Cheers to running in my 10th Grandma’s Marathon weekend and Grandma’s Marathon turning 50. Every year the anticipation for GM weekend feels like Christmas to me! It’s my hometown race. It was my first half and full marathon. It’s coming home.
On this 50th anniversary, I said what the heck and said yes to everything I could. I signed up for Great Grandma’s challenge. (Usually I like watching the William Irvin 5k before my race to get inspired by fellow runners). I said yes to going to the shakeout run Friday morning with MN distance elite that was hosted by Duluth Running Co. I said yes to watching the live podcast Thursday evening hosted by Kara Goucher and Des Linden. Of course, I also did what I do every year, which is spend more time at the expo on my feet than I should. But I couldn’t miss the spaghetti dinner- that’s a must every year. I ended up spending all day (over 10 hours) doing race weekend things.
By the time it was the night before race night, I’d logged over 25,000 steps (11 miles). I was exhausted before I even crossed the start line of my 8th marathon. Surprisingly, I ran a pretty good ½ marathon and it wasn’t until Mile 17 or 18 that things started to not go my way. By mile 20, I had a feeling I wasn’t going to hit a PR. So around mile 21 I stopped to pet Moose, the dog I’ve been dog sitting for since he was a puppy. I chose to stop before the finish and give my mom a hug. She has been to every single Grandma’s Marathon finish line for me. And it was really special to hug her before I crossed the finish line.
This year taught me that every race can be special and it doesn’t need to be a PR to make it special. It’s the people you meet, showing appreciation for the ones you love and spending time doing what you love. (running, duh!) I also got a lot of memories that will last a lifetime: I met Olympians Dakotah Popehn and Kara Goucher, I reunited with some of my favorite Grambassadors turned friends, and I got to run another hometown marathon.
Hannah Koch
Follow Her on: Instagram, X, Tiktok, Facebook
Favorite Grandma’s Marathon Memory: This is my 10th year participating in Grandma’s weekend and I have so many favorites… but one that comes to mind when reflecting back this year was when I was volunteering as a kid at waterstop before lemon drop hill. Watching the elite runners race by me… they were so fast and fluid in their strides, it looked like they were flying. It looked like magic. And from those moments on, GM has always been magical for me.
Quote that guides, inspires, or embodies your training, racing, or life: “Run. Run in the morning. Run in the dark. Run every day. Run twice a day. Run to find yourself. Run to forget yourself. Run to recreate yourself. Run when you’re happy. Run when you’re sad. Run when rested. Run when exhausted. Run from problems. Run towards opportunities. Run to be at peace. Run to be at war. Run for any reason you can possibly find to run. Life’s too short to walk when you can run.”
“I dare you to train for a marathon and not have it change your life”. And it has. Running has given me my most favorite version of myself.
2026 running goal: 3 S’s: Strength training. Speed work. Sleep. (and of course, say hi to all the dogs while running).
Three words to describe your training, racing, or life: Relentless. Bliss. Dogs.
Advice to other runners: Remind yourself why you started. Remind yourself why you love it.