By Jess
After hosting a post-marathon potluck last night for my run club girlfriends (read about it HERE), we were up bright and early to drive to Mankato to cheer for the marathoners at the Mankato Marathon.
After a quick stop for some extra large coffees at Starbucks (the potluck went a little late, and we were all tired), we hit the road to Mankato. Mankato is about 1.5 hours southwest of Minneapolis.
This is a relatively new marathon for our state; I think it’s only the third year. Yet even though it is new, the post-marathon comments were mostly positive- very well organized, pretty course, but it had some challenging hills and limited spectators.
Website: http://www.mankatomarathon.com
When I run a marathon, I LOVE the fans and their funny, slightly offensive signs.
So my friends and I put together some of our own for our cheering squad.
When we saw him at mile 21, it was obvious that he had a marathon WIN in the bag.
It was so amazing to personally know and care for the person who was winning the marathon!
And then an even more amazing thing happened….
…two of our friends went to the bathroom at Burger King!!!
Amazing, right?
Okay, no, that’s not it.
The amazing thing that happened was that while they were heading back from the bathroom, these two friends ran into the driver of the lead runner vehicle, and the two of them turned on their Minnesota charm, and were able to convince the driver to let us all hop in the back of the truck to cheer for Coach Paul as he came through to the finish line.
It was so much fun to share this experience with my run club friends, and to view the race from this spectacular vantage point. It was probably a once-in-a-lifetime experience for most of us.
But as fun as it was for us to cheer from the lead runner vehicle, it was probably a lot more fun for Coach Paul; I mean, he was WINNING! What an amazing feeling that must have been!
After Paul’s amazing finish, we headed back to mile 21 to cheer some more, and we were able to catch these strong runners:
After cheering for our friends, we met up with the Mankato Marathon Winner (yeah, I know him) at Pub 500 for some grub.
I ran the race too (as my first full & much, much slower than your friend the winner:-) It’s fun to see him passing the 1/2er’s coming in for the win:-)
Congrats Gina on your first full marathon! What an accomplishment!
Yes, it was pretty amazing that he was finishing the full when some people were finishing the half! He sure is speedy!
[…] We took Friday off of work to get in our long runs, and then we hit the road a little before lunch time. Sioux Falls is about a 4 hour drive from Minneapolis. We made a stop in Mankato for lunch, eating at Pub 500 the same place we ate back when this same Paul who was getting married won the Mankato Marathon in 2012! (Did you miss that post? Be sure to catch up HERE!) […]