Grandma’s Marathon had been on my radar for a while as a race I should get to eventually. It seems to be very popular because it’s a fast and pretty course, plus plenty of friends have said good things about it. Until 2025, I typically ran two marathons a year – one in the spring and one in the fall. That gave me around six months in between. I wasn’t sure how I could make Grandma’s work in June as long as I continued to run Boston in April. Last year I ran three marathons in a year for the first time and it was a success. Running the Dopey Challenge at Disney World then Boston a few months later (plus the Pittsburgh half marathon a couple weeks after that) gave me confidence that I’d reached a level where I could do more. With 2026’s Boston Marathon taking place on April 20 and Grandma’s Marathon on June 20, I’d only have a couple months in between but decided it was time to give it a try.

I just happened to choose the year that would be the 50th running of Grandma’s so it was especially popular. I had learned so many helpful tips about my Disney adventure from a Facebook group that I was thankful to find a similar kind of group for Grandma’s. I learned how complicated it would be to find a place to stay in Duluth. Honestly, the whole lodging situation almost kept me from registering, but I’m glad I made the snap decision and just did it. Still, plenty of stress followed.

Duluth, Minnesota is a small town and has limited hotel options for a race as large as Grandma’s. This year it brought around 20,000 runners (plus family and friends) to town between the 5K, half marathon, and marathon races. I learned that most of the hotels required phone calls and didn’t offer online reservations. The thought of having to call a bunch of hotels without having any idea how their pricing compared with others really stressed me out. Some had no availability, some hadn’t opened their blocks of rooms yet, and the price at one that did have availability was ridiculous. Staying at local college dorms could be a cheap option, but those rooms were harder to get than concert tickets and I had no luck. Fortunately people mentioned that Black Bear Casino would open rooms on March 1. When the date came I called and finally got that part of the trip figured out. I wouldn’t have the convenience of being right in town, but the casino was only about 20 minutes away. Their price of $299/night seemed like a bargain compared to the $400-500+ in Duluth!

I also learned from the Facebook group that it may be wise to fly to Minneapolis then drive a couple hours to Duluth rather than paying extra to connect to Duluth. I would probably need a rental car anyway since I was staying out of town and it would come in handy for some exploring. Once I got the flight and rental car booked, I relaxed a little bit. Other than wondering how it might go running another marathon so soon after Boston!

Boston didn’t beat me up too much so after taking it easy for a week, I went back to the final seven weeks of my Boston training plan to use as a loose guide for Grandma’s prep. I’m so used to going all-in on a training plan for four months to specifically target a marathon. This time it felt like the marathon was kind of an add-on and I didn’t know if I would truly be prepared. As marathon weekend rolled around it didn’t feel real that I was about to do another marathon…like I hadn’t taken it seriously enough. It would be interesting to see how it played out!

I was fortunate enough to have that Friday off for Juneteenth and didn’t have to use any vacation time for this adventure. I flew from Detroit to Minneapolis and arrived around 8am, got my rental car, and enjoyed a surprisingly easy and pretty drive to Duluth. When I was about five miles out, I came up over a hill on the highway and was in awe of the view of Duluth below, with Lake Superior and Wisconsin in sight as well. I opted to park across the highway from the convention center which seemed especially smart when I saw a big backup of cars lined up for the next exit.

Since it was close to 11:00, I figured I should eat before hitting the expo. I found a sandwich shop called Erbert and Gerbert’s which was perfect. As I walked a few blocks around town I realized how many crazy hills Duluth has and felt grateful that we wouldn’t run any of them along the marathon course!

I saw a bunch of runners ready to cross a bridge and realized I just had to follow them to get to the expo. There were a bunch of RVs parked in Amsoil Arena’s parking lot which was one cheap way to cope with the lodging debacle.

The expo took place at the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center, also known as DECC. I’d heard a lot about how the community plays such a big part in the great vibe surrounding the race and thought about that when I saw a bunch of pictures drawn by local kids to welcome the runners.

I walked past the area that was set up for the spaghetti dinner and was blown away by how large it was!

