It’s been 84 years since I’ve written on this website.
Since more than five of you said on my social media that you would read a race recap, here we go. I will attempt brevity but I have SO much to say. Grab a beverage and settle in.
PRE RACE
Way back in January I saw Still I Run had charity entries to Grandma’s Marathon. Considering, I’m already a Still I Run Ambassador, and the fundraising minimum was $1500, it seemed like a good idea. Before pulling the trigger, I spoke with Nick (my partner). When I asked him, he was like YEAH GO FOR IT! I was probably definitely looking for an “are you sure?” kind of answer, but alas, he gave me the push and encouragement I needed. Thus, I signed up and got the approval from the charity to start fundraising.
As a quick historical recap: I’ve run many marathons, 12 plus an Ironman to be exact. I’ve also suffered a bad back injury and am no longer 30 years old. Harrumph. I’d DNF’d Grandma’s once, and finished it once in 2022 (a painful 4:42). My marathon PR is a 3:48 but that was a magical unicorn day a thousand years ago. I actually went and totaled the average time of all of my marathons and it’s 4:23:41 (this includes this Grandma’s but does not include the ironman). The point is, I’m not a spring chicken but I’m also not a superstar runner by any stretch. And I don’t think giving my PR gives the full picture of my marathon history.
Anyway, from the beginning of this cycle, I said to myself, the universe, and anyone who’d listen, “I don’t care about a time. I just want to raise funds for a great cause and go have fun!”
Sure, Jan.
I had a half marathon in February so my plan was to race that and then head into marathon training. I was gunning for sub 2:00 hours. That half went poorly as it was hot as hades for me and I had to pace adjust. While coach me knows I made the right call, athlete me loathes having to run slower because my physiology just crumples in humidity. I know it does for everyone, but I feel as though I REALLY struggle. I am the most special snowflake.
Planning to marathon train around my busiest work season was maybe not the smartest idea I’ve ever had, but I wrote my training plan knowing full well there were weekends I’d have to run long on Sunday, versus Saturday. Those weeks would shorten the time between long runs, thus less recovery, but it was what it was. There was also one weekend in April that I wouldn’t be able to run at all so that would just have to be a cut back week. I wanted to hit some weeks over 40 miles in total, because as we all know overall volume matters.
In March I had a medical procedure that stressed me the F out, but that only wound up taking about three days off from training. So that was the first unexpected blip in my “I don’t care about this race” training.
The early long runs went pretty well. I was able to hit a few 40 miles weeks. The weather stayed surprisingly nice through most of April. I got through my big work event with some stress as usual and then headed into another event that was BIG stress, which was not normal. The following 18 mile long run in early May, I elected to run multiple bridges on probably the warmest day thus far. I ran it with my now go-to long run training buds Maria and Joe. And while I finished it, I was TOAST.
Here’s where the Universe said, hey lady, we got your “I don’t care” right here!
I started feeling that dreaded tingle in my throat the Monday after that 18 mile run. I woke up Tuesday with a full blown cold. Shit. I knew I’d over done it and my immune system was tanked. With that, I chose to rest and reschedule the trip to Vegas Nick and I had planned. Sad face.
Things then took an even worse turn though as by Friday I couldn’t keep food in my body. (I’ll spare you those details.) It got so bad that on Saturday I went to urgent care. And from urgent care I went to the ER. Long story short, urgent care was not the most helpful so I went to the ER for the good stuff. (And also, I’m SUPER fortunate to have great health insurance.) It was a stomach bug, and I felt better after an IV and some meds.
To recap here, I had a week of illness and no long run. By this point I had run two 16’s, two 18’s and one 20 mile long run. Not exactly terrible but definitely not as consistent as I wanted. My plan was to build up again to one more 20 – and I almost got there.
But….
As my luck would have it, the weekend after my stomach bug when I figured I was well enough to shoot for a very easy paced 10 – 14 miler, I completely busted my ass. I was running on a very dark path in the very dark early morning. I had on my racing shoes which I know require me to pick up my damn feet. Instead, I shuffled right over a buckled spot on the path and did my impression of Superman. In my comic book version, my Superman dives headfirst into the cement and scrapes both elbows, hands, and a knee. Talk about Kryptonite.
I ran, bleeding, back to the car, got band aids and what not (car first aid kits are a must) and promptly got sent home by friends who were like, “GIRL. You look a mess. Go home.” I had also started feeling woozy from the fall and maybe from THE RAGE. (I only managed to get in 8+ miles. Womp womp.)
Fortunately, nothing was broken. Not even my ego. I am too old to feel embarrassed by that sort of thing. I rarely fall and I was more upset at how badly these scrapes hurt, and that yet another long run would be incomplete. I now truly feel so bad for little kids with scraped knees. That shit STINGS. Side note: UPDATE YOUR HOME FIRST AID KITS. Ours had Neosporin from the Paleozoic Era.
