and passed people the whole race. This was fun and psychologically quite appealing. At the start the antique train from the railroad museum pulled up just before the gun went off, then followed along as the lead pack made its way down the course back to Duluth. As we waited for the start two very low flying F16s went over us with huge sonic booms, which got a great ovation from the crowd. Starting at the back and not worrying about crowding the line or when you cross the starting line makes for readily available port-o-johns and a casual start to race. As soon as we crossed the matt though, we worked our way over to the right edge of the road and began to work our way past the crowd. Steve ran mostly off the shoulder in the gravel, and I stayed on the asphalt. Our first mile was 9:21. Then we walked. This takes great discipline as one is very pumped for the start of a marathon, but I am so glad we stuck to our plan. 

The course is seemingly uphill for the first half. As we slowly gained on the pack we spotted a pace group at some distance in front of us. Gradually we caught the red and white balloons and the 4:30 pace group. The pacer was a petit woman who ran effortlessly, encouraging her entourage the whole way. We would get ahead of them, and then when we walked they would catch us. For a while we would get way ahead, then as we fumbled with our Succeed tabs and gels, walking for 2 minutes instead of one, they would catch us again. We heard one man in the group declare that though he was a happily married man, she, the pace leader was the single most important woman in his life right then. We crossed the half waypoint about 2:11. This was the start of the Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon, which went off one hour before the marathon. It seemed like the course was downhill from the halfway point all the way to mile 22 or so. Just about the halfway point I started to struggle, felt a bit light headed so I took another gel. When it kicked in Steve had to reel me back in. I was feeling like I was running a perfect marathon at this point, not my fastest by any means, but about as good as I ever recall feeling for this long into the race. I was running with a straight back, upright posture, bicycling my knees every few hundred yards to keep them loose, and was pressing with my chest. We ran stride for stride, mostly without conversing, silent running nearly to the whole way. 

Just after mile 19 the course enters the north end of Duluth and the crowd  picked up. We were slowing down by then crossing mile 20 at 3:22. At mile  22 the famous, by rather inconsequential "Lemondrop Hill" loomed  large. The hill looks worse than it is, and it is really just an  overpass, but it is the greatest elevation change in the course. And it  sure was good to crest that hill. From there it is pretty much downhill,  nearly to the finish. Starting about mile 20 I began to anticipate seeing  Ryder, Karen and Mary who were going to position themselves at the corner  of Lake and Superior about mile 24. The anticipation of seeing them made  those few miles go by pretty quickly. It was such a thrill, then to see  them. Ryder in his tie-dye t-shirt sitting in his stroller, clapping and  excited-- and Mary and Karen waving to us. What a lift. 
Then the hard part of Grandma's starts. You think you are nearly finished, but no! The course winds around the convention center and loops all the way back around-- though you can hear the finish, you still aren't there. It was then that I bonked. That marathon thing happens. It became nearly impossible to continue forward. Every fiber of my being ached and it was all I could do to take the next step, and the next one, and the next one after that-- but somehow I managed to keep going. We saw Ellie Bell almost at the finish, which was another lift. Then, we rounded the final turn and could see a straight shot all the way to the finish. We caught the 4:30 pace group right at mile 26-- they finished exactly at 4:32 gun time--  amazing! Such precision in pacing. It was a marvel to behold. Steve and I gave a little bit of a kick to the end and crossed side-by-side, stride for stride. Yes! 4:26 chip time, 4:32 gun time. Nothing like the feeling of crossing that finish line. 

We collected our finisher's medals and t-shirts and while I gathered some food, Steve headed straight for our designated meeting place. By the time I navigated the crowd Karen, Mary and Ryder arrived on the spot. While Ryder darted in and out of the crowd and played on the tug boat, I actually stretched for about 15 minutes. What a great idea that was. After we summonsed our strength, we headed out. I gave my beer ticket away as we left the crowd behind. 

After showering and checking out, we met for a post-race meal on Barker’s Island in Superior will Bob and Ellie, then drove all the way to Milwaukee-- 390 miles. It was after 12:30 AM when we checked in to the hotel. Sunday we had some pleasant downtown before heading to Cheesedale and Vicki's wedding. A lovely affair right next to the Summerfest grounds.  It was hot and sunny and we sat outdoors in our finest garb, roasting. The reception was great and we had a wonderful time, even though we only knew the bride and groom. After 4 days of driving and staying in three different motels on successive nights, it sure was nice to get back to our house-- be it ever so humble, there is no place like home.