J
jhallum
Guest
It's been pretty chilly in Michigan, with temps about 10 degrees colder than normal for the past
week or two. Sunday Morning was more of the same, with a low of 28 over night, though it was about
40 at race start when you take the Detroit heat island into effect.
The Detroit race course is really cool. It starts at the Tigers and baseball bat statues in front of
Comerica Park, and finishes inside Ford Field at the 50 yard line. Along the way, you cross into
Canada along the Ambassador Bridge and exit Canada through the Tunnel into Detroit at about mile 9.
From there you reach the half marathon point on Belle Isle, an island park just east of the city.
You circle the island and cross into Indian Village, which is a neighborhood of well kept old homes
in the NE part of the city. From there, you begin to circle back toward downtown, passing through
the Eastern Market (a farmer's market), and finishing in Ford Field. Being Detroit, it's a mix of
ugly run-down buildings in the first few miles, and the last few miles and plenty of pretty vistas
the rest of the way.
Being my first marathon, my planning ran into some snags. I arrived at the race course about 35
minutes before the race, getting caught in a pre-race traffic and having to take a slight detour to
a secondary lot. Then, I decided I'd better hit the portajohns on the way out. Well, I didn't
undress all of my layers because of the cold, and the lines were hugely long. One problem with this
race is that the portajohns (of which there were about 20) are arrayed along the back edge of the
start area, about 100 yards or so back from the starting line, and the lines seemed to be getting
close to the start areas for the marathon. I managed to get in and out with a whole 5 minutes to
spare before the race. One problem. No stretching(except for some light stretching about an hour
before the race), and no warmup jog. Dammit. Can't be helped. I shed my layers, gulped down some GU
and water, and hopped into line, a bit back of the pace groups.
My plan was to try to run 3:40. I was planning on sticking with the 3:40 pace group and just try to
hang on. I have been suffering from a cold for the past two weeks, which is still hanging on, and my
plan before I had been sick was to race for 3:40. The race starts about 2 minutes after I get into
line. I have to weave in and out of traffic for a bit to catch up with the 3:40 pace group, which I
find about the 1 km mark. I pass the illustrious mayor of the city just after I meet the pace group,
he's a big guy, and I guess they had to run around town to find size 15 shoes for the man. He
slugged it out for about 9 miles, which impresses the pants off of me.
For the first 3 miles, I stick with the heart of the pace group, and grab water at every water stop.
We start up the Ambassador bridge just after the 3rd mile marker, and make the climb up the bridge.
This is the baddest hill on the course, it goes up a 5% grade for about 800 feet. It feels like more
than that, but that's what is advertised.
. Of course, what goes up must come down, and we spend
the rest of the 4th mile going down hill into Canada. It's an interesting picture. To the north and
left, there is the ruined warehouses of Detroit in the foreground, and the beautiful skyscrapers in
the background. To the right, there is Windsor, which has lots of greenspace along the river. To the
south, there is nothing but manufacturing and more manufacturing. With the steam and smoke pouring
out of them, it's kinda neat looking, and sort of majestic...just not in the same way the view to
the north is.
We turn off the bridge as mile 4 becomes mile 5. After mile 5, my plans begin to change. The pace
group slows way down (probably because we were doing 3:30, not 3:40). The first 5 miles were at
39:57, just a tad under 3:30. Since I'm feeling good, I leave them behind. Why not? Lets go for it.
I just stick with my pace (actually, I end up slowing a bit). The Canadian side of the river is very
cool. The view that greets us after coming off the bridge and turning underneath it, is a downhill
view, with the bridge to the right and above us, with the runners ahead of us streaming down. Very
cool. We turn along the river, where the pack I'm running with is racing a supertanker up the river.
The tanker wins, going a little faster than we are(but not much). There are lots of neat sculptures
along the river here. It's pretty neat. After mile 7, we turn into Canada, and do a loop into the
tunnel back in the US. After mile 9, we are back in the US the rest of the way. Sadly, my wife and a
friend who made the trip with us missed me, and I missed them, so I didn't get to see them cheer me
on right at the 9 mile marker. The course continues for a while, before zigging and zagging a bit.
