Race: Detroit Free Press Marathon
Official Time: 4:11:29, 9:36 pace (new PR)
Overall Place: 1409 / 3449
Division Place: 67 / 240
Sex Place: 370 / 1332
Sit tight, this is one hell of a race recap and review, with a LOT of pictures. I decided to carry a camera with me, so I have some pictures of the course (well, of the first half anyways). They are all blurry, but that's what you get - I didn't stop!
The morning started early, with my alarm going off at 4:00 am. We took 30 minutes to get dressed, get the rest of my stuff together, take Lucy out and prep breakfast (PB toast with banana for me); and we pulled out of my parents driveway at 4:30 on the dot. I wanted to be parked by 5:30.... and we pulled into the Joe Louis lot at 5:10 - the race started at 7:00. Oops... a little early on my part. BUT, I didn't want to be late, or get stuck on a highway exit ramp, or feel rushed in any way. We hung out in the car for a while and I ate my PB toast (2 pieces) and banana, while sipping on some orange G2. I started feeling the need to "go" so we headed the 0.4 miles to the start area around 5:40 so I could make my first porta potty stop of the morning. It was pretty cool to see the Start line, lit up in the early morning darkness.
That is one happy face for 5 o'clock in the morning! Can you tell I was pumped?
I was wearing a throw-away fleece and pants and was easily able to stay warm with the temps hovering right around 50 degrees. The weather called for temps 48-52 degrees until 11 am, winds 10-13 mph out of the SW, and overcast skies with a chance of light showers between 7am-noon. The weather really was near-perfect for a marathon, except for the wind. The wind was a nuisance on the bridge (cross direction), and I definitely felt it the last few miles towards the finish. It did sprinkle a little bit, mostly while I ran miles 5-10, but it was barely noticeable.
We walked down Fort Street a little ways to the F-G corral area. Around 6:20 I hit up Scotty's Potties for a second time before the lines got too long. After the pit stop I put on the rest of my gear: hat, arm sleeves, pace bands, Garmin, MP3 player, fuel belt (1 bottle and 5 Gus), and tissues; and warmed up and stretched a bit. I headed to corral F around 6:45, and Josh went to find a place to watch the start. I chatted up a few (very cool!) ladies to pass the time quickly. Both the Canadian and US National Anthems were sung (chills!), and soon after they started the waves. It is so cool to hear the gun for each wave, I was so pumped and ready to go!
All geared up and ready to go!
Then, came the gun for my wave and we were off. We made our way down Fort Street toward the Ambassador Bridge. The first mile was a little slow as I had some bobbing and weaving to do, but not too bad. In the past years there were quite a few complaints about congestion on the bridge. Thankfully, runners had two lanes this year and I didn't have to slow at all. The climb up the bridge was a bit of work, but I made up any lost time on the way down. I had heard amazing things about seeing the sunrise over the Canadian skyline while crossing the bridge - I was so bummed that I didn't get a chance to experience that since it was overcast and the skies were starting to spit on us.
Before I knew it, I was in Canada!
Hello, stranger!
We passed through the customs area where Border Patrol guards were pretty serious about checking everyone for bibs - since it is an international crossing you had to show your Passport or Enhanced Drivers License to pick up your bib at the Expo, and your bib had to be visible at all times during the race. Once we got out onto the road, I immediately heard the crowd. There were a decent amount of spectators out considering the early hour and the weather. The rain began to come down in a light drizzle as I ran along the waterfront, but the Tunnel wasn't too far ahead and it wasn't raining in there! I passed the 10K mark at 57:25, an overall 9:15 pace, and took my first Gu.
A view of the Detroit skyline and the RenCen from the Canadian waterfront.
Last glimpse of Canada before heading into the Tunnel.
The Tunnel was loud (lots of echos) and HOT - I worked up quite a sweat in that mile!
Officially crossing back into the USA! Kinda cool!!
Exiting the tunnel, about the jump up and hit the welcome banner.
