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Heading into Grandma’s Marathon Race weekend, where I would be running the Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon, I was full of emotions. I was excited because this is my favorite race and I would get to spend the weekend with some of my favorite people. I was also extremely nervous coming off from my Show Grit Never Quit marathon in Fargo. I prayed about my race, tried to listen to the Whispers from God and made a list from the shoes, fueling plan and pace that I would run.
The weekend started off by roading tripping to Duluth with two of my sisters and my niece. My sisters and I would be running, while my niece would be our cheerleader.
At the expo I picked up a couple of pace bands. I told one of the pacers (a person who runs the race at a specific pace) that I was grabbing a realistic and unrealistic goal, then asked what pace he was running. Of course he would be running my unrealistic pace. I let him know that if he saw me I would be running the race of my life.
Saturday morning started not so bright but definitely early at 3:00 a.m. We were on the bus by 4:45 and arrived at the start shortly after 5:00 a.m. It was COLD! We huddled under heat sheets with our throw away clothes until shortly before the Star Bangled Banner.
I lined up with my realistic goal pacer and started my music. I didn’t really like the song that was playing and skipped it, then my music stopped working for the next 6 miles! I should’ve just listened to the song.
We were off and the pacer set off at a faster pace than what his little sign said. We were running 10-15 seconds per mile faster than we were supposed to be running. The good thing about this pace was that I was in much better shape than the last time a pacer did this trick and his extra speed worked to my advantage.
Mile 5 I took my first UCAN Edge. I carried the wrapper with me since I was in the middle of several runners. As we entered Duluth I saw a gap in the runners and chucked my wrapper, hitting a spectator in the chest. Oops! I could not make that shot again if I tried!
By mile 7 the pacer was running almost 2 minutes ahead of the goal finishing time. During this mile he slowed down his pace by 20 seconds. I knew I could run faster and pulled ahead. I kept picking a person in front of me to catch, then I moved onto another; a lady in a white running tank, a man with a neon shirt, guy with a backwards baseball hat.
Mile 8 I could see the infamous Lemon Drop Hill. We had a bit of a downhill heading into it, I let my speed pick up and tried not to focus on the hill. It really wasn’t bad, as I passed several people and hit the top of the hill with the sign stating that we had 4.1 miles left of the race!
Mile 10 I took my second UCAN Edge. I was starting to really pick up the pace at this point, telling myself I only had a 5k left. I had taken an anti nausea pill before the start and was wearing a nausea band. Well, the nausea started even with my preventive measures. It wasn’t super intense but it was certainly there. I cranked the intensity up on my wrist band, kept sipping water and chewed on a couple of SaltStick FastChews. It was tolerable and I kept pushing.
Mile 11 the fighter jets flew overhead and I knew the marathon had started (fighter jets fly over the marathon runners as they start their race). During this mile I was praying for a family who had lost their son to a firearms incident. I got chills as the jets flew over, like I was getting a hello from heaven. The song playing through my AirPods was Finish Strong by Danny Gokey. The words, “finish strong” hit me as I closed out mile 11. Remember the song I skipped at the start of the race? Danny Gokey, apparently I was not supposed to skip this song.
Determined and pushing hard I was now running at a pace 15 seconds per mile under my unrealistic pace. My niece cheered for me at mile 11.5 and again at mile 13. I saw the clock at the finish and KNEW this was my fastest half marathon. I came in 3 minutes and 9 seconds faster than my realistic goal. Finish Strong, yes!
