Gary Bjorklund (Grandma’s) Half Marathon | 2023

Joel and I headed up to Duluth on Friday afternoon. We would have loved to head out a little earlier but daycare had a Father’s Day thing for the kiddos – Joel got to do snack time with the kids. His parents took the kiddos home and watched them overnight so we could run the half. The kids had a blast with them! They went to the park and got to go swim in the lake.

We went straight to the expo once we got to town to grab our packets. We did a lap through the booths and decided to head out to find some dinner. We FaceTimed the kids to say good night before heading back to the car and trying to find somewhere to eat on a Friday night in Duluth on Grandmas weekend…

We went to a bar and grill not too far from the dorms. We didn’t have to wait too long to get seated but it did take a bit to get food. By the time we were done eating it was around 9, which was way passed my bedtime! We swung by a gas station to grab morning snacks and then headed to the UMD dorms to get checked in.

It was not a great night sleep… The twin beds in the dorm were not very comfortable and the the room was so stuffy, even with the window open. My alarm went off at 3:30am and I slowly got moving to the bathroom. There were only 2 toilet stalls and 3 showers in the shared women’s bathroom for the floor, so I wanted to make sure I wouldn’t be waiting in a bathroom line even before I got to the race.

Joel started to get moving around 4. We got our bibs pinned to our clothes – and that was when I realized I did not bring a running shirt. I only had a long sleeve tech tee and a cotton-ish tank top. There was no way I would be able to run in a long sleeve the whole time without overheating, so I put on the non-running tank and hoped for the best.

We headed down to the lobby where they had bananas and bagels sitting out for the runners. We grabbed some coffee and then made our way to the bus line. The bag drop was at the bus line, so we dropped one bag for us. I shoved my long sleeve in last minute and ended up ripping the bag.. oops! I was able to get it closed enough that I wasn’t worried we would lose anything. We hopped onto the 4:30am bus and headed to the start.

The bus dropped us off near the start and we had to walk along the road to get into the corral area. There was already a long line waiting for the bathrooms right off of the bus, so we wanted to get into the corrals an in line.

The first line that we got in that we thought was for the bathroom was actually for some of the heat blankets they were handing out. We waited for a while in that line before we realized we weren’t in the right spot. As we went to find the correct line, we ran into my MOTR friends! So good to see them at the start line!

The line wasn’t moving too fast, but we finally were able to use the restroom. It was great timing to then find our place in the start corral and stretch a little bit. We lined up with the 2:20 finish time pacer. We sang the national anthem and then the announcer started the race off! It was a decent distance from where we started to get to the actual start line, so we walked until we hit the timing mats.

The we were off! We decided to run the first mile and then switch to 5 minutes on/1 minute off intervals. The weather was so great at the start for a run – a little cool but not to the point of needing a long sleeve. I had been a little worried going into the race since there had been really bad air quality the few days before. Even stepping outside, you could smell the smoke from Canadian fires. It cleared up really well though!

Our first mile was around an 11:30 pace. We switched to run walk intervals after that since that was how we trained. It was so awesome to be in a race again! There we so many people, the course was pretty full so we did have to weave between clusters of other runners. The first few miles I couldn’t keep a smile off of my face! Just being back in that sort of environment was the best.

We made it to around mile 3 and then had to stop for a bio break. The line was pretty long – we had hoped it would get shorter as we got farther away from the start, but the opposite was true. It took about 6 minutes or so to get back running. It was fun though – we got to catch up with a few of my MOTR friends and say hello!

Joel wasn’t having a lot of fun during the last 4 or so miles.. with only a couple miles left, a younger girl in front of us saw here grandpa and yells “Hi Grandpa! I’m not having fun anymore”. Joel told her he wasn’t either.

Mile 11ish, my non running shirt betrayed me. The chafing under my armpits was so painful. I stopped by the medical tent and grabbed some vaseline for it. That helped for a little bit, but didn’t last very long.

As we got closer to the finish line, my smile grew! I was ready to be done.. but also, loving it at the same time. Joel was running quietly alongside me – he was very ready to be done. We turned the last couple of corners and saw the finish line and crossed together!

At the finish line, we heard our names called but didn’t register who was cheering. It took a minute, but then we realized it was a couple of our racquetball friends – they had been volunteering at the finish line and caught a couple pictures of us right when we finished (including one of me tearing up a bit because I was so happy and proud that Joel did this with me!). Joel’s first comment to them when we walked up to them was “That was stupid”.

We got our medals and picked up our gear bag. We found a few of the MOTR friends and said hello and recapped races. Joel and I then found a couple of snacks and decided we wanted to go get a good brunch instead. We ventured out to find the bus back to the dorms and luckily got on right as it was getting ready to head out.

We both showered and then we headed to a cafe just down the street from the dorm, At Sara’s Table. The food was DELICIOUS. We couldn’t decide if it was just because we were so hungry from the race or it was really that good – probably both.

After brunch, we went back to the dorms to relax a little bit. This ended up with about an hour nap for us. It was such a glorious nap, even with the uncomfy dorm bed. We packed up the car and headed back to the cities to get the kiddos. On the way, we stopped at Tobies and split a cinnamon role and had some coffee while sitting in the car in the parking lot, listening to Ted Talk podcast.

We picked the kiddos up, headed home and had some take out while enjoying our comfortable couch!

I am so thankful Joel did this race with me – it was so awesome to do it together and get a night up in Duluth together. I’m thankful my finger only throbbed a little during the run and was very tolerable. I love the running community and the racing environment!

The Kiddos