At the 10 mile mark, my split is 1:21:52. At this point I'm starting to feel exactly how Robert in
his marathon report, wondering if I'm going to crash and burn somewhere. At this point, I'm feeling
very good. I slowed down a bit in the 5-10 mile split I'm not sure why, but it probably didn't hurt.
I'm still in good shape, so what the heck, lets keep up this pace.
At this point, the marathon turns onto Belle Isle at the 11.5 mile mark. The crowds are a little
sparse here, which is too bad, but I'm really cruising along. There are little nagging doubts that
I'm going too fast, but those voices are summarily overridden, and I keep on going. I cross the half
marathon mark at 1:47:01. Riiiight. Sadly, now my hammys are starting to give me grief, but not so
bad that I have to slow or anything. Just normal aches and pains that I felt during my training runs
of 20 miles.
I cross the 15 mile mark at 2:01:51, for a 5 mile split of 39:59. Yeah, I'm feeling good, and the
half marathon mark probably spurred me to go faster. Still feeling good, not fatigued in any
meaningful way, and only my hammys are feeling bad. We finish the circumference of the Isle by mile
17.7 (passing a really heavy punk band at the 17 mile mark). I resist the urge to mosh with my
fellow runners, though I manage some headbanging. We turn off the island, and into the hardest run
I've probably ever done. I can totally see the 20 miles of fun, 6 miles of pain statement now.
Miles 18-20 were pretty tolerable, though I was looking at my watch entirely too much looking for
the mile marker. I'm so into my hammys at this point that I'm not really paying attention to all of
the houses around me. I cross the 20 mark at 2:42:20, or about 40:39. Not too bad, but I'm slowing a
little. I'm able to keep with it for the next five miles, and pass a few people, but I think I
really stopped passing people at about mile 24 or so. After mile 21 the buildings get a bit more
rundown, and cross into the Eastern Market at about mile 24. There are some pretty ratty buildings
around here. Yikes. Don't run here after dark. There were some irritated drivers at this point, who
didn't pay attention to the news and were stuck in traffic. When I passed mile 24, there were about
15 cars honking their horns continuously. I don't think they were cheering us on. Love that Detroit
spirit. The crowds along here were fantastic, though. I really appreciated them.
By mile 25, the hammys are just hanging in there. I'm not walking, but if it wasn't for the finish,
I might think about it. I know that 3:40 is in my grasp, but I WILL NOT WALK, except if I can't
drink water at a shuffling pace. My mile 25 split is 3:24:59, or 42:39. Not great, but I'll take it.
We turn into downtown, and the crowds get appreciably larger and louder. Mile 26 is right by Ford
Field, and we make a turn around it, and go right down a tunnel for about 100 feet or so. It's a
little disturbing because of the lack of lighting and the steep downhill grade. I guess a wheelie
bit it at the bottom of the tunnel and crawled across the line. His cycle was pretty much totalled.
We come out of the tunnel onto the Field Turf surface, and there are people in the stands to our
right cheering us on. I sprint as fast as possible to the finish, and don't quite pass a couple
right next to me. I dunno if my picture got taken, I was off to the side, and there were two other
people in the shot. We'll see.
I stop my watch (3:35:10), and stumble to get my medal and blanket. The finishers area is pretty
much the rest of the field, with a fence to prevent people from the stands jumping on the field, and
vice versa. As I try to walk off my hammys, I'm really feeling the emotions of the moment. I'm
getting a little choked up because of the success of the race, and just soaking in the atmosphere. I
even remember to reach down and touch the field turf. It's pretty neat stuff, still not quite real
grass, but at least it's not astroturf I hate that stuff.
There's one last tribulation: To get from the finishers area to the food, you have to climb a
loooong flight of stairs. That was kind of annoying. But the food was good, and that's all that
matters. I met my wife outside, and we just relaxed in the crowd, and basked in a job well done.
Here's the executive summary:
Time: 3:35:10 (8:12ish pace) Splits: 5mi 39:27/39:27(7:59) 10mi 1:12:52/41:55(8:23) 15mi
2:01:51/39:59(7:59) half 1:47:01 20mi 2:42:20/40:39(8:08) 25mi 3:24:59/42:39(8:32) finish 3:35:10
What an awesome experience. I'm so going to try to do this again...
