My son finished Grandma's Marathon. As usual, we left around 2:00 PM on Friday, but we had to dodge some construction and traffic. We finally arrived just before 6:00 PM, checked into the hotel, and then headed to the expo. It was super crowded, so we grabbed dinner at Michelena’s grandma’s feast. It wasn’t the best, and the food felt a bit too commercialized! We went more for the vibe.
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Earlier this week, the forecast indicated that there might be a cancellation due to the weather. But, as always, the forecast is never totally accurate. It predicted colder temperatures (54 degrees) and a good tailwind for most of the race.
When we woke up, it was chilly, but thankfully, the rain held off! His day didn’t start great because the train was running late, so he started at the back of the pack. It took him about nine minutes to cross the start line. He passed 2471 runners in the first 5K and another 865 in the next 5K. He was feeling good, keeping a pace of around 7:45 minutes until about mile 12, when a cramp started to set in. I caught a glimpse of him just past the halfway point, and he ran the half-marathon in 1:43:46, which was just 7 minutes off my personal best pace! If he could’ve kept it up, he’d have been close to my PR, but the cramps put that possibility at risk.
He took off at Mile 14 in 9:21, followed by 14:19 and 12:25 miles. After recovering from a cramp, he picked up the pace with a few 9-minute miles, reaching Mile 23. His pace dropped to 11:33 and 12:20 miles before he kicked it up with a quick burst to a 9-minute average mile, finishing in 4:07:27. This was a personal best for him, landing him in the top half of his age and gender group.
After the race, we checked out of the hotel later than planned, so my son took a shower, and we hit the road. The drive home took about 1.75 hours, and it was a tough one—we got caught in a bad thunderstorm. But other than that, it was uneventful. We were both exhausted, so we turned in early.
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