Through Will's Eyes: Grandma's Marathon

WE FINISHED THE MARATHON!

Holyyyy crap.

We did it.

We finished the marathon. And it feels damn good.

Let’s get into it.

Training Process

I never thought that I would ever run a marathon in my entire life. Even when Kappy mentioned the idea back in September, I kind of shook my head and laughed it off. “No chance brother.” I thought to myself. Running? That far? By choice? No thanks!

About a month after that, I signed up with the convincing of other guys who decided to run it as well. And then it was time to start running.

Marathon training didn’t start until February but I did not want to start a running program without any prior running experience so I did a little bit of “pre-training” training.

At first, I hated it. I hated every second of waking up at 6am, bundling up, and going outside in the cold wintery air and snow to run a few miles in the dark. All I wanted was to be done with the run and get on with my day.

After about a month, my mindset started to change and my feet, ankles, and whole body started to feel good and get used to the running. I started ti look forward to the wake up routine and getting some miles in before work. I was eating better and learning how to fuel my body properly. I started to be more health conscious and really listen to my body during the process. The training program I followed was for beginners trying to accomplish their first marathon. It was easy to follow and I only missed about 4-5 of the workouts out of a total of 72 training runs. This was the first time that I followed some sort of fitness plan (besides when I trained for the hockey season) in my entire life. It was the hardest thing I have ever done and it kept me dialed in for the most part of my life.

Working out while on business trips or vacations had never been anything I wanted to do but moving forward, I do not see why I would not want to move and stay consistent while traveling. I learned a lot throughout the process and throughout the 18 weeks of the program that will help me moving forward now.

June 17th, 2023: Grandma’s Marathon (Duluth, MN)

The alarm went off at 4:30am and it was time to wake myself up before heading to the shuttle. I hopped in a cold shower and chugged a couple bottles of water, ate a bagel and two bananas, got dressed, and headed out the door.

We all met at our old school, University of Wisconsin-Superior, to catch the bus to Two Harbors, MN where the starting line was. The bus ride took about 45 minutes as we had to drive a longer route since we could not go down the race track obviously. Being on the bus for that long definitely scared us as it made the task of running back to where we started seem daunting.

We got to the start line at about 6:30am and had an hour and 15 minutes to warm up, use the bathroom, and take it all in. Nothing quite like a scene of 9,000 people gathering to take on a challenge together as the sun came up. The pre race jitters crept in a bit. Felt like a hockey game all over again!

After warm-ups, the national anthem, and a sweet fly over from a few fighter planes, the elite group of runners took off. Ten minutes after, it was our time to shine.

I think we got to the start line around 7:50am and took off down the road. It was a slow start as people needed time to spread out and get a feel for things. We saw 4-5 people trip and fall within the first 30 minutes which was not a pleasant site.

The first hour went smoothly and we were all cruising at about a 9:15 min/mile pace. It was so fun running through parts where people came out to support the runners and cheer everyone on. We got to see Yelle’s parents, my parents and brothers, a few of our girlfriends, and we saw Cuddy as well!

Tons of people were yelling “Go Hockey Guys!!!” as we ran by and I am not sure if they were THG fans or just read our shirts but either way, that helped so much.

As hour two came by we finished 13.1 miles in 2:04 all together still (well besides Kappy, he was way ahead as he started out with the 8:00 min/mile pace group since that was his goal). It was awesome to be able to finish half of the race together as it made it much more enjoyable.

@thehockeyguysWe decided to run this race last September after Kappy proposed the idea of running Grandma’s Marathon. As retired hockey players that were missing the athlete life, plus the race being in the same area we played we decided to sign ourselves up. We really had no clue what we were getting into but we enjoyed the fact that we could all find out together as a group. The journey has truly been incredible and so much fun. Especially with how we could document it and take you along with us. And as for our next marathon…. Who knows 😅

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We stayed together for another 4 or 5 miles until the 17-18 mile markers when I felt a terrible cramp in my hamstring. I was trying to loosen up the knees a little bit and my whole left left locked up so I had to step to the side. I knew right there that I was going to be finishing the the race alone. Great…

I caught up to Taver and we ran a little bit together but my cramps were coming in and out so I had to start a little bit of a cycle. Run, stop and stretch out the what felt like a tennis ball sticking out of my leg, walk and drink water, and then run until it cramped again.