I got to the expo sometime before noon and it didn’t take long for me to get anxious about how many people were there. I like to browse expos, but when it’s crammed full and people inch along at a snail’s pace, it drives me crazy. I’m a fast walker and I just want to keep moving!

I browsed briefly and came across the trucks that displayed the names of all of the runners. I looked at the official race merchandise for a minute but figured I probably didn’t need more anyway and headed out pretty quickly.

I wanted to walk around the area outside to explore and didn’t let a little bit of rain stop me. There were some moody clouds that looked pretty cool over the lake. I saw the Aerial Lift Bridge, the Duluth North Pier Lighthouse, and Grandma’s Saloon & Grill, which is where the name of the race came from.

I walked along Harbor Drive where people were starting to gather for the 5K and I headed out by 1:00.

I had Googled some scenic spots as I ate lunch and went off to see some sights next. Amity Creek Falls was my first spot. It was peaceful, pretty, and I did a nice short hike around the area.

It was well worth the 40-minute drive to my next stop, Gooseberry Falls State Park. I’m so thankful that I just happened to come across it because it was exactly the kind of place I love. I got some quality nature and photography time in there.

Eventually I headed out because I knew I shouldn’t be on my feet all day and was still kind of questioning whether I’d go to Des Linden and Kara Goucher’s podcast that night. That would run from 6:00-7:00 and I wasn’t sure if it was the smartest choice since I’d still have to drive back to my hotel and get everything prepared for an early race morning. I could only squeeze so many things into the day.

It was already 5:00 when I got to the casino and they made it easier for me to decide to skip the podcast since my room wouldn’t be ready for at least half an hour. The hotel was completely slammed and I should have been able to check in at 4:00, so they offered a 10% discount. I was okay with that since it would help reduce some of the weekend’s expenses!

Grabbing dinner was a good way to kill time while I waited. I didn’t think stuffing myself at a buffet would be the smartest option so I got a chicken wrap at the deli. I finally got into my room around 5:45 and chilled for the rest of the night.

I got to bed around 9:00 and woke up by 3:45. Grandma’s is a point-to-point race so I had to take a shuttle to the start. There were a bunch of different shuttle sites and the Sports and Event Center in Proctor was an easy 15-minute drive from the casino. They recommended that marathoners in Corral A should arrive by 5:15, which I did. Half marathon runners would start their race at 6:00, so as I suspected, they had already taken up much of the parking. People had to make up their own spots along the road or in the grass by the time I got there but I managed. It only took about five minutes for me to get on a bus and I was thankful that I was on the early side. The line of cars trying to park got a whole lot longer in the 10 minutes since I’d arrived.

Like the day before when I drove into Duluth, we were greeted with an awesome view when we came over a hill on the highway. There was an amazing sunrise over Duluth. I spent much of the 45-minute bus ride admiring the gorgeous views with pretty clouds over Lake Superior.

After the bus dropped us off in Two Harbors we walked past bins used for gear check and into a very large parking area. Then I had an hour and half to go! I brought an old heat sheet to sit on as I played on my phone and ate my second Picky Bar of the morning. 

I just happened to look right up as Martin, a fellow Infinite Multisport Triathlon Club teammate, walked by. I ran over to him and we chatted for a few minutes. It was pretty fun that we caught each other even in the big crowd.

The sun was out and I began to feel warm enough to take my extra clothes and drop them at gear check. That setup wasn’t ideal because it meant I had to go back against the crowd of people still arriving from the buses.

By then it was 7:00 and I figured I better line up for the porta potties 45 minutes before the race. Even when there are a ton of them, there are never enough because everyone wants to use them at the same time!

I got to my corral with 15 minutes to spare. Although I wanted to line up near the 3:30 pacer, it was pretty packed and I thought I’d just have to settle and stay farther back. A bunch of people started to cut through at the left so I went along behind them and made my way up to a better spot.

