Cassie and I drove into Duluth and immediately went to the Expo on Friday afternoon. The Expo was alright; the expo room in the DECC is a pretty small space considering the number of people there. My only issue was that there was no Grandma's Marathon technical wear to buy. Everything was cotton. I hope they get an apparel sponsor in the future because I would love to have a shirt to wear running. The highlight of the expo was meeting hometown running hero Dick Beardsley. 
I talked with him for a couple minutes and he signed my bib number. He's a super nice guy, and I hope I get to see him again someday. Packet pick-up was super easy and we went to Michelina's Spaghetti Dinner at the DECC to fill up on carbs. The food was great and just what we needed after a day and a half of driving through Wisconsin and eating too much junk food. We made our way to our friends home for dinner, and after a quick trip to SuperOne for some gatorade, peanut butter, bagels, bananas and sunscreen, we went to bed early.
I talked with him for a couple minutes and he signed my bib number. He's a super nice guy, and I hope I get to see him again someday. Packet pick-up was super easy and we went to Michelina's Spaghetti Dinner at the DECC to fill up on carbs. The food was great and just what we needed after a day and a half of driving through Wisconsin and eating too much junk food. We made our way to our friends home for dinner, and after a quick trip to SuperOne for some gatorade, peanut butter, bagels, bananas and sunscreen, we went to bed early. Saturday: Race Day
We woke up at 4:45 a.m. feeling pretty good after 8 hours of sleep. After getting ready we made ourselves some peanut butter bagels and walked to the University of Minnesota, Duluth campus to catch a bus to the race start. We waited in line for 10-15 minutes before boarding a bus and heading to Two Harbors. There were no issues driving to the race start since it was early and the buses were the only traffic. The weather was really nice and cool in the morning with a nice breeze. The skies were clear, so it was looking to be a sunny day with temps in the 60s and low 70s. After arriving we made a couple trips through the port-o-potty lines and went to the race start. It was a nice atmosphere and I was feeling good. It took us about 5-6 minutes to walk up to the starting line once the race started, but after that we were able to immediately jump into our race pace of around 10 minutes/mile.
The course was beautiful and Cassie and I had a great race. We were strong and kept a nice pace through about 20 miles, then we needed to start taking walking breaks. I started getting some stomach cramps around 21-22 miles, mostly I think because of the Ultima. That stuff was nasty.
The people of Two Harbors and Duluth really come out and support this race. There were a lot of supporters on the course not just in Duluth, but along Highway 61 in the middle of nowhere. There were also many Elvi, bands, musicians and Al Franken. That's right. Al Franken. We ran past him around the 9-10 mile marker and thought we were seeing things, then when we passed him around mile 17-18 again I got my picture taken with him.
Our mile splits according to my watch, which slightly vary from our chip time:
Mile 1: 9:53
Mile 2: 9:45
Mile 2: 9:45
Mile 3: 9:45
Mile 4: 9:28
Mile 5: 9:29
Mile 6: 9:56
Mile 7: 9:37
Mile 8: 10:00
Mile 9: 9:53
Mile 10: 9:29
Mile 11: 9:59
Mile 12: 10:07
Mile 13: 10:08
Mile 14: 9:41
Mile 15: 9:40
Mile 16: 11:52
Mile 17: 11:06
Mile 18: 9:56
Mile 19: 9:56
Mile 20: 13:35
Mile 21: 13:11
Mile 22: 11:23
Mile 23: 10:55
Mile 24: 12:20
Mile 25: 11:41
Mile 26: 10:12
Mile .2: 2:07
Mile .2: 2:07
We finished in a chip ti
me of 4:35:04, which was a lot better than we expected, especially since the course seemed alot hillier than expected. We just aren't able to train for that in Chicago, no matter how big the hills. I loved the race and would definitely do it again in the future. Wading in Lake Superior after the race was really nice...but even too cold to stay in for long. I do believe that it helped our recovery though, because we were feeling okay the day after the race and within three days we were pretty much back to normal. My recovery for Grandma's was a LOT better than AZ in January.
me of 4:35:04, which was a lot better than we expected, especially since the course seemed alot hillier than expected. We just aren't able to train for that in Chicago, no matter how big the hills. I loved the race and would definitely do it again in the future. Wading in Lake Superior after the race was really nice...but even too cold to stay in for long. I do believe that it helped our recovery though, because we were feeling okay the day after the race and within three days we were pretty much back to normal. My recovery for Grandma's was a LOT better than AZ in January. Thanks to the organizers of Grandma's and the people of Two Harbors and Duluth for a great race weekend.
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