The tunnel was fun and a very cool landmark to run through, but dang, it was hot in there! I was glad to have my arm sleeves that I could push down in the tunnel, but pull back up once we hit the wall of cool, fresh air on the other side. My official underwater mile time was 9:03 - a neat record to have on my race certificate.
We turned onto Jefferson and ran past Joe Louis Arena.
Home of our Detroit Red Wings
Just after Mile 9, I started looking for Josh. Luckily, he saw me, and I snapped a pic of my personal race photographer!
Looking good!
Dueling cameras!
At this point, I was feeling good. The first nine miles have gone by in no time and I was mentally in a good place. There was a lot going on in the first half of the course to keep me distracted! After a few more turns we were in Mexicantown. I loved the Mariachi band that was playing!
Another blurry picture!
I took my second Gu at Mile 11. We ran through Corktown, and I started looking for Josh again. We planned for him to see me at Mile 12, but we missed each other. Easy to do when there are a lot of people out. Before I knew it the half marathoners were turning toward the finish, and I was headed out for another 2+ hours of running. I crossed the halfway point in 2:02:02, 9:18 pace. I had been leap-frogging the 4:05 pacer for the entire first half of the race, and I talked to here briefly here (she was so nice!). She said she was a little ahead of a 4:05 finish, but expected to lose a little bit of time on Belle Isle. I figured I would try to stay with her for a bit it I could, still figuring that if I was having a great race I would push it after Belle Isle and see how close to 4 hours I could cross the line. That plan soon went to the wayside....
Miles 14-16 were BORING. Straight out, not many spectators at all, and nothing to look at. I turned up my music a little and ran. The 4:05 group pulled ahead of me a bit after the Mile 14 fluid station, but I easily kept them in my sight. Miles 17-18 were through Indian Village, a residential area with large, historic homes. There were a fair number of spectators, some of which went all out. There were multiple beer stops and a few front-yard bonfires going.
Blurry beer stop. Professional running photographer I am not.
Here is where things fell apart. I started to feel twinges in my legs around mile 17. Not pain really, but my stride wasn't quite natural and comfortable anymore. The race started to get into my head. I pushed along with some 9:30-ish miles to get onto Belle Isle, but I lost sight of the 4:05 pace group. By the time I was on the island, Mile 20, I officially hit The Wall. (NO!!!!) My legs were cramping. I had taken Gus at Mile 15 and again at 19. I started to drink Gatorade from my fuel belt in between fluid stations. I pulled my camera out for a few pictures on Belle Isle, but after this one I put it away again. I had plans to take some more headed toward the finish, but that didn't happen - I was too busy concentrating on other things.
The General Alpheus Williams Statue on Belle Isle. I looked that up.
I took a fifth Gu and started taking walking breaks during Mile 22. When I would stop to walk, things would get a little blurry and my head would hurt (that went away when I started running again). I knew I was dehydrated, and I was mad at myself for letting it happen. I'm still not sure how it happened: I was careful to take in extra water all week long leading up to Sunday. I took water and/or Gatorade (most of the time BOTH) at EVERY fluid station. I had already taken 5 Gus. I had sipped from my fuel belt bottle a few times early on when the fluid stations were more spaced out at the border crossings. Maybe since the temps were cooler and I wasn't feeling too warm I just didn't drink enough? Who knows. What I did know is that once you are dehydrated, you can't just drink up and get better. This would be a battle to the finish, but I was sure I could do it - I just didn't know how long it would take.
I made it off Belle Isle and we turned onto the River Walk. I was constantly checking my Garmin at this point. I would run for a while and see my lap pace in the 9:xx, then walk for a while. Once my pace got will into the 10:xx, I would run again. I was fairly certain that I could stick it out and beat my previous time of 4:23, but I was also still trying to figure out if I could come in sub-4:10. It would be close. My legs HURT. My calves, feet, and quads hurt; they were cramping all over, both legs. I would run when I could, and as soon as something got so tight to the point I was limping, I would walk it out for a while. Check pace. Repeat. I started throwing up in my mouth a little after drinking Gatorade (TMI, sorry), but I kept forcing it down.