The elite women started at 7:45 and we were off a couple minutes later! For the first chunk of the race, much of the course was lined with trees and pretty quiet. There was mostly the sound of shoes clomping along the road and runners chatting with pockets of spectators in areas.

It was around the mid-50s to start with the sun beating down on our left sides and backs, and I noticed how sweaty some of the people were just a couple miles in. I was concerned that the sun could make things tricky. I had read that it could be smart to run on the left side of the road to get shade from the trees. That worked at times, but sometimes there was no hiding from it or it became more important to run away from that side in order to follow the tangent.

We caught little glimpses of Lake Superior here and there until we were nearly 10 miles in, then the views started to get even more impressive. THAT was a big part of why this marathon is popular. 

Someone pointed out a bald eagle flying over the lake which was cool to see. The sun was warm so I was thankful when it got cloudy for a little while but the sun came back eventually. I was also thankful for a headwind at times because despite any additional resistance, the chance to cool down was much-needed.

Despite concerns about getting warm, I loved taking in the gorgeous course. The course was rolling with some good momentum going downhill but nothing too overly taxing when it climbed. For the first half I consistently hovered around an 8:00 pace, with a couple miles a little faster when I probably hit more of a downhill, and slightly slower when there was a little climb.

I ran 8:12 for mile 18 which was the slowest I’d gone at that point, but dropped back to 8:06 for mile 19. Then the slowdown began. It’s not that I hit the 20 mile “wall,” but I started to run 8:20s for a few miles at that point, then crept to 8:30s for a couple miles. That would be a good pace for any of my daily runs but it felt significantly slower after I’d been so fast for so long. The course conditions were rated “green” when I started, but later in the race I noticed a flag that signaled “yellow” conditions, meaning less than ideal conditions. It doesn’t seem like the mid-60s should be bad, but with the sun beating down, it may have been one of the factors that got to me. 

Starting at six miles, I was good about fueling with a Clif Blok every other mile and salt tablets in between while always grabbing water and sipping my own sports drink at times. The typical method I usually use. However, I had a couple moments where my stomach felt iffy and I stopped eating anything after 18 miles. I didn’t want to set off my stomach, but not eating probably didn’t help my energy.

While the course started out quiet, it got busier as we got to Duluth and more people lined the course to cheer us in. Lemon Drop Hill was the one place that was built up as a challenging spot. It’s an overpass and really not all that bad, but it’s intimidating because it falls 22 miles into the race. I was already going slower at that point so I’m sure it didn’t help, but I wasn’t too bothered by it.

Of course the mental game is always a part of the marathon and I tried to stay positive. I came into the race not knowing what to expect. Maybe I wasn’t as built up as I was going into Boston, or maybe everything would be great and I’d run one of my faster times. As the 8:00 pace slipped away, I didn’t regret my approach of rolling along that fast when it felt good. It’s just so hard to know how a marathon might play out. Boston was the BIG goal and this was a bonus, so my time wasn’t as big of a deal to me. It was tough but I just kept going.

After running along the same road for most of the race, the first real turn came between 23-24 miles. It was another little hill but it was pretty short. From that point on we were in downtown with pretty good crowds.

By that point my stomach was iffy again and I wasn’t convinced it would fade. I kept hoping I’d find a porta potty soon and that was all I had on my mind. I only had a couple miles left to go but didn’t want to press my luck if I could find a place to stop. I finally did and added a couple minutes to my time. That happened to me at Boston as well after getting through 16 marathons prior to these two without ever having to stop! Of course I always want to run the best time that I’m capable of. However, it’s not like I’m going to win anything and I’m not trying to impress anybody with my time. It’s all self-imposed pressure. In the end, other than wishing I was a little faster, it really doesn’t matter.

I had heard people talk about how it felt like there were so many turns once we got to Duluth, but it really wasn’t that bad. We had another slight climb over the bridge I’d taken to the convention center, ran around the DECC, then by a big ship parked in the harbor.

We made another little loop until we finally got to the finishing stretch along Canal Park Dr. I really had nothing left to give and essentially felt like I was jogging it in.

