25 down, none to go!

A POSTER I MADE FOR MY WALL IS ABOVE (Click to see larger view ... REPORT BELOW).  I need help finding it and wonder if there was a 1985 medal.

UPDATE: It was hot. 37 runners were hospitalized, and 7% of the starters required medical treatment.

NOTE (All pictures I reference in this post come after the post - Links to all photos I (or others) took is: http://picasaweb.google.com/runallday/Grandmas# )

Well, this is long… It could be boring. To summarize, I finished my 25th consecutive year at Grandma's. No clue how I did this year after year. This year was hot; well, that is an understatement. But I survived. I was emotional. I cried many times throughout the race and broke down in tears, coming into the finisher shoot. It must have looked strange to many, but it was so emotional for me! When I met Shelley at the finish, I bent over, covered my head, and cried… It was over! That is the short version. Much more later…

First, I want to start by looking back:

I recall things from 1985, as it was my first Grandma's, and I set a goal of 25 years…

I could not find a place to stay, so I stayed at the Best Western in Hinkley.
Michael Jordan (Basketball) was a rookie in the NBA!!!!
New Coke/Old Coke fiasco
We celebrated the Dow Jones breaking 1,500!
VH1 started
Wade Wilson replaced Tommy Kramer as Viking quarterback.
Dukes of Hazard was canceled. (Yes, I watched it…)
Billy Joel married Christy Brinkley (I had a crush on her!)
But Moonlighting started (I always liked Cybill Shepherd) – This is the first time I heard Al Jarau
This is also MacGyver's first year. (I loved that show as well)
I purchased my first computer – A Macintosh 512K – I PAID $2,100 OUCH!

In Between

I lived in 4 states (North Dakota, Minnesota, Wyoming, Illinois)
Went through 5 US Presidents (Ronald Reagan, George Herbert Walker Bush, William Clinton, George Walker Bush, Barack Obama)
Three so-called stock market crashes…
Nine Jobs (From a cook, waiter, and manufacturer to my current job as a City Planner)
Lived in 12 different homes
Went through 10 cars – Including ex-wife and Son's cars (Chevy Malibu, Ford Mustang, Honda 600 Sedan, Chevy Station Wagon, Dodge Daytona, Mitsubishi Expo, Ford Fiesta, Kia Sephia, Mazda Millennia, VW Passas)
Went through 5 girlfriends, one wife
Son was born, raised him, now 20…
Couple in the 3:20's finishes
A couple of 6-hour finishes, many in-between

Now for the report. I have been so obsessed with the race. I had worked hard for 24 years and did not want to lose the goal in the last race. I left Minneapolis, and it was an easy drive. We arrived at the expo at 8:30, and I picked up my number. Bittersweet, as it was my last time….

When we walked out of the expo, we saw the vendor who makes special racing bibs. See the picture (the one that says "25th Consecutive Grandma's, a Picture of Forrest Gump and run Londell run"). That's cool. I had to have it. We went for a little walk and then went into the expo to eat the food I brought and go through the bag to get set for the morning.

Everything looked good. We parked the car in the DECC parking lot and settled in for a nice nap. So many things were going my way.

Then I woke up. At 4:30 AM, the temperature was 62 degrees. As I slept in the car, I woke to the view of the moon over the adjacent building. It was cool! Then I got up.

I went to the bathroom three times! I was nervous. As I prepared, I remembered that I had to take my number. Then, at 5:15 AM, my biggest supporter asked, "What about your chip?" We had no clue! Two of us tore through everything looking, but it was not to be found. I quickly realized I might have left it on the table when we ate Friday night! What an idiot!

I ran all over trying to get into the DECC. No one could help me. At 5:40, I returned to the car, feeling just a bundle of nerves. I dumped my bag onto the asphalt parking lot and looked down, and there it was! Two of us went through that bag and missed it. I was about ready to have my first cry of the day. But all was saved, and I made it to the buses at 5:50 AM, 10 minutes to spare. This was the first time ever I did not have a school bus! A plush tour bus. Things were looking up!

The ride could have been more uneventful. I got to the start, went to the biffs, and my stomach was settled. I packed toilet paper in my bag anyway. But the sun was hot. The forecast was maybe 80 degrees for the day, and at 7 AM, the temperature was 72 degrees. I knew that I needed to run smart, not fast.

I went with the heart rate monitor as my guide. I was going along just fine and getting many comments about my streak. Then I heard a voice, "Are you Londell from Chippewa?" Carl Gammon's friend Janine Knutson was there. She was looking excellent. I was able to get a picture of her. (Thanks to Mike, I took a camera.) Shortly afterward, there was Greg Allen. Greg is on #26 consecutive Grandma's… SUPER. He knows what it is like to make it so many years, through thick and thin…

I kept the heart rate in the 120-135 range until about 15 miles. For example, a few years ago, it was elevated to over 155 at Afton, and I could not get it down. I knew the heat was taking its toll. I also knew 15-minute miles would get me in less than 6 hours. So I walked, ate ice, and rubbed my body with ice. After 20 minutes, I could start a walk/run pattern, walking for 3 minutes and running for 6 minutes. I met up with Katie Altrichter from Bloomington, IL. She was hurting, and I needed a friend. We helped each other the rest of the way. She is sure I helped her, but if she only knew, she would also be helping me so much. Good running buddies always make the run easier!

This walk/run plan and Katie kept me under the 15 minutes per mile I needed until mile 23.5. I started to feel cramps, and Katie was really worn. We decided to walk more as allowed and finish, which we did.

Shortly after 24, I got a big lift. Wayne was there and prepared to walk in with me. This was a lift I needed, and I decided that I was close enough to just keep running.

I saw so many people on the side of the road being treated for what I assumed were heat-related issues.; I saw more ambulances than I had ever seen in my 25 years, and people seemed to drop like flies! It was a war zone. It was not how I wanted to finish my last Grandma', but if you really think you can run 25 years in a row, you better be ready for anything.

I guess I was… This is an emotional time, and I cry as I write this… Now, it is time to rest and look for the next challenge… whatever that may be! But first, get the knee fixed and bask in the reward of accomplishing a goal I set so long ago! What a rewarding feeling!

Thanks to all who supported my effort. It meant more than you can imagine!

Carry on…