Grandma's Marathon....for Clark....

This week was Grandma's, Grandma's Marathon that is. I have heard so many great things about Grandma's the past few years and I was excited to finally be able to see Minnesota, taking part a race that has been around almost 35 years.  For those of you who are not familiar with the race, Grandma's Marathon came about in 1977 when a group of local runners planned a scenic road race from Two Harbors to Duluth, MN. It got its name from the local Grandma's restaurant in the area.

 There were signs all over town to welcome the runners!

The Grandma's Restaurant in Duluth

With the race being on Saturday, I flew out Friday, which also happened to be my daughter Angelina's 7th birthday. I felt so horrible having to leave on her birthday, but there just wasn't any other way to make it work. I got her up a little extra early to have a mini celebration with her before she had to go to school. 

My daughter Angelina and her giant cupcake birthday cake!

It had been an insane week as my son Austin graduated from preschool, award ceremonies for my daughters, and the last day of school was Friday also. Top if off with a marathon and it was one overly crazy week.

With my son Austin at his preschool graduation

I was fortunate to be able to stay with my friend Roger, who has been making Grandma's a yearly tradition. We stayed at his cousin's house for the race and they were so very hospitable to me. After getting my packet, I got to have a home-cooked spaghetti meal with them in prep for race morning. Nothing beats a hot  home cooked meal!

Saturday we got up early, shuttled down to the start and began the pre-race routine. As we stood waiting for the start, I felt chilly. With the temps being in the 50's, it was the first time in weeks I'd been treated to such perfect weather.  I placed myself between the 4:30 and 5 hour pace groups, hoping that I could make a finish under 5 hours for this race. I've noticed my body recovering little by little each week and after my race a couple weeks ago in Indiana, and a promising weather outlook, I felt confident to run better.

With Roger at the start

Two runners with heart - running 26 miles to celebrate 26 years of marriage

The race began and even though I wore my Garmin watch I tried not to look at it. I wanted to just feel out my pace and run what was comfortable without any stress. Running free like that I've found that I naturally tend to run a better race. Within a couple miles I found that groove and felt good. I didn't want to get overly excited about how I was feeling as I knew that I still had a long long way to go, but it was a good sign. Muscle compensation has been a problem for me, as my body has tried to figure a way to make things work in light of a less than 100% operating system the past couple months. As a result I have to really mentally focus on using the right muscles, forcing them to work in the way they are intended, the way they need to used.

 It was a seriously beautiful day to be running!

It was such a treat to run in the cooler, fresh air of Duluth. This race was unique in that we were able to see the finish line in the distance as we ran along. I tried not to focus on how far out it was, but really just enjoy the sights around. The community of Duluth was very involved in the race. It's always encouraging to have people cheer you on, and the second half of the marathon brought tons of crowd support as we ran down the residential streets leading into downtown. I hit the half marathon mat with a time of 2:14, and knew I could easily break 5 hours if I just kept myself focused on that goal. As much as these races haven't been about the clock, that was a great motivator and goal to keep in sight as the miles adding on.

They showed up on the course several times to entertain us

Duluth had some interesting sights along the way, including a bacon station (and no I didn't stop to get any). Lots of people brought out beer and I stopped 4 times along the way for a drink, including taking a swig from someone's own beer. I saw a guy holding up rum in one hand and coke in the other, and someone else was making bloody mary drinks, but I had to pass on those. When I run, beer is my limit. Some of the aid stations had chips, bananas, oranges, Jolly Ranchers and Twizzlers. I stopped for all those on the way too! For a girl that used to have a hard time stomaching anything when I ran, I've come quite a way in that department. I can pretty much eat anything when I run now, and often I'll try whatever sounds good, even if I've never eaten it before.

His shirt said it all - "I can, I will, I must"

Nearing the last couple miles of the race, we came to the one real hill that everyone calls lemon drop hill. Not quite sure where the name comes from, but the whole time going up it I kept thinking it sounded like something straight out of the children's game Candy Land. The course offered lots of small changes in elevation, but for the most part it was an extremely flat course.

Starting up lemon drop hill - it had a little flat shelf in the middle and then up some more

What a view from the course!

Ngqeleni district of South Africa and attends a preschool that is funded in part by 25:40. Like a lot of the children that attend the preschool, Clark gets his one and only meal of the day there.

 Clark

The past couple of weeks I have found myself struggling more and more with missing my family. I knew there would be a lot of travel involved with this year, but I didn't know just how difficult it would be for me to leave them and how much I would miss out on. Like the fact that I still haven't had a chance to take my children to the pool, and it's been open for almost a month!  But this race was especially hard, knowing I was going to miss cake and ice cream with my daughter. Seeing how much they have grown and changed this year at their award ceremonies just makes me wish all the more that I could have more time with them. But as I ran those last couple miles, I was thinking about Clark, and how he really has no one there for him. At 4 years of age, he's grown accustomed to his circumstances. He has no idea what it would be like to have a family and do the kinds of things that my family is so blessed to be able to do. I remembered why I was so drawn to take on this challenge for 25:40. I thought about if my own children were left orphaned, and in the kind of circumstances that these children face, how I would wish someone would help them.

I can't even begin to fathom the reality these children face each day, but if what I'm doing can change someone else's heart, opening them to wanting to help support Clark and the other 1,500 children that have to fight each and every day to keep going, it's worth missing my daughter's birthday. It's worth missing my family time, it's worth the difficulty my body has been through. It's worth crazy travel arrangements, and whatever debt I will incur from those travel expenses. With over 5,600 marathon runners that finished Grandma's Marathon this year, I imagined if every one of them donated just $1 what a tremendous impact that would make on the life of Clark and the other children! It made me want to keep pushing and fighting to the finish and when I crossed the line in 4:37 I felt overwhelmed with emotion. I've been struggling against injury and body alignment issues the past couple months. I've done everything possible to try and recover while having to accept that my genetic makeup is just going to make me more likely to struggle through this challenge. But every mile that I have had to struggle against, every race that's been filled with pain, or my "gimpy" tendencies has been worth it. Crossing that line at Grandma's was a celebration for me, and for Clark.

Runners just finishing 26 miles

I headed for the finish line food which was a great spread of turkey sandwiches, strawberries, yogurt, bananas, bagels and dipping dots ice cream! But nothing tasted as sweet as knowing I had completed marathon 22 of the year, over an hour faster than the my marathon the previous week and my fastest time since April!

I enjoyed the post race band

And a tall one!

The view from the park at the finish!

It gives me great confidence to keep pushing on, and fighting for the kids of 25:40!  This journey has always been about changing their lives, giving them a new hope, and a new beginning. But Grandma's Marathon gave me a new hope. And I'm going to run with it!

"The call to do what is right is always there, 

it's just a matter of whether you are willing to listen"  - Dana Casanave

My medal

Final Race Stats:
Finish time 4:37:49        10:37/min per mile pace average
3519 out of 5606 overall
1110 out of 2147 women
629 out of 1162 in age group (19-34)