-jeremy 25mi
--
--
+================================================================+ Jeremy Hallum, System Manager ,
Astronomy, University of Michigan [email protected]::[email protected] "Audentis Fortuna Iuvat"
week or two. Sunday Morning was more of the same, with a low of 28 over night, though it was about
40 at race start when you take the Detroit heat island into effect.
The Detroit race course is really cool. It starts at the Tigers and baseball bat statues in front of
Comerica Park, and finishes inside Ford Field at the 50 yard line. Along the way, you cross into
Canada along the Ambassador Bridge and exit Canada through the Tunnel into Detroit at about mile 9.
From there you reach the half marathon point on Belle Isle, an island park just east of the city.
You circle the island and cross into Indian Village, which is a neighborhood of well kept old homes
in the NE part of the city. From there, you begin to circle back toward downtown, passing through
the Eastern Market (a farmer's market), and finishing in Ford Field. Being Detroit, it's a mix of
ugly run-down buildings in the first few miles, and the last few miles and plenty of pretty vistas
the rest of the way.
Being my first marathon, my planning ran into some snags. I arrived at the race course about 35
minutes before the race, getting caught in a pre-race traffic and having to take a slight detour to
a secondary lot. Then, I decided I'd better hit the portajohns on the way out. Well, I didn't
undress all of my layers because of the cold, and the lines were hugely long. One problem with this
race is that the portajohns (of which there were about 20) are arrayed along the back edge of the
start area, about 100 yards or so back from the starting line, and the lines seemed to be getting
close to the start areas for the marathon. I managed to get in and out with a whole 5 minutes to
spare before the race. One problem. No stretching(except for some light stretching about an hour
before the race), and no warmup jog. Dammit. Can't be helped. I shed my layers, gulped down some GU
and water, and hopped into line, a bit back of the pace groups.
My plan was to try to run 3:40. I was planning on sticking with the 3:40 pace group and just try to
hang on. I have been suffering from a cold for the past two weeks, which is still hanging on, and my
plan before I had been sick was to race for 3:40. The race starts about 2 minutes after I get into
line. I have to weave in and out of traffic for a bit to catch up with the 3:40 pace group, which I
find about the 1 km mark. I pass the illustrious mayor of the city just after I meet the pace group,
he's a big guy, and I guess they had to run around town to find size 15 shoes for the man. He
slugged it out for about 9 miles, which impresses the pants off of me.
For the first 3 miles, I stick with the heart of the pace group, and grab water at every water stop.
We start up the Ambassador bridge just after the 3rd mile marker, and make the climb up the bridge.
This is the baddest hill on the course, it goes up a 5% grade for about 800 feet. It feels like more
than that, but that's what is advertised.
. Of course, what goes up must come down, and we spendthe rest of the 4th mile going down hill into Canada. It's an interesting picture. To the north and
left, there is the ruined warehouses of Detroit in the foreground, and the beautiful skyscrapers in
the background. To the right, there is Windsor, which has lots of greenspace along the river. To the
south, there is nothing but manufacturing and more manufacturing. With the steam and smoke pouring
out of them, it's kinda neat looking, and sort of majestic...just not in the same way the view to
the north is.
We turn off the bridge as mile 4 becomes mile 5. After mile 5, my plans begin to change. The pace
group slows way down (probably because we were doing 3:30, not 3:40). The first 5 miles were at
39:57, just a tad under 3:30. Since I'm feeling good, I leave them behind. Why not? Lets go for it.
I just stick with my pace (actually, I end up slowing a bit). The Canadian side of the river is very
cool. The view that greets us after coming off the bridge and turning underneath it, is a downhill
view, with the bridge to the right and above us, with the runners ahead of us streaming down. Very
cool. We turn along the river, where the pack I'm running with is racing a supertanker up the river.
The tanker wins, going a little faster than we are(but not much). There are lots of neat sculptures
along the river here. It's pretty neat. After mile 7, we turn into Canada, and do a loop into the
tunnel back in the US. After mile 9, we are back in the US the rest of the way. Sadly, my wife and a
friend who made the trip with us missed me, and I missed them, so I didn't get to see them cheer me
on right at the 9 mile marker. The course continues for a while, before zigging and zagging a bit.
At the 10 mile mark, my split is 1:21:52. At this point I'm starting to feel exactly how Robert in
his marathon report, wondering if I'm going to crash and burn somewhere. At this point, I'm feeling
very good. I slowed down a bit in the 5-10 mile split I'm not sure why, but it probably didn't hurt.