I barely looked at the course these last few miles. Somehow I made it through Miles 25 and 26. There were some relatively small hills right before the 25th and 26th mile markers, but they felt like mountains. I hated walking that close to the finish. The fans in those last few miles were awesome and many were encouraging me by name (it caps on my bib), which was very cool of them. Somewhere before that 26 Mile marker a lady wrapped her arm round my shoulder and told me I could do this. She said a few other encouraging words, and I picked it up and turned the corner toward the finish. (I never did see her at the finish, I'm not sure if she was a spectator or a racer, but Thank You!).
So much was going through my mind in that last 0.2 towards the finish. I was doing it. I was about to finish my second marathon. It seemed harder this time around - I totally forgot how tough it was at the end last time. I was a little sad that I wasn't going to meet my sub-4:00 or sub-4:10 goals. I was bummed that I didn't have a "great run." At the same time, I was a little bitter that I was even running this race at all. I signed up to get myself to train as a distraction from all of our infertility issues. Each cycle, I hoped that I would be pregnant, and I would be jogging the half, or not running at all. So me finishing this, running a 4-some hour marathon, meant we still didn't have our baby.
Then in a matter of steps, I turned my thoughts around. I could see the finish line. I was so proud of myself. For fighting. For setting a new PR. I was amazed that my body let me accomplish this for a second time. I kept my eyes on the Finish banner and RAN. I'm sure I wasn't going that fast, but somehow, my legs carried me across that line. I heard the announcer call my name, Nicole Bartlett from Bay City. I held my arms in the air, with two fingers extended on my left hand to signify my 2nd marathon. I did it. It took me 4 hours, 11 minutes, and 29 seconds.
Josh managed to snap quite a few pictures of me headed down the finish chute. I heard him, but I never looked his way. I was too focused:
Coming into the finish
Concentrating real hard, finishing strong
Now, that is not a happy face. But it is the face of someone who just ran 26.1 miles (the smile comes at 26.2).
The finish is SO close!
Here are my splits (per my Garmin) for the race. Garmin says I ran 26.51 (yikes!), so these are off from the race markers a little bit since I left auto-lap on at 1-mile increments. My pace was anything but even:
Mile 1: 9:28
Mile 2: 9:20
Mile 3: 9:45 (up the Ambassador Bridge)
Mile 4: 8:39 (down the bridge)
Mile 5: 8:52
Mile 6: 8:55
Mile 7: 9:02
Mile 8: 9:52 (Tunnel, official underwater time was 9:03)
Mile 9: 9:06
Mile 10: 9:23
Mile 11: 9:10 (Mexicantown)
Mile 12: 9:12 (Corktown)
Mile 13: 9:15
Mile 14: 9:32
Mile 15: 9:05
Mile 16: 9:21
Mile 17: 9:32 (Indian Village)
Mile 18: 9:35
Mile 19: 9:32
Mile 20: 9:33 (onto Belle Isle)
Mile 21: 9:41
Mile 22: 10:12
Mile 23: 10:23 (leaving Belle Isle)
Mile 24: 9:45 (Riverwalk)
Mile 25: 10:33
Mile 26: 10:34
The rest: 9:03
I crossed the finish line, and some awesome volunteer started offering endless congratulations as she put a medal around my neck. The medal is AWESOME. And it is super heavy. The weight around my neck felt great. I shuffled along, and another volunteer wrapped me in a mylar blanket while I grabbed and started sipping a water. I started to get emotional - I was proud, I hurt, and I wanted my husband. We agreed to meet on the South side of the street at Fort and Third, but I knew I heard him yell from the North side (that was the side they had marathoners segregated to from the half walkers). So I wasn't sure where I would find him. I took a cup of Gatorade and paced around for a little bit. A few volunteers asked if I needed anything, and I explained (probably looking a little disoriented) that I was just waiting to see which side of the street my husband would be on. After what felt like forever, Josh was calling my name from the exact spot we said we would meet:
So happy to see you!
