Grand Rapids Marathon (03:29:54; 220/1332)

This is the only fall road marathon I signed up a while ago.

Because of the relative long distance from my home ( > 100miles), we decided to visit the town on Saturday and stay one night at a motel.

After my boy's saturday class, we were off from Chicago to Grand Rapids around 12:30. It was beautiful to see lots of colorful trees along the drive way.  One thing we kept forgetting was the time shift that we lost one hour right after we entered the Michigan state. By the time we got to the place (YMCA) for packet pickup, it was getting dark that we decided to eat dinner and then headed to our hotel. 

In the morning at the motel, we had a very nice complementary breakfast and also talked a few families running the same marathon.  Then, we left to the start line to find a parking spot and were just on time. Good thing about this marathon is that my wife and kid can play at the kid's swimming pool (or a little water park) in YMCA while I am on the course.  This option made me happy for I usually feel bad because they wait for me long and long hours outside .

The course was beautiful and also flat overall.  I was not pushing hard for the first half and yet my time was under 1:40.  What a great start!  In my head, my prediction was somewhere 3:25 or under. However, there are always something happening.  Right?  This time I was very cautious about taking salt stick as I always feel very weak after mile 20 or so.  So I prepared 4, but dropped 3 of them.  What??  Also I didn't take all the gels which I was supposed to.  I probably underestimated about taking energies even though I don't feel needed.  Not sure whether that was the reasons or not, I had to walk about 1min between mile 22 and 23. At the aid station, I drank Gatorade and caffeinated gel that helped me move a little better.  Other than these mistakes, I really enjoyed the race and appreciate the organizers as well as volunteers.

Data on sträva: click here