Tour de Minnesota: Post-marathon, we vacation!

The only thing better than traveling to an amazing marathon is tacking on an amazing vacation afterward! My husband, daughter, mom, dad, and I embarked on a week of northern adventure after Grandma’s Marathon.  I highly recommend this itinerary after a Saturday morning marathon in Duluth.  We started in Duluth on Sunday morning and proceeded northeast along Lake Superior for pretty much the whole trip.

I love running on vacation and ended up running each morning of our trip.  I included below how far I ran each day and what my easy pace was that day; it is always quite humbling how much slower than usual it is in the days after 26.2!  Typically it takes me about a week to get back to "normal" easy pace, and I never look at my watch during these runs.  I also want to note that I would not have run had I felt like I had any issues or injuries, but I was just plain tired.

We try to take photos by state signs every time
Albani visits a state for the first time

Sunday

• Hiked to Gooseberry Falls
• Toured Split Rock Lighthouse
• Tried to do an Alpine Slide in Lusten, but it was closed due to rain
• Ate a special Father’s Day meal (ribs for the fathers) in Grand Marais 
• Hiked around Cascade River State Park enjoying nature
• Enjoyed the shores of Lake Superior
• Ran 2.3 miles (20 min.) at 8:53 before leaving Duluth

Gooseberry Falls

Split Rock Lighthouse

Cascade River State Park

Father's Day hugs on the shores of Lake Superior

Monday 

• Discovered Cobblestone Beach in Grand Marais
• Went fishing on Lake Mink
• Toured downtown Grand Marais, including a side detour for some rock climbing and walking out to a lighthouse 
• Ran 3.1 miles at 8:44 in Grand Marias, which was far enough to see about the whole town

Cobblestone Beach

Trout fishing

Superior views

I was worried about everyone in my group walking over this,
but no one else was phased

Another lighthouse on Lake Superior

Downtown Grand Marais

Downtown Grand Marais

Tuesday

• Read by the hotel pool while Albani swam, and Jon and my dad fished, then explored Downtown Grand Marais solo on foot while my mom hung out with Albani at the pool
• Explored Chik-Wauk Nature Center, including a wild flower hike, tadpole/frog catching for kids, and a nature museum tour
• Ran 3.6 miles at 8:34, again seeing all of Grand Marais

Chik-Wauk Nature Center

That's my girl - catching critters while
wearing a dress!

Chik-Wauk totem pole

Wednesday 

• Took a boat trip to Isle Grande National Park, and spent most of the day exploring it (Albani became a junior ranger)
• Hiked to another beautiful waterfall at Grand Portage State Park
• Stayed at the only hotel in Grand Portage, which was also a casino
• Ran 4.4 miles at 7:53 (first sub-8:00 miles after the marathon), and had to go outside Grand Marais to hit this distance

Junior ranger prep

Aren't my parents the cutest?

The junior ranger thing is serious stuff

Grand Portage State Park

Thursday

• Toured Grand Portage National Monument (Albani scored her second junior ranger badge of the trip)
• Crossed the Canadian Border
• Enjoyed Fort William Historical Park in Thunder Bay, Canada
• Finished with more hotel pool
• Ran 5.1 miles at 8:04 on about the only road in Grand Portage

Another junior ranger award

Grand Portage National Monument

Fort William Historical Park farm area

Fort William Historical Park fur trading area

Friday

• Started the trip back after stopping for souvenirs at the Real Canadian Superstore (made it to Clear Lake, Iowa)
• Ran 6.2 miles (10 kilometers if you’re Canadian) at 7:49 in Thunder Bay, Canada...which was strikingly a lot like parts of Springfield and Wichita

Saturday 

• Arrived back home
• Ran 8.3 miles at 7:24 (the final mile was my first mile under 7:00 after the marathon) in Clear Lake, Iowa, which was definitely my flattest run of the trip

It was very difficult to narrow down which photos to include with this post - I took hundreds!  I love combining marathons with vacations for many reasons, but one is that it reduces the pressure of "all this travel and investment for my race" since race day is but a small portion of the trip.  We are still deciding how to handle CIM 2018, but we will definitely make it into at least small vacation post-marathon.