Gearing Up for Grandma's

Shannon Hogan is one of our 2024 Grambassadors, selected from a large group of applicants to share her passion and knowledge of our race weekend. Hogan joined the podcast to talk about her experience with the mental health benefits of running. In this episode, she talks about finding therapy through running and also how to combat the days where training seems too much. IMPORTANT: Hogan is not lice...

Sarah Stuhr is one of our 2024 Grambassadors, selected from a large group of applicants to share their passion and knowledge of our race weekend. Stuhr was the first-ever non-binary champion of our Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon, finishing that race in a time of 2:56:58. They joined the podcast to talk about the importance of inclusivity in running, specifically pertaining to non-binary and transge...

Two-time Grandma's Marathon champion Dakotah Lindwurm joins the podcast to talk about her training leading into the 2024 US Olympic Trials, where she will be one of the athletes expected to compete for a spot in the Paris Games. In 2021, Lindwurm became the first Minnesota woman to win Grandma's Marathon since Janis Klecker in 1987, and then one year later she returned to become just the...

Nadir Yusuf made his marathon debut at the 2023 Grandma's Marathon, running a time of 2:15:26 that was good for 13th place overall and qualified him for the 2024 US Olympic Trials. Yusuf, from Willmar, Minn., attended Minnesota State Moorhead, where he competed mostly in middle and long distance track events. He was a multi-time conference champion, a two-time All-American, and he still holds...

Jacob Oak is one of our 2024 Grambassadors, selected from a large group of applicants to share his passion and knowledge of our race weekend. Oak works as a personal fitness and running coach in Minnesota's Twin Cities area, and he watched several of his clients set new personal bests in Duluth last summer while he himself set a 10-minute PR at the 2023 Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon. One of O...

Lauren Hagans made her marathon debut at the 2023 Grandma's Marathon, and her first-ever race was certainly one to remember. Hagans beat out two-time defending champion Dakotah Lindwurm to win the women's crown, finishing her debut with a time of 2:25:55. That time also qualified Hagans for the 2024 US Olympic Trials, which will be held February 3 in Orlando, Fla. Hagans lives and trains...

Ally Colton is one of our 2024 Grambassadors, selected from a large group of applicants to share his passion and knowledge of our race weekend. Colton was in Duluth for the first time for the 2023 Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon, setting a new PR in the process. She's running that race again in June 2024, hoping to again have a successful weekend in northern Minnesota. One of Colton's pass...

Tony Loyd is one of our 2024 Grambassadors, selected from a large group of applicants to share his passion and knowledge of our race weekend. Loyd began running late in life and, to himself, said he'd never do it again after running his first-ever marathon in 2001. Well, Tony lied to himself and as since on running and on marathoning -- he qualified for his first Boston Marathon in 2005 and h...

Shawn Jarvis and Jamie Vesel are two of our 2024 Grambassadors, selected from a large group of applicants to share their passion and knowledge of our race weekend. Both Jarvis and Vesel have previously participated in Grandma's Marathon weekend and several other events, and together they joined the podcast to share their experience and thoughts on the importance of proper nutrition and crosst...

Essentia Health ATC Cristina Nistler joins the podcast for the first of several installments ahead of the 2024 Grandma's Marathon weekend designed to help keep runners focused on the finish line while avoiding any common injuries and/or medical issues. As part of her role with Essentia Health, Nistler works part-time throughout the year in the Grandma's Marathon office. She's respon...

Carrie Alajoki and Rachel Barger are two of our 2024 Grambassadors, selected from a large group of applicants to share their passion and knowledge of our race weekend. Both Alajoki and Barger have participated in a Grandma's Marathon weekend event 10+ times in their running careers, and together they joined the podcast to encourage the "non-traditional" or "back-of-the-pack&quo...

Laura Bergen began working with Grandma's Marathon in 1999 and, over the past two plus decades, has held a variety of roles within the organization. She is currently the Registration and Expo Director, meaning she's primarily responsible for overseeing the event's registration processes and organizing the Essentia Health Fitness Expo that's held on race weekend. In 2021, Bergen...

