2025 Grandma’s Weekend Recap: Hannah

Another Grandma’s Weekend has come and gone… and it’s still without a doubt, my favorite weekend of the year. From going to the expo, cheering on fellow runners doing the 5K, the spaghetti dinner and the marathon itself… It’s hard to pinpoint why it’s my favorite race.

Going into my 6th Marathon in 2 years, I knew already this training cycle wasn’t going to look like the others. From May to June I was in 3 different weddings. 23 days in Italy, North Carolina and Michigan. By the time the middle of June rolled around, I knew my primary (and only) goal was to finish this race.

This was my 9th time participating in Grandma’s Marathon weekend and it was the first year I wasn’t a resident of Duluth. So like many others, I got to experience the drive up north from the twin cities. We left Friday morning to avoid the traffic and of course, stopped at Tobies. I hadn’t stopped in Hinkley since I was a kid, but I’m glad we did because it was the best raspberry muffin I’ve ever had.

My friend, Alyson, and I got to Duluth in time to do a 3 mile shakeout run with my parents’ dogs, Milo and Rylee, and then headed down to canal park to watch the 5k. It’s a tradition and it’s always so fun to watch the race before our race. We spent some time at the expo and I actually bought something this year! Oofos slides! A month later, and they’re still my favorite go-to shoe now. They’re so comfortable and they saved my feet after the marathon! Of course, we had to do the spaghetti dinner and after, we met up with fellow Grambassadors. It’s one of my favorite parts of race weekend: getting together with the ones who supported me near and far with training throughout the year.

The morning of the race was a little delayed. I didn’t mind because it gave me extra time to eat my breakfast and prepare mentally. I made my go-to: eggs and ramen. We caught the very convenient participant shuttle. Every year, it amazes me how smoothly it all runs. I’ve never had to wonder for this race how I was going to get to the start or if I’d be late.

Alyson was convinced we were going to break 5 hours. (She was convinced of this last year as well. She was almost right, because we missed the 5 hour barrier by 48 seconds). After the lack of training I’ve had in the spring and how slow my training runs were going, I didn’t even want to get my hopes up for a PR. Then with the anticipated heat, I thought there was literally no way. The only thing I knew I could ask of myself in this race was to push myself a little bit. I’ve gotten in the habit lately of feeling “comfortable” while running. Not to say this is a bad thing, but I wanted to push myself into a little discomfort and see what would come of it. So we had a plan of pushing ourselves a little bit until the halfway mark, and then really seeing how much we could keep pushing for the rest of the way.

For a majority of the race, I didn’t say much at all. I was trying to conserve my energy for the harder miles. And honestly, the miles seemed to be going by slower than last year’s race. Some highlights of the race were: We ran into the GM double runner, Eric Strand, we ran into my fellow Grambassador, Carrie Rodman, and we ran into some guys that yes… were also counting dogs! By the time we got to the halfway point, we were at 2:26. I knew we’d have to keep pushing pretty hard if we wanted to even come close to breaking 5 hours. I did have some doubt in my mind, since historically, my 2nd half of the race was always slower.

Around mile 15 or 16, I felt like I was overheating. I knew it was going to be hot and humid, but it affected me a little more than I thought it would. Coming into town around mile 21, my friend Kennedy had a water bottle of iced pickle juice. I chugged the entire thing and I’m convinced now that this is what helped my PR.

Getting into downtown Duluth, Alyson and I lost each other. She had to walk to bring her body temp down and I knew if I started walking, I wouldn’t be able to keep going. Around mile 25, she caught up to me. We were getting really close to 5 hours and I was telling myself to give it my all, but also feeling an absurd amount of pressure and a little preemptive disappointment if I didn’t break 5. It was a lot of unknowns and a lot of discomfort the last 5k of the marathon.

I remember the last 0.5 miles trying to go as fast as my little legs would take me. My apple watch died, so the only way I knew our time was on Alyson’s Garmin. As we crossed the finish line, she just shook her head and I knew we didn’t make it. Little did I know.. She looked at her watch basically a “split second” too late. I later found out we broke 5 hours by 2 tenths of a second. Our official cross time was 4:59:58. Between the lack of training and the unexpected heat and humidity, I did not think I’d be walking away with a PR this year. Another year where my capabilities surprised myself.

I really didn’t think I’d be getting a PR at Grandma’s 2 years in a row. I’m still not sure how it happened.. All I’m convinced of is that in this town at this race… magic happens. Each year, somehow, this race continues to exceed my expectations. I’m so excited for 2026 where I’ll be participating for my 10th GM weekend and the 50th Grandma’s Marathon. So much love for the GM organization, the volunteers, spectators, fellow runners, and of course, the running itself.