Marathon #25, COMPLETE!
I carpooled up with my friend Shaun on Friday. We left around 12:45 and ate Jimmy John’s on the road. We hit a little bit of the construction traffic, but it only added about 20 minutes on to the drive.
We went straight to packet pick up when we arrived in Duluth. It was poppin’ at the expo! We grabbed our bibs and made it just in time to listen to the Carrie Tollefson and Dick Beardsley talk. They interviewed three people, including Zac from the 2020 Bachelorette and Dakota Lindwurm, who will be competing in the Olympic Marathon in a few weeks.
After the expo, we headed to the dorms to get checked into our room. We stayed in the same dorms Joel and I were in last year. Since we got there earlier than Joel and I did last year, we were able to take advantage of the runner hospitality room. That was such a great perk!
We headed to dinner at Tavern on the Hill. It was surprisingly not very full! We had a drink and some good food and headed back to the dorms for an early night. I made the decision to go with my brand new pair of Hokas for the race… nothing like breaking in a new pair of shoes on race day! I got all of my stuff set out and fell asleep almost immediately.
Shaun had to be out the door by 4:15am for the bus to the half so I laid in bed for a bit until I had to get up around 5:15 to catch the bus at 5:45. My tummy wasn’t happy when I woke up, I had some weird heartburn… which really got me during the race.
I got to the bus and made my way to the back for the 30 minute ride to the start line. We got to the start with an hour to go before race time. I’m so thankful I was part of the Run Club Experience, I walked right into a portipotti! I saw my friends from Club Run at the tent too, which was awesome.
First third of the race – Miles 1 through 9
I was crushing it at the start! I lined up with the 4:50 pace group (… that was way too ambitious) with the plan to still make it to the half averaging sub 12s so I could walk a lot of the back half. I started out WAY too fast but it felt so good! For 5ish miles. At mile 5, I plopped my headphones in and started listening to music and podcasts – the first 5 miles I wanted to just soak in the race. Around Mile 8, the heartburn that had been bugging me before the race amplified and I end up on the side of the road dry heaving. I wanted to make it to mile 10 of mostly running, so I keep plodding along with some walk intervals sprinkled in through Mile 9.
Second third of the race – Miles 10 through 19
I saw mile 10 and gave myself the green light to walk a mile. I had expected there to be more fuel on the course (which I should have planned better…) and my empty tummy and heartburn were really really bugging me every time I ran. I walked the whole mile 11 to get my heart rate back down to a reasonable number and then slowed way down to run mile 12.
You could smell the half way point, gag!, from all the portipotties that were there for the half marathon. I was so happy to see I was just under a 12 minute mile at the half – executing perfectly! I decided to drop to a lot longer walks with some running sprinkled in. Mile 16, I finally saw fuel! It was pure maple syrup… and it tried so hard to eat it but it made me dry heave again, just way too sweet.
Around mile 18, I ran into two amazing women from the Eden Prairie Moms on the Run group. We walked and chatted a bit and they were lifesavers and handed over some extra Gu that they had. I walked about a mile with them and at mile 19, someone handed us a beer! A couple sips of that felt so good! My new friends decided to run some more and they were off!
Last third of the race – Miles 20 through 26.2
The last 10k was a mental grind. It had been raining off and on, I was wet, my tummy hated me.. but I knew I could walk it in and still make the cut off time. Surprisingly, when I ran, everything felt good except my tummy! My hips, my knees, I felt like a bad ass. The worst pain that kept creeping up on me was some awful chafing. The seam on the inside of my shorts rubbed away and split so I had about a 1 inch hole right where my thighs rub… Every med tent, I grabbed some vaseline to try to prevent that from getting worse, but that only lasted for a few minutes. I was nervous the whole seam was going to go and I would be running without shorts! Around Mile 23, a couple of my Northstar Running teammates were there and they walk/ran along side me for about a mile – that was so so so needed. I was so thankful for their support and company!
With about 2 miles to go, Shaun and Kristin were there screaming for me on the corner, I got the biggest smile on my face! The finish was so close!!
With a mile to go, I started to get a little emotional knowing I was going to finish this thing. I walk/ran the last half and with 0.2 miles to go, I ran in to the finish. At the finish line, a couple of my friends were volunteering and gave me the biggest hug at the time I needed it the most. Oooft. I was done! I had finished!
It was still sprinkling so I grabbed my medal and went straight to the gear pick up and exit to find Colleen. I walked (hobbled) with them to the shuttle and headed back to the dorms. Getting off the bus when they pulled up was entertaining. I hopped in the shower, grabbed a couple of bites of my leftover pizza, and became one with the bed for a couple of hours.
I went to Tavern 7 West for dinner with my friend Colleen and her crew. A beer and some real food was much needed. It was a great time and an amazing group of people to spend the evening with.
I came back to the dorms right after dinner and was asleep within minutes of getting back. I woke up around 1am, achey and the stupid heartburn screaming at me. I read my book for a couple of hours and finally fell back asleep… getting out of bed in the morning though, I look ridiculous trying to walk!