Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto

Grandma’s was a good time, except the whole marathon thing. I was very impressed with Duluth, which is a beautiful port city on the scenic shores of Lake Superior—much different than the small, industrial ghost town I was expecting. Duluth was surprisingly vibrant, cultural, unpretentious, historical, and an outdoor enthusiast’s Mecca. I was particularly impressed with the downtown area surrounding Canal Park, as well as the lakeside Scenic Route 61. Fortunately, I had the opportunity to eat lunch on Friday at Grandma’s, the marathon’s namesake and first major sponsor. While I am glad to have had the experience, it really was just like Applebee’s. Thus, I will cross it off my list and be done with that.

The race was incredibly well-run. You can certainly tell they’ve been organizing a world-class event for 30+ years. All of the details were expertly executed—pre-race bussing, water stations, t-shirt options, and the post-race party, just to name a few. Let me elaborate. The race starts in Two Harbors, and ends in downtown Duluth. Which means it’s a one-way shot straight down highway 61 for 26.2 miles. Because of this, apparently there’s a need to bus all of the participants from their various accommodations in Duluth to the starting line in Two Harbors. A big, jolly yellow school bus picked up dozens of us from the College of St. Scholastica at 5:30 a.m. and then transported us to the starting line. There were over eighteen other pick-up points in Duluth, and it seemed like hundreds of school buses were arriving at the starting line between 6 and 6:30 a.m. This method of transportation turned out to be easy and totally reliable. Same on the way back after the race.

The water stations were also phenomenal. There were hundreds of volunteers at each who were handing out water, ice, sports drink, cold sponges, and at times, oranges and Cliff Shots. Best of all, the stations were long and on both sides of the road, which made for less of a traffic jam and gave me much time to get lots of fluid down. My only complaint is that they served Optima sports drink, which made me want to hurl. Seriously, all we want is Gatorade. We’ve tried it, we like it, we know that it works. I also loved the fact that there were both men’s and women’s-fit finisher t-shirts. Because we all know that the race shirt is immensely important. And the post-race party featured, among many other more appropriate post-race foods, vanilla and mint chocolate chip ice cream. Well, I don’t run a marathon to eat appropriate foods. I’m proud to say that I devoured two, two-scoop servings of mint chocolate chip ice cream. Although it made me sick soon after, I think it was worth it.

As far as my race, it was a PW, not a PR. Personal worst, that is. But that’s fine. I was actually thrilled to cross the line in under four hours. I ended up finishing in 3:46. Despite the hot temps, I ran what was probably my fastest half-marathon split within a marathon (1:44), but then my stomach suddenly and irreversibly blew up at mile 15. From there, I found myself on a Tour de Porta-Potty. I’ll spare you the details. But, I did make it to the end, and completing a marathon is always a good thing. My favorite part of the race was definitely when I got to mile twenty-two where a DJ was blasting “Mr. Roboto” by Styz. Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto. At that point, I was able to put my pain aside and smile. I desperately wanted to stop and dance. Despite the temptation, I forged on.