Pic Spocket

The Detroit Free Press Marathon was yesterday morning. I ran in the Half Marathon, a 21 km (13.1 mile) event.

I really came close to miss the race start. The gun time was 7h15 am. Since I live very close the race, I left at 5h30 am from home: big mistake! It took forever to get there and at 7h05 I was still in my car, getting close to the parking garage I had selected the day before the race. Turns out that 12 000 people trying to get to the same place is resulting in very bad traffic backups (duh!!). I need to leave earlier than that next time.

So I had to run from the parking lot to the start line and got there 1 minute before the gun time (race start). It was really dark and cold outside (0 deg C – 32 deg F) at race start.

The race went really good for me. It was awesome to run on the Ambassador Bridge towards Canada as the sun was rising. That hill was something though. I was happy when we got to the crest of the bridge. I ran at a faster pace and heart rate than I had initially planned, but it paid off in the end as I could hold my pace of 4:25-4:30 min/km (~7:15 min/mile) till the end.

Corinne & Newton were waiting for me with our friends Tracy, Craig and Trails to cheer me up on the side of the river in Windsor while I was on my way to the tunnel to cross back in the US. Thanks guys!

The end was tough as I never stressed my legs so much for so long doing just running. I still increased the pace on the last kilometer and passed a few more people. Another guy tried to pass me right at the finish line but I bounced back and held my spot.

Final time: 1:35:05. That puts me in 154th position out of more than 7000 participants in the Half Marathon. That’s in the top 2.2%. That’s better than I was wishing for.

[video removed 1/1/2010]

Today, I am very sore from the race and can barely walk. Going down stairs is very painful. My body is telling me something and I will listen to it. I’ll take it easy on the next few days.On a darker side, 3 runners died that day, all doing the half marathon. This is very unusual and very sad. Link to the story.