It was 30 years ago, well over half my life that I made a goal of running Grandma's Marathon and Twin Cities Marathons each for 25 consecutive years. The postal service goofed up my Twin Cities Marathon streak at 12 when the mail sorting machine chewed up my entry and it was returned after the race. So I have Grandma's where I am a Lifetime Entrant (I never pay a entry fee as I paid $100 in 1990)...
When I reached the 25th year, I was prepared to be satisfied reaching that goal. Then the 2009 Grandmas's entry information date came and my son encouraged me to run with him for a 26th race. After a few minutes at the start, I think he was gone! Then for the 27th, I decided I would run 5.24 miles and quit. That would mean I ran 26.2 consecutive Grandma's Marathons. My son decided to run the whole race with me so I could not quit at 5.24 miles, as this was a once in a lifetime opportunity. But he stayed with me the whole way and I cherished that time with him. So finishing 27 means only one thing! The goal was now 30 consecutive finishes...
The 30th Consecutive finish at Grandma’s marathon is complete. I went into the week of the race thinking the two 2 mile runs, a 4 mile run and a 5-mile training run in the 2 weeks before the race was inadequate to finish. For the past three years I think I logged less than 15 miles running between each Grandma's. I do bike and walk, running has lost all its allure and I generally hate even a mile run. Walking is now even that enjoyable.
This year, Jordan was going to run the race with me. We left for Duluth on Friday at about 2:00 PM. It was just us as Shelley had plans with her parents in Lincoln, Nebraska and my sister has not been able to make the race in years. We arrived to heavy fog and 48 degrees at 5:15 PM (traffic was horrible) and quickly picked up our packets. We walked around Canal Park freezing! Jordan had won Spaghetti tickets so we ate a below average meal and headed to the car to sleep. By 10:30 PM we were sleeping.
I woke at 4:00 AM and the forecast for the race was dismal. Cold, rain and winds. The only thing that could have made the weather look worse was snow. Thank GOD that did not happen!
Jordan woke at 5:00 AM and we were headed to the train by 5:25 AM. We made it to the start with about 45 minutes to prepare. All went well as we were contemplating what to wear. I went with a really this shirt with arm warmers and Jordan went for the double layer short sleeve. We even each had made it through the Biffy lines and lined up a 10 minutes before the start.
When we started, I felt like I imagine the tin man from Wizard of Oz as far as needing oil. Just was not feeling smooth. First mile was 11:29 and every mile was slower until mile 9 and 10 we gained about 30 seconds a mile. Then we basically were in a run/walk and 16 minute miles to the finish. At Mile 23, I was very nervous about finishing. Cramps started and I used all the mental capacity I had to vary the strides and paces to hold them off. I was concerned I would get a charlie horse which would eliminate the chance to finish. Wisely we chose to take it easy.
As a side note, between Mile 11 and 16, there were several times I was going to quit. I was hurting all over and very cold. Mentally, I am not as strong as I once was and this made the race hard. Jordan was just hanging with me for support, although at times he would unknowingly cause me to have issues as he would continually ask how I was doing. To answer, I could not longer block out the pain. My left ankle was in heavy pain and I felt cramp like twinges in various muscles from mile 12.
In the end, 6:36:48 where last year I was 6:33:59. So I guess I was consistent.
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| I really like the medal this year! |
The only issue I have now is what is left. This is a time where it is easy to get depressed as I am running out of goals to keep me going. I need goal to live. Someone asked me why I do this or why I rode my bicycle from Denver to Minneapolis, I tell them, it reminds me I am still alive. This is the only reason 31 is in my mind, but I am realizing that less than 15 miles of training is not going to cut it and I despise running, so not sure which one will win out?
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