2009 Grandma’s Marathon Race Report
19 June 2009, I arrived in Duluth at about 11:00 AM Friday morning. I was staying at Spirit Mountain Campground for the third year. It is convenient (about 15 min from downtown) and relatively inexpensive at $30 per night (2-night minimum). The campground is full of runners for the weekend, so there is usually a lot of like- minded chatter around. This year Gordy (my running mentor, 12th in his age group this year) had the adjacent site, and I was sharing a site with Jay and his son Jason, in all we had a posse of 7 full-marathoners and 3 half-marathoners with connections to the Tool (Wilson Tool International, where I’m gainfully employed) in this year’s event. Jay was towing his pop-up camper up so I had little setup to worry about. So after a quick check of email and the latest forecast I was off to the DECC (Duluth Entertainment Convention Center) for packet pickup and the expo. I was hoping to catch a couple guest speakers before heading over to Pizza Luce for our traditional pre-race meal.
After picking up my packet and a few GU energy gels (Strawberry Banana and Vanilla, oh yum) I settled in to listen to Joan Benoit Samuelson and Dick Beardsley speak. Both are amazing American runners, and both had interesting stories to tell. I’d like to share the story that Dick concluded with about a Special Olympics Athlete named Bruce.
Dick was at the event as a guest speaker and was helping do some announcing. The next event up was the mile. The gun sounded and the race started. Bruce was the last out of the starting blocks and only ran about 10 yards before falling to the ground. Bruce got up and started to run again. He ran another 10 yards or so and once again fell to the ground. At this point the rest of the field was more than half way around the first lap but Bruce paid no attention. He pulled himself up and continued on. When the rest of the field finished the race Bruce still had two laps to complete. Bruce would run, fall, get up, and run some more, obviously determined to finish what he started. Bruce fell again just as he started his final lap but this time he was just lying there. The announcer working with Dick said we need to stop this; he is going to hurt himself out there. Dick looked and Bruce was struggling to get up, his teammates, and other Olympians now standing around the track began to clap and call out his name. Dick said to the announcer there is no way we’re going to stop this race. Bruce pulled himself up once again and began running. The crowd joined in and starting cheering for Bruce. It took Bruce 45 minutes to run the mile that day but at no point did he ever give up. He gave everything he had without reservation and completed what he started out to do. On that day Bruce demonstrated to everyone who witnessed what it meant to be a true Olympian.
20 June 2009, 03:30 AM, Saturday morning; race day came early. Our plan was to leave the campground at 05:00 AM to catch the bus to the starting line in Two Harbors. Jay made oatmeal, a hot breakfast was nice. As we piled into the car the sun was coming up over the tree tops and there was not a single cloud in the sky. We all knew it was going to be a warm, sunny day but did not dwell on it as we drove off. We parked in the ramp at the DECC (a little known secret, absolutely no waiting) and the traffic going into the open field parking was backed up for a half mile or more. We were directed to get on the train (something new this year). As we loaded we thought this is kind of cool, a few minutes into the ride we were passed but I guy on his bicycle, and after the hour and 20 minutes, to go 26 miles up the north shore, cool is not the word we were thinking. It was 7:15 AM when we finally arrived; the agonizing ride was finally over and we had 15 minutes before the race was to start, not nearly enough time to properly prepare. We all did make it to the starting line on time albeit a little frazzled. After the singing of the national anthem and the F16 fly-over the race started and we were off.
When the race started the red flag was out indicating a high risk of Heat Stress. The red flag indicates that all runners should slow their pace and those with previous heat stress problems or heart disease should consider not running. When I passed through the water stop at mile three I noticed that the black flag was out indicating that the risk of heat related problems was elevated to the highest level. I had adjusted my goals before the race ever started and knew that today was not going to be a PR day.
For the first 20 miles I focused on keeping my heart rate under control, which meant slowing my pace as it climbed. I wanted to maintain zone 3 (70 – 80% of maximum), staying aerobic as long as possible. I wanted to practice my nutrition plan and keep the big picture in focus, Madison in September. The weather definitely helped me do that. If it had been a better weather day I would have struggled not to go out and push harder than I should have at this point in my training, a blessing in disguise!
In the end the day did produce a new Grandma’s PR for me (about 5 minutes better than last year) but 5 minutes shy of my PR at Twin Cities last fall. The last 10k was a struggle and I thought of the story Dick told of Bruce several times as I witnessed thousands of courageous runners pick themselves up and finish what they started out to do earlier that morning. I congratulate them all!
I found the following quote by Hal Higdon, a running writer and coach, fitting of this year’s Grandma’s Marathon: “The difference between the mile and the marathon is the difference between burning your fingers with a match and being slowly roasted over hot coals.”
