Detroit Free Press Half Marathon
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Detroit Free Press Half Marathon - RunHalf Marathon
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Comments: I had planned on starting at around 7:00/mile and creeping up in pace as the race went on..... But, when the horn blew, a group of people went off the front and I just kind of went with them. There was a guy that looked like a great runner--just had the look-- that I ran with. Interestingly, a woman went off the front and put about 100 meters on the lead group. At first I thought it was just a stunt--she didn't look the part of a lead runner, but she led the race through four miles and looked really strong. I ended up running with another guy and eventually he and I took the lead (around mile four as I recall) and shared it for the next two miles. Nice guy. Running very smooth. A little faster than I wanted to be going but we cruised. As we turned on to Belle Isle, there is a little hill over the bridge. I slowed a little bit and the other guy put about 20 yards on me at this point. I could see him for the entire rest of the race but he proceeded to run 1-2 seconds/mile faster than me and I could never close the gap. He ended up finishing 31 seconds ahead of me but I had nothing more to give to try to catch him. Belle Isle went by in a blur. I saw my friend, Sharon running on to the island as I was running off. As we turned West off of the bridge there was a nominal, but significant headwind that made things a little bit harder. It also kept me very cool for the rest of the race. Coming off of the bridge there was approximately 3.6 miles left and I was starting to hurt a bit... So the next three miles were all about damage control while maintaining my pace. I could still see the leader, maybe 30-35 yards ahead of me but I was not getting any closer despite running 6:02-4ish pace. As we crossed the 11 mile marker, I told myself what I always do, "anyone can hang on for two miles." But man, was I at my limit. Of course with about 1.5 miles left you go up the first of the only two real hills (I guess the Belle Isle bridge is a hill in both directions too) on the course. It hurt and I slowed to around 6:30 up the hill but was able to accelerate at the top back into the 6:teens. As I was coming up to the turn on to the last hill someone yelled that it was less than half a mile left. I knew I couldn't catch the first place guy. I sure didn't want to let anyone catch me (I had no idea that third place was over three minutes behind at this point). I just gutted the last hill out, turned left and gave it everything I had for the last 300 or so yards to the finish. I finished feeling a little dazed and fairly close to puking so I knew I had given all I had. There was no more. Amazingly, within just a couple minutes, as my skyrocketing heart rate came back down, I felt absolutely great. What would you do differently?: This is about as good as I could do this. I was untapered and I explored my mental and physical limits on this run. Post race
Warm down: Stretching. Food. Gatorade. Water. I stayed at the finish line until Sharon finished. She was running while injured and hit her target time almost on the nose. Great race for her. Congratulations, Sharon. What limited your ability to perform faster: No taper. Last updated: 2012-10-22 12:00 AM
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2012-10-22 6:43 AM |
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2012-10-22 11:59 AM in reply to: #4462981 |
2012-10-22 1:09 PM in reply to: #4463520 |
2012-10-22 4:02 PM in reply to: #4463697 |
2012-10-22 4:36 PM in reply to: #4462981 |
2012-10-22 6:10 PM in reply to: #4462981 |
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United States
Detroit Free Press Marathon
58F / 14C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 2/1104
Age Group = 40-44
Age Group Rank = 2/
I should emphasize to everyone that this was the US only HM as opposed to the International HM. This was the first year that this was run and we were not eligible for prizes/awards. I did this race because I did not get off of work until 7:00 AM on Sunday morning from my overnight shift so I could not make the start of the International (7:00 AM start).
Got there early. Got a great parking space. I was post-24 hour call where I got very little sleep so a lot of coffee was involved. This was a late (11:00 am) start race so I had plenty of time to have breakfast, drive to the venue, scope out the finish, etc.
I went with my friend Sharon, who was running her first HM so we eventually wound up in Cobo Hall to keep warm and hang out until close to the race start time.
Ran a little bit with some pickups. Legs felt really great. I should mention that this was a completely untapered race. Trained hard all week. Ran 5 and biked almost 50 the day before the race so I was excited to feel some "pop" in my legs.