I swear I am getting to the race recap part, calm down.
I was able to run 16 pretty well following Superman weekend despite my scrapes and bruises. But basically most of May was a disaster. Suck it May!
And then it was a taper 10 miler, and then we were off to the races!
THURSDAY – RACE WEEK
I got to Duluth on Thursday of race week. I always stay at the college dorms, opened to runners, because they are cheap and logistically convenient. The race is point to point so the dorms have shuttles that typically (foreshadowing) take you right to the start area. The dorms were DORMING and I do think that is my last year staying there. Having to think about clothing in the middle of the night when you have to walk down a hall to use a communal women’s restroom is too much. Especially if you are A. SUPER hydrated, and B. Perimenopausal.
Thursday night I not only watched Kara Goucher and Des Linden’s live podcast at a local theater, but I also got to do a little meet and greet with them. That was pretty special. They also brought out another amazing athlete, Dakotah Popehn. (You probably already saw the pics on my socials or I sent them to you because OMG LEGENDARY FEMALE ATHLETES.) Des and I are now BFFs. I’m pretty sure she’ll talk about me on the pod. Our minute together was special. Haha.
FRIDAY – THE NIGHT BEFORE THE MARATHON
Friday morning I did the group shakeout run with my charity buds. We then had local coffee and pastries which were so good!
I then went straight to packet pickup and got all my stuff. A couple of things to note about Grandma’s that I dig. First off, you don’t get your finisher shirt until you finish. Yep. No finish, no shirt. Second, their expo stays open until ELEVEN PM the night before the race. Gahbless these volunteers who stay there that late. I cannot imagine. I’d love to know how late the latest people show up.
I had chicken and mashed potatoes for lunch, and I had sushi for dinner. Sushi’s become my go to dinner before long runs or races. No weird rolls or cream cheese or tempura, just straight up salmon/tuna and rice. It works better for me than pasta which I find too oily if eaten at a restaurant. I snacked on some gummy candy. I also ate a banana in the middle of the night which is a trick I learned from Meb’s book. Basically I did carb loading in a way that works for me.
My plan was to start as easy as humanly possible and then either pick up the pace or stay with the pace group. Based on my training and illnesses and whatnot I figured the 4:50 pacer would be the way to go. That’s an 11:03 minute mile. I had to get my ego in check here because I didn’t run an 11 minute mile for any of my training. When I registered way back when I put 4:30 as my projected finish time. I know this doesn’t seem like a big difference on paper but we runners know that 30 more minutes of running in a marathon can potentially really hurt.
Again, even though I did say I didn’t care about my time, I had some finish times I did not want to see on the clock or feel in my legs. I wanted to feel good during this marathon and not have the final miles be the dreaded slogfest like I had in 2022. Not walking and negative splits were on the race goal agenda.
SATURDAY – RACE MORNING (You made it here, you might as well keep reading.)
I left my dorm room at 5:45 am to hop on the best shuttle for my corral PER THE ATHLETE GUIDE. I got on the shuttle, it filled up and we were off… to a GD parking lot!? We were told to get off. What was happening?! We literally rode that first bus for five to ten minutes. We got off the bus and got in a big, long line of runners. I apparently did not read that part of THE ATHLETE GUIDE. I asked some runners and they said yes, this bus would take us to the start. I heard that some folks were parking at the dorms and hopping on those buses so this was the fix? Mind you the bus has to drive 26 miles to the start so it takes a while to get there.
We hit traffic on bus #2 and I was slightly panicked. I’m an early-is-on-time person. We got to the start area at 7:15am and my corral was slated to take off at 8:10am. This would be fine if the porta potty lines weren’t stretched for miles. Yes, I’m exaggerating but the lines were HELLA LONG. I got in line and it seemed to be moving at a glacial pace. The seconds ticked by and my bladder was about to explode. I knew the first aid station wasn’t until mile three so I felt I had no choice but to wait. And the reason for my stress is because I desperately wanted to start with the pace group rather than being left to my own pacing devices.
Side note: My porto theory is that men take a really long time to poop, so moving forward I will be looking for lines with less men. Sorry fellas, I have no idea what ya’ll are doing in there. Just crap and get out!
I made it out of the porta potty at 8:07. I kid you not.
I found the 4:50 pacer and we were off to the races.
Now, the weather was tricky for me. It felt cool but not cold. Historically, I run much better when it’s so cold that Princess Elsa is about to start singing about a snowman. I dropped my long sleeved t-shirt right before my corral started because I knew I’d be done with it before the end of the first mile. I wondered how warm I would feel as we got going. I did recall my now new bestie, Olympian and Boston marathon champion, Des Linden, saying on Thursday night that the headwind would feel nice, so I hung on to that hope.
