Awhile back my friend Kristen encouraged me to train for the half marathon with her. She's a running champ- and said she'd be my running partner. :) So we paid the money and signed up for the Detroit half and began training. We ran some- then she got married and went on her honeymoon and we went up north for a few weeks... then we got into a regular running routine. We had so much fun running together... it was great to be able to share so much about our lives on the runs. It definitely bonded us. So a little over a month ago I had a sore hip after a 5 mile run and then 2 days later was scheduled to do a 10 miler. Even though I was in pain I decided to run through it- we were up north on a BEAUTIFUL trail that took us through the back trails... amazing! Well, when we finished that run I was in SOOO much pain. I actually didn't lift the boys for a week. I kept them in the nursery upstairs and brought things up to them. It was so depressing! For the next 3 weeks I really didn't do anything beyond the norm... last week I did a lot of walking- an average of 4 miles a day- my car wasn't working and I needed to get out and see my friends!
So Saturday we went to the expo to get our stuff even though we weren't going to run.... well, we walked in and it's all about running. I felt the adrenaline kick and looked at Kristen-we knew we were gonna do it! So bought some discounted running clothes and planned our attack.... maybe we'd just walk it... or walk/run... we weren't really sure.
So 6 AM yesterday morning Kristen and Scott picked me up and we drove 2 miles to the start of the race. The morning was cool and it was still dark. There were about 18,000 other runners who signed up to race as well.... so lots and lots of people were downtown!
So you check your stuff in and then go to the "corral" where you get into the groups according to your pace. They let the handicap runners start first- they have this really cool hand bikes that allow them to do the course. Then the "A" runners start- the ones who finish before we finish the HALF! And then they let each group start within about 2 min of each other.
The best thing about the Detroit marathon is that you get to run into Canada. So around 7:40 AM we ran over the Ambassador Bridge- it's this beautiful suspension bridge that goes over the Detroit river- we were able to see the sun coming up over the horizon- views of downtown Detroit and Windsor, Canada... so beautiful! Then we ran a couple miles in Canada- and then we ran through the tunnel to get back into the US. The tunnel is 1 mile under the water- it's so stuffy and gross! It felt so great to come out of the tunnel and get fresh air! This was about mile 7- At this point we were both feeling great and decided to just run the rest of the race. (We had walked some in the beginning to save our bodies to finish the race). The race took us through Mexicantown and Corktown and then back downtown. Then the marathoners split from the half marathoners and we finish out the last .5 mile.
The race was soooo fun and I am so glad we did it! It was so great to have a goal to work towards all summer and then accomplish it.
So while we were running I told Kristen, "I had a baby in 2008, one in 2009, and ran a half marathon in 2010... not bad!?!?"
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