Marathoning, Detroit Style!

Last Sunday was again the Detroit marathon. It was actually the 30th running of it, but for me it was only the 2nd. Things seemed to go a lot better this time and I simply laid back and enjoyed it.

My goal this year was 3:45. Last year I ran it in 3:55:56, and crashed somewhere near mile 18 or so. I figured 10 minutes off of last year's time was a good goal. The problem with that is my training has been yucky since Labor Day. I can't begin to go into all of the details, but yeah.

I drove down to Detroit realistically just looking to improve from my inaugural run last year. The expo is always a lot of fun. The conference center is buzzing with excitement and there are a lot of sports snacks to try :) There was even a clock that was counting down the time until the gun.

Posing after waaaaaay too many energy snacks!

I must learn to go out and eat earlier the night before the race. Not only was there a race the next day, there was also a football game w/ a 1:00 kickoff so there were a lot of extra people in town that night filling up the restaurants.

What I look like before a marathon

As for the race, I went out slow. Again, my goal was 3:45. This translates to 8:35/mile. I was so doing that throughout the race. I actually started a bit slower than that and waited until after the Ambassador Bridge (from USA to Canada) to work up to my desired pace. I think this helped me out A TON!!!

At the half way mark I was 1 sec. off of my pace, which blows me away that anyone can be that close after 13 miles and change. I was stayed just ahead of the pace I wanted until somewhere in between miles 22 and 23. With about 2 miles to go I was completely tanked out and it felt like I was trying to run while Hulk Hogan was trying to grab me by gripping my hamstring and squeezing. It stunk.

Finish lines a comin' !

Somehow, despite running a pitiful last two miles my time came out to be, drum roll.............. 3:53:25. It was nowhere near my initial goal, but it satisfies my revised goal of bettering my time from last year by about 2 and 1/2 minutes.

If you click on the logo it will take you to the results page if you're interested in all of the results with splits and such. The most interesting of which is the "underwater mile" split which is taken as we run back to the USA through a very warm and humid chunnel.

What I look like after a marathon. Notice the hardware!!!