My trek to Duluth with my parents began on Thursday morning. We left from the Kansas City area in my parent's RV, after a friend was kind enough to accommodate me on Wednesday night and let me leave my car in her extra garage stall for nearly a week. We spent the day on the road, and since I was riding in the RV I was able to sleep in a bed, cook in a microwave, foam roll, and pee all without stopping!
Foam rolling while rolling down the road... |
We did stop to write on the pace car.
Matthew 10:27b |
I ran into a couple of women who I've connected with thanks to Strava and Instagram, Tawny from Utah and Susan from Arizona. Tawny was also trying for the 2:45 so we talked about strategies (her training was amazing but race day just wasn't her day). Susan was trying for a decade PR, and she ended up getting it by running 2:52 in her 50's!
Since I ran Grandma's last year, I knew what to expect for the most part. However, last year I had an elite entry, and this year I applied too late to get one, so I certainly realized even more how spoiled I was last year! The "non-elite" logistics were still very easy to navigate and everything ran smoothly. You can really tell that the race organizers know what they are doing, and the whole race seems to run like a well-oiled machine.
Friday we did several activities in Duluth, which I'll write about in my upcoming Grandma's + vacation post.
Race morning I woke up around 3:45 a.m., mostly just really excited. I didn't really get nervous for this race at any point; I was just ready to go! I got out of bed around 4:30 a.m. and ate, dressed, foam rolled, double checked my bag, etc. before giving my parents final hugs and hopping onto the 5:30 a.m. bus that would take me to the starting line!
Everyone was wearing random throw-away clothes |
Mine was a 1998 Circle High School sweatshirt, but my coach's husband ended up saving it for me so it lives on! |
The story continues here...
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