Oh CANADA! Race Review

I have trained for races, run them and felt great afterwards. Training has included watching my diet, long runs, short fast runs, long at tempo runs. I have stood in the starting corrals and felt excited, ready to challenge and push myself.

This was not one of those races. I did virtually no training, running a mere 6 times in the past year and my longest run was 2 miles. I can offer a million excuses as to why I didn't train but ultimately my priorities are very different than they were two years ago.  But I was excited about seeing Shelia run her first half and was looking forward to the road trip, so packed my bags and drove to Detroit.

We lined up in our corrals at 6:45am, in the 40 degree darkness.  I didn't even wear my timing chip since I was planning on walking and didn't want this time on my permanent record.

The gun went off and as my section crossed the start line, peer pressure kicked so I started running. I actually felt pretty good running so kept running. The sun started rising and as we approached the bridge to Canada, I was still feeling strong, remembering why I sign up for these things in the first place. I stopped to take pictures, (one very cool perk of not caring about time) and as soon as the slope of the bridge changed, started running again.  I had one of my best mile times ever, running into Canada with a 9:30 pace.  I was having a great time, high fiving border patrol officers, talking with nearby runners. It was fun.Miles 4-6 continued in the same way. I counted up how many half marathons I have done and thought maybe I could do one more to get to 10. I was in love with running; that I was running.

We entered back into the US via a tunnel which was cool to see, but it was hot and stuffy.  I did stop again at the US/Canada line, but was relieved to get out of the tunnel and be back in the US>

Miles 7-9 were rough. Everything started hurting. A lot.   My hip flexor starting hurting and that is unusual for me.  I popped more Aleve. My feet starting hurting.  I remembered why I said this would be my last race.

By Mile 10 I wished I knew Detroit better so I could cheat.  Surely there was a faster way to finish.
Mile 11 brought out the hate.  I hated the couple holding hands walking in front of me, I hated the 500 pound person who lapped me.  I hated the 86 year old man that passed me at such a speedy clip he startled me.  I hated running, I hated myself for not training. I hated. Everything.

Mile 12 was the longest mile ever. I continue hating everything and since I was downtown, I was super annoyed with all the people who are were just walking around the course. They were crossing the street in front of me, I hated them. I hurt.

A half marathon is 13.1 miles and many people leave off that .1 but when you are running it, holy hell that .1 is as long as any mile before it. I turned a corner and could see the finish line and started running.  I don't care how sore I was, I vowed a long time ago to never cross a finish line walking and this was no exception.

I crossed the finish line, grabbed my medal and chocolate milk. Usually I feel amazing at this point but really I just felt blah. I was impressed with my overall time of 3:25. I was thinking it was going to take me 4 hours so I was quite happy with a sub 3:30. But mostly I just hurt.  A lot.

I had said going into this that I was not going to do another half but part of me wishes I had gone out on a higher note. But my life is so different than it was two years and so are my priorities. So I am not saying never, but it is going to take a lot!

As far as races go, the Free Press International is pretty great. The pre race expo was large with an OK amount of free stuff and packet pick up was easy.  Crowd support was amazing with people lining the entire course. There were plenty of water stations giving out water or lemon lime gatorade. There were several live bands at "entertainment stations" throughout.  Overall organization was good and there were plenty of port o johns along the course. The medal is a nice size and heavy and the dual US/Canadian ribbon is very cool.  It is a large race which is nice since you don't feel like you are going to be last. The course is mostly flat with a few inclines going up the bridge and climbing out of the tunnel.  The weather was perfect - 40 and clear when we started and ended up in the mid 50s. It was windy on the bridge, but overall the course was pretty, and it was pretty cool to cross into Canada and then back into the US. I'd absolutely recommend this race.  I would NOT recommend running it without training though....HOLY CRAP I AM SORE!