This survival strategy slowed me down quite a bit but my goal was to finish the race on two legs, so I had to battle through.

I was with Taver a few more times before losing him for the final 4 miles and the thoughts of quitting started to creep in, the pain was hurting my body all over, and I wanted to sit the heck down. But hey I just ran 22 miles, what’s four more, right? Yikes. What a painful finish.

Running through downtown Duluth felt like it took forever and I could not wait to be done. I got to mile 25 and saw a few old teammates there cheering everyone on which gave me a little bit for the next half mile or so. I took one last 1 minute walk break and then ran right into mile 26.

When I turned the final corner and saw the finish line, my spirits lifted. I tried to run as fast as possible (it was not fast at all at that point) and made my way down the final .2 miles. I saw Sam, my family, Jonny, Jmarts, and Cuddy int he crowd and gave them all high fives before crossing the finish line at 4 hours and 38 minutes. (Adjusted time as we crossed the starting line 4 minutes after the gun start which is why the clock says 4:42 finish for those of you who care about the fine details).

It was over. Finally!!! Right when I crossed the finish line I walked over to a garbage can because I thought I was going to throw up but it went away quickly.

I grabbed by medal, wrapped myself up in the post-race blanket (I was shivering, I guess that is a thing after putting your body through that sort of experience), and found my buddies. I was the last one out of the group to finish and that meant we had all accomplished this awesome feat.

I could not be prouder of how the guys battled and got this done all together. I never would have known if I could finish a marathon if I did not it out so it sure made it a great feeling. You truly learn a lot about yourself when you run the last hour of a marathon by yourself and you learn how deep you really can dig.

Summary:

Kappy - What a freaking beast that kid is. I knew during training that he was the fastest one but holy did he show up on race day. I think he may have found a lifelong passion and I can’t wait to cheer him on when he qualifies for the Boston Marathon one day. Finish time: 3:23

Lawson - The boss was dialed the whole time and made sure to keep us filming content. That helped a ton to keep us distracted for a bit during the race and he was a stud as well. He finished with Yelle and his body handled the wear a tear incredibly. Finish time: 4:18

Yelle - He played his role well during the race and he kept things light. I was trying not to laugh while running with him as he was having a great time and bringing his golden retriever energy with him. It helped morale a ton and his God given running abilities helped him kick some ass too. Finish time: 4:18

Frizz - He did not run more than 10 miles the whole training process. Yeah. That is crazy! Frizz always surprises me with how much he can get done and he truly is a wild card. He body fought through and he finished strong as well. The dude can run even though he says he will never do the race again. Finish time: 4:25

Taver - Talk about someone who is mentally tough. Taver played a whole hockey season and trained for this race in 4 WEEKS. 1 damn month of training and he finished strong. We were not sure if he would be able to but boy did he prove us wrong. He did a great job and did not go down. He says he doesn’t want to run another race either but imagine how fast he could go if he did a full training program! Finish time: 4:34

Will - My motto from day 1 was “Slow and steady wins the race.” and I sure followed that throughout the whole process. Besides finishing the race on two feet, I trained with the goal to finish under 4:30 but unfortunately missed that goal a little bit. I have an incredible appreciation for long distance runners and am undecided on if I will do another marathon or not. It was pretty fun to do something again as a team and I am proud of myself for doing something out of my comfort zone and doing something that was f@#*ing hard, really hard. But hey, we got it done. Finish time: 4:38

Thank you to everyone for all the support of the last few months and for sending best wishes to us all. It helped a lot more than you could ever think! We appreciate you all and are so thankful we have such a great support team from around the world.

Time to go ice my legs!

Until next time!

Cheers,

-WB