Grandma's Marathon Weekend - Duluth

I generally put a heavy focus on trying new things, but there are certain things that are so much fun that I do them every year.  Grandma's marathon weekend is one of those things.  My entire family gathers in Duluth for this momentous occasion.  At least one person is running in one of the three races - 5K, half marathon, full marathon.  This year my dad completed his first 5K race ever, and I am so proud of him!  My sister, brother-in-law, two friends, and I ran the half marathon.  It's such a fun weekend, especially since everyone makes it a priority to come. 

I wish I could say it was a perfect weekend and the weather was as beautiful up in Duluth as it was in the Cities, but that was not the case.  It was actually 45 degrees and foggy for most of the weekend.  Despite the less than stellar weather, we did have a really fun time and the weather was at least perfect for running Saturday morning.

We got to Duluth on Friday just in time for lunch.  We like to go early and beat the traffic on 35 from the Cities.  We had a wonderful lunch at Sir Ben's.  Sir Ben's probably has the best smoked butternut squash soup I've ever had in my life.  They also have tasty sandwiches. 

Next we moved on to the race expo at the DECC.  Hello free samples!  Energy gels, chips, chocolate milk, energy drinks, etc are all free for the taking.  You can also purchase shoes and race apparel and pick up your race packet.  It's a huge crowd of people meandering through the booths, but it's fun to grab the free loot. 

The 5K is run on Friday evening at 6 pm.  My dad surprised us by signing up.  We had no idea he was training!  He finished in 34 minutes.  I was impressed.

We ended the night with carbo-loading and an early bed time.  My brother's girlfriend was gracious enough to host the family for the weekend.  It was fun to stay with her and thankfully saved us about $1000 in hotel fees for the weekend.

The half marathon started at 6:15 on Saturday morning.  This is my race. Every February I set my sights on Grandma's weekend.  I develop my training program for the year, I set a goal, and I run.  There's something about that half marathon, next to Lake Superior, that gets me charged up with passion, determination, longing, and excitement.  It's the only half marathon that I do consistently so it's the best way to test my fitness level from year to year.  Each year I try and set a personal record.  Last year at Grandma's I set a PR of 1:41:05. This year I was shooting for under 1:40:00, but ended up finishing at 1:44:02. While it wasn't a personal best,  I was still happy that I finished and didn't sustain an injury.  My sister, brother-in-law, and one of the friends all PR'ed so it was fun to celebrate that with them.

The rest of Saturday we just relaxed, ate, drank, hung out.  My brother works at Bent Paddle Brewery so he gave us a tour of the brewery and we got to try their beers.  The blonde ale, coffee black ale, and pilsner are fantastic.  The consensus was that the blonde ale is one of the best summer craft brews we've ever had. 

We ended the night at the tent and listened to the band and used up the drink tickets we got from finishing the race and a connection with one of the sponsors. 

Every year I look forward to Grandma's weekend because I get to do it with my fun, supportive family, and because I get to really test myself and find out what I'm made of.  Half marathons take a lot of mental and physical stamina.  I absolutely love the challenge.