I can’t believe I forgot to tell you guys! I am officially registered for the 40th annual Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, Minnesota on Saturday, June 18. I cannot wait!!
It is amazing the connections that social media brings these days. I spent a year teaching and coaching in Mitchell, SD, and a guy who I coached cross country with knew of a friend who no longer wanted his entry. He got me hooked up with the friend, we sent a couple e-mails back and forth, completed the transfer request on the Grandma’s Marathon website, and now I’m in!
I am so happy I got in. I really wasn’t excited about any other options. And you want to be excited about running a marathon because it is too far to run if you aren’t into it.
This means I’ll be running Grandma’s Marathon on June 18 and then running the Moose’s Tooth Marathon here in Anchorage on August 21. It is a quick turnaround, but I really enjoyed Moose’s Tooth last year, and I want to own the course record this time around.
I’ll be going for a sub-3 hour finish at Grandma’s, and then running whatever I can at Moose’s Tooth. (I’m not sure how my legs will recover, but we’ll hope for the best.)
Running has been on the upswing lately. For a couple weeks I wasn’t hitting my paces and feeling pretty run down, but I upped my iron and have tried to be more proactive about resting. Plus, I’ve also had a couple runs on (some) dry pavement, which has made me excited for spring and summer running. (My favorite!) After running in the darkness, the cold temps, and on ice and snow since October, I am more than ready for light, warmth, and dry pavement. It is amazing how much faster I can run when it light out and the pavement is dry.
I’ll be hitting 70 miles this week with 6 days of running and 74 miles next week. I’m feeling really good so far and did a workout at 6:30 pace earlier this week that actually felt easy! (Full recap on my workouts to come on Monday.)
My coach and I are starting to nail down which races I am going to run this spring and early summer before Grandma’s. I am hoping to race a 5K, 12K, and half-marathon before Grandma’s. They are some of my favorite all summer, and they will give me a good indication of where my fitness it at prior to the race.
