Getting Ready for Grandma's Marathon

While it may still seem like the middle of the track and field season -- Nike Outdoor Nationals is this weekend for the state's top preps and the Olympic Track and Field Trials begin next weekend -- up on the shores of the big lake they call Gitchu Gummi it's marathon time.

Grandma's Marathon and the increasingly competitive Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon are on tap for Saturday in Duluth.

Last year's women's champ Mary Akor of Hawthorne, California is back to defend her marathon title. Bib #1 for the men's race, fittingly, has not been issued in honor of Wesly Ngetich who was killed earlier this year in post-election violence in his Kenya. Gopher alum Chad Johnson returns to defend is title in the Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon, while Michelle Lilienthal of Team USA Minnesota is one of a handful of favorites in the Bjorklund women's race.

The Duluth News-Tribune, not surprisingly, has been covering Duluth's signature event quite thoroughly. Kevin Pates wrote THIS nice remembrance of Ngetich for Sunday's paper. The DNT's special Grandma's section HERE covers the gamut -- including stories about a former North Shore Strider's comeback as well as a homeowner's frustration with race participants urinating on their property.