The Lowdown

Here it is. My story. Grandma's Marathon, 2009. My first Grandma's marathon. I'll start out by saying this was by far my most challenging, painful, ugly marathon yet. (Number 13). And very emotional for me. It still makes me tear up when I think about it. A very sincere, heart-felt thank you to Arvid Fristad for staying with me through it all and getting me to the finish. You can't take the finish line for granted, especially in the marathon. Let's go back to the beginning ...

Judy Weller (left) and I travelled together up to Duluth for a two-night stay--to run the marathon and enjoy a girls' weekend away. Also joining us would be Denise Baxter from St. Cloud. We stayed in a rented house benefitting the Northern Communities Land Trust along with Joe and Sara Ryan and his nephew Brad and wife Kara. (I can't believe I didn't get a photo of them!)

That worked out just great. We had lots of living space, a full kitchen, etc. It's much cheaper than a hotel and I'd recommend this option to anyone else wanting to go to Duluth that weekend.

When we arrived in Duluth, we went straight to the expo to avoid the crowds that would be arriving for the 6:00 PM 5K race.

I spotted (or was spotted by!) several Rochester runners there, including ...

Marissa, Lori and Kevin Torgerson (Marissa was running her first marathon and Kevin his 20th). They were profiled in the Post-Bulletin on Friday.

Also, Pete and Heidi Martin ...

Julie (VanderSchaaf) Reiland and girls ...

Brian Purrington ...

the "ebulient" Kenny Parker and Ron Giles ...

and Kyle Kircher and his friend Erica.

I must say that arriving at the expo caused some trepidation ... this was starting to feel pretty real now. I was going to have to decide SOON whether I was going to try to run this thing. I usually get a bit nervous for a marathon, but for all of them but Boston last year, I felt prepared. Not so this year. Anything but prepared ... and that isn't a good feeling. No warm fuzzies to be had to be sure.

After leaving the marathon, we went to a private home for a very delicious lasagna dinner with fellow River Runners. Thank you to Dave and Lori for the delicious meal.

By this time, I'd decided to run on Saturday morning. The $10K question was ... how far? The answer was totally unknown to me. I would start running and quit when continuing (running or walking) was no longer a viable option.

When reviewing the race instructions in my packet that evening, I saw that the first sag wagon/drop point was at 13.3 miles. Yikes. Further than I thought. But I was going to carry my cell phone so if worse came to worst, I'd sit on the side of the road somewhere until one of my friends could come rescue me. And I knew that there had to be some sort of procedure for getting people off the course at points other than the 4 drop points. (The next three were at roughly 16, 19 and 22 miles.)

After lots of marathon and triathlon talk, at 10:30 or so we all retired to our respective beds, couches and air mattresses to try to get some shut-eye.

Sleep did not come easily and was fitful. I was still mulling over the decision to run. Was I being foolish? Selfish? Crazy even?? I had been trying to hydrate diligently so I was up at 11 PM, 1 AM and 3 AM and probably got 4 hours total sleep. If that. But I was still going to run.

[It's 10:22 PM. To be continued ... sorry--I need my beauty sleep!]