Detroit Women's Half Marathon Race Re-Cap

It's been awhile since I've done a 1/2 marathon, so when some friends I had't seen in awhile started meeting me to run again on the weekends, I asked them to sign up for a race with me.  We made it a girl's weekend and had plans for travel long ago.  Too bad most of us ended up running injured, but we all made it!

My foot has been hurting pretty badly the last few weeks and since the MRI results, I have been hoping I could just make it through this weekend.  On Friday I was getting up from a chair and heard a snapping sound followed by some searing pain.  More on that later, but I PROMISED everyone I knew that after this race, I will listen to the doctor and take the time off to rest my tendon and allow it to heal.  Most things I read say 6 weeks tops.  It's the off-season now right?!  

On Saturday morning I went out for a 3 mile run just to see how my foot would feel.  Lots of pain, but I found out the faster I ran, the less pain I had.  Good deal right?!  Run fast and I'm all good.  

Here is my view on the run... so peaceful-

After running I packed up  (and showered!) and headed out to meet my friends. We drove up to the "expotique" or packet pick-up.  The whole expo wasn't very big and it was crammed into two small rooms and a hallway.  It would have been nice to have it in one larger room so we weren't all trying to push past each other, but I suppose they have to work with what they have.  First we had to find our bib numbers...  I looked mine up online beforehand.  114!

We got our shirts, bibs, and swag.  We met the pacer groups.  My PR is 2:17:22 and I was hoping to maybe (crazy idea when injured huh?) PR and found that I needed to run between these two to reach my PR.

2:10 and 2:20

Come race morning they added a 2:15 so I actually TRIED to stick with that person...who is the 2:20 in the picture above.  She was an awesome pacer and I did my best to keep her in sight!

We also visited lot of the local booths... and picked up some fun stuff.  Then took pictures being silly.

Kim and I wearing our "RUN with DMC" headbands (Detroit Medical Center)

Trying one of 10,000 ways you can wear your Hoo-Rag!  (Too bad someone wasn't handing out wrinkle cream- my forehead is screaming for some!)

Posing with the "Women Run the D" sign

We ended up getting some ice cream at Cold Stone and then walking around Detroit for awhile since we weren't ready for dinner yet.  (You know, because ice cream the night before a race is recommended!)

I was excited to spend some time with them exploring Detroit.  I'm sure when I say Detroit, I strike fear in some.  Detroit has it's not so nice places, but the city has done a great job cleaning up the tourist parts for the sports teams and theatre.  It is still a big city, but it's not so scary when there are so many people around for events.  

The Detroit Tigers were playing that night so we saw lots of people going to the game and we stopped at Comerica Park to take some pictures-

We found our way to the FOX theatre and also to HOCKEYTOWN

 The funny thing was, I live about an hour away from my brother and see him about 5 times a year.  He happened to be in Detroit that night for a Hockey game and we were within 5 minutes of seeing him!  Oops- better planning next time!

We ended up back at the hotel to eat dinner and head to bed.  I slept horribly- between the loud traffic, people banging on doors for the "fun" of it and others screaming at each other in the hallway.  Oh well.  6am alarm and up and at 'em!  6am is LATE for many events, but our run started at 8am and we wanted to take the 6:40am shuttle to Belle Isle.

Waiting for the shuttle!

Early morning view of the finish line I wanted to get to SOON!

getting in our corrals.... 2:15 pacer in front of me- 10:18 minute miles.  I wasn't sure if I had it in me, but I was going to start with them and hang on for as long as I could!

12 minutes late and we were off!  I felt decent for the first few miles, but by about mile 4 my foot was killing me.  I could relieve the pain if I curled my toes under for just a second.  Too bad I couldn't run like that the whole time.  I stay just behind the 2:15 pacer until about mile 8.  Then I slowly lost pace.  By mile 10 I had tears in my eyes and I just wanted to finish.  By mile 11 the pacer was almost out of sight.  I knew I was still close to my PR of 2:17.  The course was 2.25 loops of Belle Isle.  It really was beautiful.  It was a bit windy and cold, but it was good for a run.  

Detroit from Belle Isle!

Once I got to the end of the second loop, I just wanted to finish.  I was looking for the cut across to the parking lot and it just seemed to take forever.  Eventually I got there, but I felt like I was in slow-mo!  The last mile seemed to take FOREVER!  I checked my watch when the finish came into view and tried to kick in anything I had left.  I crossed the line at 2:18:03.  Only 41 second off my PR.  I'm calling it a good day considering after I was done walking was so painful I felt like my foot was broken.  

I got my medal and some food.  I cheered in all of my friends and we hung around for a few minutes and decided to head to where we thought the shuttle stop was.  The shuttle guy told us he would pick us up where he dropped us off.  We waited for over an hour and no one came!  We walked back to the finish to ask the race directors who pointed us to a totally NEW location and we gingerly walked to where they pointed us to, only to see the bus arrive at the EXACT spot we were just standing.  We hobbled back as quickly as we could, hoping to not miss the bus!  It seemed like miles, but I'm sure it was only about .25!  

Here is our group AFTER the run:

And me....

All in all, it was a good race.  We had a GREAT time and I enjoyed being with my friends doing something we all love!