First-time marathon runner tops two-time defending champ to win Grandma's Marathon
DULUTH — Lauren Hagans said she had always been intrigued by marathons, but as of a few years ago, the Baylor University Athletics Hall of Fame distance runner had no interest in running a 26.1-mile race.
That interest changed in the last year and on Saturday, Hagans not only ran her first marathon, she won the women’s division of the 47th running of Grandma’s Marathon by beating two-time defending champion Dakotah Lindwurm. Hagans finished in 2 hours, 25 minutes and 55 seconds for the fourth-fastest time ever, surging past Lindwurm with about six miles remaining in the race to win by 61 seconds.
Asked how she was feeling after gingerly walking up to speak to reporters at The Garden in Canal Park about an hour after running her first marathon, Hagans responded, “Great,” while a wide smile.
“I’m really happy, a little relieved that it’s done,” Hagans said. “It was definitely a learning experience. I liked it a lot. I’m excited to do another one.”
Hagans, 36, is a native of Little Rock, Arkansas. She walked on to Baylor’s cross country and track and field teams and left in 2008 as one of the school’s best distance runners. She was a six-time All-American, two-time Big 12 champion and left school as the record holder in the 1,500 meters.
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Hagans — known as Lauren Paquette until recently — now lives in Flagstaff, Arizona, and runs with Northern Arizona Elite (NAZ Elite), a team full of marathon runners. Being around those athletes and discussions about how marathons can test you like never before piqued her interest in entering a race.
Carolyn Mather hugs women’s winner Lauren Hagans of Flagstaff, Arizona at the finish line of Grandma’s Marathon on Saturday in Duluth. Clint Austin / Duluth News Tribune
One of her teammates with NAZ Elite is Grandma’s Marathon record holder Kellyn Taylor, who won the 2018 race in 2:24:28. Hagan said she’s received a ton of advice from Taylor about running marathons. The best was to manage the waves, she said.
“Just that in a marathon, when you’re out there, it comes and goes in waves,” said Hagan, a self-described low-mileage runner with three half marathons on her resume. “You’ll have patches where it feels horrible. You just have to know that it will pass. And you’ll have patches where you feel really good, and you have to savor those as much as you can.”
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Lindwurm was able to break away from the pack early, but Hagan said she was able to keep sight of the two-time defending champion, who ran the second fastest time in Grandma’s history a year ago, finishing in 2:25:01.
Hagans was able to work with a pack of four other runners — Carrie Verdon, Grace Kahura and Gabriella Rooker — to eventually get within 10 seconds of Lindwurm. Hagans broke free from her little chase group around Mile 19 and she caught Lindwurm just after Mile 20.
Hagans said she briefly ran behind Lindwurm for about 200-300 meters before running past to continue her pace.
Dakotah Lindwurm of Eagan, Minnesota celebrates at the finish line during Grandma’s Marathon on Saturday in Duluth. Lindwurm finished in second place this year. Clint Austin / Duluth News Tribune
Lindwurm, 28, of Eagan, Minnesota, said Hagans was “just a little bit stronger than me at the end” of Saturday’s race. Lindwurm, whose time of 2:26:56 on Saturday is tied for sixth-fastest ever at Grandma’s, said she had a hiccup in her training three weeks prior to Saturday’s race when she fell ill with kidney stones.
It was around 22 miles, at the infamous Lemon Drop Hill, that Lindwurm said she could feel her lack of strength. Based on her knowledge of the Grandma’s Marathon course, Lindwurm said she was hoping that Hagans would come back to her, but she didn’t.
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“That’s where the bombs are usually dropped, and if you don’t know what to expect, I think people can really fall apart there,” Lindwurm said of Lemon Drop Hill, which played a critical role in the men’s marathon as well. “A strategy is really important with those last six miles. Typically that’s where they say the race starts.”
Source: Duluth News Tribune
