3 weeks until Grandma's Marathon!

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     It's been an awesome training season, one that I know will be tough to beat. As our training group recovered from last fall's Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon during October and November, it was clear that Grandma's 2012 was becoming our focus. Dave, after completing his first ever marathon at MTC, was the first to sign up. I think it took him a whole two days to decide. Jeanette and I held off a bit longer, completing our official registration in early January for the June 16 race. Bryan added his name to the entry log as a back-up to his Ft. Collins, Colorado marathon sometime in March. Mike, the newest member of our long run training group, signed up in April. We have one more member of our group that has yet to register. He had not thought about running Grandma's until about four weeks ago when I made the suggestion, based upon his training over the past six months.
     He finished his first marathon last fall at MTC, our five person training group piled on the miles over the summer, and although he had put in the miles, race day didn't agree with him. First marathons are tough, even on a good day, but the first thing he said was he'd be back next year for revenge! When I put the bug in his ear a few weeks ago about Grandma's, he was surprised but not caught totally off guard. His training had been going well, he was pretty much injury free, and he had recently set PR's in the 10 mile and 10k distances. Rather than sweat it out all summer and build up too much anxiety, I suggested a quick look at the 26.2 in Duluth, MN.
     Yesterday we all ran our last long run, a 20 miler at an easy pace. He did great and I'm hoping he has already registered for Grandma's. Sometimes we get lucky and an opportunity pops in front of us like a deer on the road at twilight. We can over-react and make things worse, we can focus and avoid a crash, or we can get lucky and have time to stop and see the beauty of the moment.
     We are all looking forward to Grandma's Marathon, some of us have been on board since last October, some since January, and some are just now buying their ticket. Either way you get there, it's a great ride!

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