I'm still in good shape, so what the heck, lets keep up this pace.
At this point, the marathon turns onto Belle Isle at the 11.5 mile mark. The crowds are a little
sparse here, which is too bad, but I'm really cruising along. There are little nagging doubts that
I'm going too fast, but those voices are summarily overridden, and I keep on going. I cross the half
marathon mark at 1:47:01. Riiiight. Sadly, now my hammys are starting to give me grief, but not so
bad that I have to slow or anything. Just normal aches and pains that I felt during my training runs
of 20 miles.
I cross the 15 mile mark at 2:01:51, for a 5 mile split of 39:59. Yeah, I'm feeling good, and the
half marathon mark probably spurred me to go faster. Still feeling good, not fatigued in any
meaningful way, and only my hammys are feeling bad. We finish the circumference of the Isle by mile
17.7 (passing a really heavy punk band at the 17 mile mark). I resist the urge to mosh with my
fellow runners, though I manage some headbanging. We turn off the island, and into the hardest run
I've probably ever done. I can totally see the 20 miles of fun, 6 miles of pain statement now.
Miles 18-20 were pretty tolerable, though I was looking at my watch entirely too much looking for
the mile marker. I'm so into my hammys at this point that I'm not really paying attention to all of
the houses around me. I cross the 20 mark at 2:42:20, or about 40:39. Not too bad, but I'm slowing a
little. I'm able to keep with it for the next five miles, and pass a few people, but I think I
really stopped passing people at about mile 24 or so. After mile 21 the buildings get a bit more
rundown, and cross into the Eastern Market at about mile 24. There are some pretty ratty buildings
around here. Yikes. Don't run here after dark. There were some irritated drivers at this point, who
didn't pay attention to the news and were stuck in traffic. When I passed mile 24, there were about
15 cars honking their horns continuously. I don't think they were cheering us on. Love that Detroit
spirit. The crowds along here were fantastic, though. I really appreciated them.
By mile 25, the hammys are just hanging in there. I'm not walking, but if it wasn't for the finish,
I might think about it. I know that 3:40 is in my grasp, but I WILL NOT WALK, except if I can't
drink water at a shuffling pace. My mile 25 split is 3:24:59, or 42:39. Not great, but I'll take it.
We turn into downtown, and the crowds get appreciably larger and louder. Mile 26 is right by Ford
Field, and we make a turn around it, and go right down a tunnel for about 100 feet or so. It's a
little disturbing because of the lack of lighting and the steep downhill grade. I guess a wheelie
bit it at the bottom of the tunnel and crawled across the line. His cycle was pretty much totalled.
We come out of the tunnel onto the Field Turf surface, and there are people in the stands to our
right cheering us on. I sprint as fast as possible to the finish, and don't quite pass a couple
right next to me. I dunno if my picture got taken, I was off to the side, and there were two other
people in the shot. We'll see.
I stop my watch (3:35:10), and stumble to get my medal and blanket. The finishers area is pretty
much the rest of the field, with a fence to prevent people from the stands jumping on the field, and
vice versa. As I try to walk off my hammys, I'm really feeling the emotions of the moment. I'm
getting a little choked up because of the success of the race, and just soaking in the atmosphere. I
even remember to reach down and touch the field turf. It's pretty neat stuff, still not quite real
grass, but at least it's not astroturf I hate that stuff.
There's one last tribulation: To get from the finishers area to the food, you have to climb a
loooong flight of stairs. That was kind of annoying. But the food was good, and that's all that
matters. I met my wife outside, and we just relaxed in the crowd, and basked in a job well done.
Here's the executive summary:
Time: 3:35:10 (8:12ish pace) Splits: 5mi 39:27/39:27(7:59) 10mi 1:12:52/41:55(8:23) 15mi
2:01:51/39:59(7:59) half 1:47:01 20mi 2:42:20/40:39(8:08) 25mi 3:24:59/42:39(8:32) finish 3:35:10
What an awesome experience. I'm so going to try to do this again...
-jeremy 25mi
--
--
+================================================================+ Jeremy Hallum, System Manager ,
Astronomy, University of Michigan [email protected]::[email protected] "Audentis Fortuna Iuvat"