Maggie Montoya had no idea, as she rounded the final turn to the finish line, that she was about to break one of the more storied records in Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon history. Just as Duluth native Kara Goucher predicted earlier in the week, Montoya was about to break Goucher’s own event record that she had set during the USA Half Marathon Championships in 2012. Montoya’s time of 1:09:26 was 2...

Alison Mariella Désir has developed into one of the nation's leading voices when it comes to inclusivity and diversity, especially within the endurance sports industry. 10 years ago, she founded a group called Harlem Run that has grown into one of the nation's most well-known running clubs. More recently, she published a book titled  Running While Black , widely seen as a searing expose...

There are only two people to have completed every mile ever run on the Grandma's Marathon racecourse --- John Naslund and Jim Nowak. Together, they're known as "The Iron 2," and both will be back this year trying to complete their 47th trip from Two Harbors to Duluth. Already, they've each accumulated more than 1,200 miles on the Grandma's Marathon racecourse, and eac...

Founding executive director Scott Keenan makes his second appearance on the podcast, this time to talk about his coming induction into the DECC Athletic Hall of Fame.  The official induction ceremony, which will include Kara Goucher as another member of the Class of 2023, will be held May 4 in Duluth.

Carrie Rodman is one of our 2023 Grambassadors and joins the podcast to talk about positive self-talk and how to properly train your mind along with your body ahead of race weekend. Carrie, who last ran in Duluth in 2008, shares some her personal favorite mantras that she repeats to herself during training and on race day to keep herself in a positive mindset and working toward the finish line.

There's so much that goes into marathon training, but one of most individualized and important pieces is nutrition. What should you be putting into your body before, during, and after your training runs to help you feel and perform your best? We assembled a roundtable to talk about that very issue, led by Cristina Nistler, our Medical Liasion from Essentia Health, and three of our 2023 Gramba...

Tony Loyd began running late in life and, to himself, said he'd never do it again after running his first-ever marathon in 2001. Well, Tony lied to himself and as since on running and on marathoning -- he qualified for his first Boston Marathon in 2005 and has run several other big races, including the 2013 New York City Marathon. Loyd touches on all of his running experiences in this episode...

Essentia Health ATC Cristina Nistler joins the podcast for the next of several installments ahead of the 2023 Grandma's Marathon weekend designed to help keep runners focused on the finish line while avoiding any common injuries and/or medical issues. As part of her role with Essentia Health, Nistler works part-time throughout the year in the Grandma's Marathon office. She's respons...

As you make your way down the North Shore during Grandma's Marathon in June, you and thousands of others are enjoying some of the very best road racing available in the United States. It's a race you've probably heard of --- almost certainly, if you're listening to this podcast. What you might not have heard much about, though, is trail running. With more than 150 miles of trai...

A self-proclaimed "marathon junkie," Chuck Engle has certainly earned the title. He's completed more than 475 marathons in his lifetime, and he's also the world record holder with more than 150 of those being completed in 3 hours or less. Engle travels nearly every week of the year to at least one race, and he has not only completed, but actually has WON a marathon in each of t...

A self-proclaimed "marathon junkie," Chuck Engle has certainly earned the title. He's completed more than 475 marathons in his lifetime, and he's also the world record holder with more than 150 of those being completed in 3 hours or less. Engle travels nearly every week of the year to at least one race, and he has not only completed, but actually has WON a marathon in each of t...

Essentia Health ATC Cristina Nistler joins the podcast for the first of several installments ahead of the 2023 Grandma's Marathon weekend designed to help keep runners focused on the finish line while avoiding any common injuries and/or medical issues. As part of her role with Essentia Health, Nistler works part-time throughout the year in the Grandma's Marathon office. She's respon...

Fresh off her first career win at the Chicago Marathon, wheelchair athlete Susannah Scaroni joined our Gearing Up for Grandma's podcast. Not only did Scaroni win the 2022 Chicago Marathon, she also won her fourth career Grandma's Marathon this past June and broke her own event record in the process. Scaroni is a three-time U.S. Paralympian and won a gold medal in the 5,000-meters at the...