I finished with a time of 3:36:17 – only four minutes slower than my time in Boston in April. I will use my Boston time to qualify for the race next year, but it always feels great to hit that landmark of running a Boston qualifier. If the 2027 cutoff stays at 3:45 for my age, I still achieved that by over eight minutes. On a day when I struggled through the end, it definitely provides some solace!

I definitely FELT like I ran a marathon this time. I was cruising at the end of Boston which felt amazing, but not this time. It was a reminder that sometimes marathons are HARD. Coming to a sudden stop did not help. I was a little short of breath so I kept finding spots to prop myself up just to play it safe. It probably took a good 15-20 minutes before I collected my finisher’s shirt and finally made my way to gear check.

The gear check line was insane. I was in the group of 3000-3999 which must have been based on our estimated finish times. As a result, we were all there at the same time. The volunteers were great but they were also overwhelmed when all of us had to wait for the same pickup spot. That took a good 15 minutes.

Soon after, I happened to be in the right place at the right time once again and saw another person wearing Infinite Multisport Triathlon Club gear! I hadn’t met Don before and had to go say hi. He said Martin had found him along the course and grabbed a photo. I love that the three of us from the club all found each other!

It had been a while since I finished and I knew I needed to eat something so I attempted a mini Clif protein bar I had packed. It was hard to get through it, probably because I was dehydrated and it seemed really dry. My stomach was very upset as well. I made my way to the food line and not much appealed to me other than a granola bar, half a bagel, and some chocolate milk. I found a bench to sit on then I walked out by the water a little bit. Now that I wasn’t hot from running, it was a totally beautiful day.

When I felt like maybe my stomach could handle the ride back, I caught a shuttle back to my car and made it back to the casino just in time to feel miserable again. A very angry stomach has been the norm for me after marathons lately. It may be a combination of my fueling, dehydration, and simply what a marathon does to the body. I do realize it’s a pretty harsh thing for the body to cope with! As a result, I laid around the hotel room for a while feeling pretty rough. I think meds and time finally helped enough that I could consider heading back out.

A while back the race sent an email announcing the free Rock the Bayfront concerts that would take place on Friday and Saturday. I was especially excited to see that Soul Asylum was going to headline Saturday night. I’ve seen them a number of times (going back to 1995!) and I loved that I might get both a race and concert out of my trip. I wasn’t thrilled to see that they’d start at 10:30pm because it would be a stretch to make it that late on the day I had run a marathon. Of course I was going to try though! Maybe the late start was a good thing in the end because it gave me time to recover.

I made it back to Duluth around 7:30 and went to check out the food trucks. I’d been good about hydrating but knew I really needed to eat more. I got a sandwich and fries and fortunately my stomach was fine for the rest of the evening. I caught a few songs from Emily Haavik & the 35s while I sat back and ate, then made my move to the front of the stage when a few people started to gather prior to the Minneapolis Sound All Star Band. They’re essentially the New Power Generation and they celebrate the music of Prince. I was curious to check them out and they were SO much fun. They put on a great show and the park was packed with people dancing. It was a real party during their set! I love that the lineup featured some great artists from Minnesota.

There was a drone show that I couldn’t actually see from my side of the stage that was probably cool, then somehow I made it to that 10:30 start for Soul Asylum and enjoyed their rockin’ set. I got to say hi to Kimberly, a friend I made at a Semisonic show in the Twin Cities. She had run the half and I wish we could have caught up more but it was tough when bands were playing. 

I could have done without the girl who bumped into me the entire time Soul Asylum played as she bounced around performatively for her friends with her back to the band. At least I had some nice fans on either side of me who were more chill.

When my back was sore all day on Sunday, it very well may have been more from standing around at the concert rather than running, but I’m glad I went. I wish I had more time to explore Duluth and the surrounding areas but it was time to head home on Sunday.

I’m glad I went for it and finally got to Grandma’s Marathon. I can confirm that the experience lived up to the hype. I had a great time exploring the area and loved the beautiful course. I squeezed a lot of fun into a couple of days!

– Janet

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