grandmas marathon

grandmas marathon

This Saturday we’re heading up to Duluth, MN to run Grandma’s Marathon (no, participation is not limited to female senior citizens). Michelle and my sister-in-law Amanda are running the 1/2 marathon. My Dad, brother Andy, and I are running the full. It should be a great weekend – the weather forecast looks good, the course is by far my favorite marathon course, and Duluth is a great city.In all honesty, though, I’m a little nervous about the race. Of the 10+ marathons I’ve run, this will be close to the worst shape I’ve ever been in to run. Thus, I’ve decided to approach this as a simple training run. I’ve also decided to experiment with a couple of things that will hopefully keep my mind off of my rapidly enervating body.

First, I’m planning to bring several energy gel packets. Although gels have been around for a long time, the Des Moines marathon last October (another race for which I was less than optimally prepared) was the first time I really used them. In that race I took two gels, both close to the end of the race, but I could definitely tell the difference. After doing a little research, I’m planning to take about four gels this time and space them out evenly throughout the race. We’ll see how it goes.