As we got rolling, I noted our big group and pace and introduced myself to the pacer and got her name. Lindsay. Lindsay rocked. She had paced before and was super friendly and in control. We ticked off the first few miles without much ado. It felt warm those first few miles in the sun. Lindsay also mentioned that it was a little warm for her taste.
I carried a small bottle of water with me since I knew the aid stations didn’t start until mile three. I also stuck to my plan of a gel every 30 minutes. One thing about me is, my body absolutely adores carbs. My inner Chunk is so happy to get those calories it’s like my insides are doing the Truffle Shuffle. I also drank either water or Powerade at every aid station. Grandma’s has plenty of aid stations after they start at mile three. (This where it’s important that you read the athlete guide as a few folks asked about water before mile three.)
Somewhere along the way we started getting that cool breeze that my bestie Des mentioned. The course runs straight alongside Lake Superior but you can’t see it until about mile 6 or 7. Then you see it at times and then it disappears again at others. It truly is a beautiful course. And there are plenty of spectators cheering you on along the route.
I found myself drifting off in front of the 4:50 group and then having to slow down to stay with them. I met a woman named Jess from Jersey and she seemed to be doing what I was doing. We chatted for a while and I guess around mile ten I realized we definitely weren’t right in front of the 4:50 group any longer. I wondered if I was making a terrible mistake, but I honestly felt really comfortable and my HR was low. We also weren’t sprinting at this point by any stretch of the imagination.
I saw the miles tick off around a 10:30 pace and felt fine. I noticed the small rolling hills in the middle miles but even as a true Floridian they are nothing to write home about. We stayed around 10:30 pace until the half way point.
At just past the halfway point Jess from Jersey peeled off to use the restroom. Faretheewell Jess from Jersey.
It was at this point that I started to race. Something clicked. I felt good and I kept asking myself, can I run this pace or better for X amount of miles? At mile 16, I thought only ten miles to go. And I really felt that ten miles at this point was not too bad. I know that sounds bonkers but I kept enjoying the cool headwind and thinking how nice it felt despite the times when the sun would peek out from behind the clouds.
From 16 to 19 the course stays along Lake Superior, but at 19 it finally enters the city of Duluth. Mind you the support all along is great but it ratchets way up at 19. I knew my friends from Still I Run would be cheering at mile 23. I also knew I had to get over the most significant hill at mile 22, Lemon Drop Hill
I still felt good so I continued to drop the pace but tried to do so conservatively and by feel. I didn’t look at my watch. I went full Forrest Gump – just runn-ang.
When I hit mile 20 I was wondered if I’d hit the proverbial wall, but nope. I certainly felt like I’d run 20 miles but again I asked myself, can I run this pace for six more miles? And much to my surprise, I answered yes.
Now, the sharp, short climb at mile 22 known as Lemon Drop Hill isn’t all that bad. What’s bad is that you get to the top and then the downhill hurts because your quads are trashed by this point. At least mine were. Mind you again, they didn’t hurt bad enough to walk but I did curse a few times.
I got to my charity friends at mile 23 and they were a welcome sight. Allie, from Still I Run, snapped this photo.
For the miles in Duluth I saw runners wearing leis. And I kept missing them being handed out. I thought they looked fun so I wanted one. I got lucky and I grabbed one around mile 23, maybe from Still I Run, but I’m not sure who handed it to me. I put it on and immediately wanted it off. It was so funny. I ripped it off and literally handed it to the very next spectator saying, “Sorry, I don’t want this.” Classic Beth.
At mile 23 I could do math well enough to know I could get very close to my original 4:30 goal, so at that point it. was. on. I ran like a woman possessed. There was no way I was slowing down no matter how badly my quads screamed. The most annoying this about this beautiful course is the last mile. You pretty much run a straight shot all the way until mile 25 and then they put you through a series of turns that are infuriating. You cannot see or hear the finish line. And at one point you run along the harbor next to what can only be described as the world’s longest ship. I swear to you that ship was three miles long in that one mile. (It’s THIS SHIP if you must know.)
That last mile was never ending, but then I turned a final turn and there it was. My favorite place – the finish line! I crossed and grabbed my medal and water. I hobbled to the gear check area and grabbed my bag. I called Nick and had the old Steel Magnolias “laughter through tears” as I told him how happy I was. I haven’t stopped smiling since.
Here are my splits for posterity and obviously for bragging that I did what is hard, but not impossible, to do – negative split a marathon.
Thanks again to friends and family for the support and donations to a cause near and dear to my heart. From the month of May trying to kill me, to running training runs with so many awesome people (you know who you are), to having such an unexpectedly incredible experience – this is a race I won’t soon forget.
Thanks for reading.
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