I started to cry and ran up to give him a hug! He is such a huge support and there is no way I could do this without him! He has so much patience, and anyone who stands around in the rain for hours to try and see one person run down a street for a few seconds gets points in my book.
Knowing where he was, I started to collect my goodies and meet him at the end of the chute. They were handing out plastic grocery bags to carry everything, and I grabbed a bottle of orange flavored water, chips, 2 bananas, a bagel, chocolate milk, and half of a pumpkin muffin. Nothing really special, but it was a decent selection.
Josh and I walked down the street a little ways towards the after-party. I needed to find a place to sit down for a few minutes. I tried to stretch, but only gave it a half-hearted effort. As I told Josh the Cliff-Notes version of the race, I tried to nibble on the pumpkin muffin. But, nothing sounded good to eat. Its funny, a day when I have an excuse to eat anything in the world, and my stomach doesn't crave a damn thing. :/
I still can't believe I threw out all but two bites of this pumpkin muffin. I LOVE everything pumpkin!
So after forcing some carbs down, I drank the chocolate milk to get some protein. I wanted a few pictures, but I was getting cold and a little crabby since my legs still hurt, so we didn't take a bunch.
Two, for two marathons. I didn't see official picture back-drops anywhere, but these banners worked great.
Check out that medal. Definitely one of my favorites! Also, I really liked how the ribbon had the American and Canadian flags on it.
My team. Josh is such a good sport, and I couldn't have done it without him!
We cruised through Conquered, the official race after party, but it was practically deserted. Its a good idea, but sticking it in barbed-wire fenced in parking lot hidden behind banners kind of turned some people away I think. The beer tent was just opening at noon, but we didn't even it that up. For some reason, 26.2 did nothing for my appetite. So, we headed back to the car to head back to my parents house.
Well, that was mostly recap, so how about a little review? In general, I liked this race. I would recommend it, especially the half since I think the coolest part is crossing to Canada and back. Here is a quick list:
PROS:
-Medal - one of my favorites; heavy, cool design.
-Course - Canada and back, Belle Isle, Indian Village (really only disliked miles 14-16 and 24-26, which were a little boring.) In the past, the course ran by Comerica Park and Ford Field - it would be cool to bring that back, but I understand it could conflict with the sports schedules (there was a Lions game on race day).
-Volunteers - they were awesome! I can't say enough good things about them.
-Shirt - I didn't have any issue getting the size I ordered, and my New Balance shirt was good quality, with very little sponsor wording. I like it a lot. I do know they ran out of some sizes again this year, so some people were upset with the shirts.
-Pace Groups - The one pacer I talked to (Crista) was awesome. Even though I didn't officially run with a group, it was nice to see they had so many if you wanted to
-Time of year - Chicago takes place the week prior, and has been warm the past few years. Detroit has had pretty good weather, though it was fairly cold two years ago. As someone who will take cold over heat any day, an October marathon in Michigan is fairly good timing.
-Facebook page - The organizers did a good job communicating via Facebook leading up to the race, so I got a lot of info from there.
-Cost - I paid $90 in August, which I thought was reasonable
CONS:
-Runner tracking - The offered an app for Droid and Iphone only, so Josh had to borrow my phone on race day. Then the app turned out to be useless, because all it said was: Split 1 57:25. Split 2: 1:59:07. It didn't tell him where on the course I was at! They kept the split locations a secret to discourage cheating by jumping from mat to mat, but it resulted in no good way to track runners.
-Passport or EDL required - not an issue for me, but it was for some. You are running an international race, so be prepared! I thought this was made very clear throughout the registration process and on the website, but there were some unhappy people on Facebook the day before the race. Read what you are signing up for!
-Relay - some people might really like this option (they are 5 person teams that run the marathon course). If I were running the relay, I would like it. But there is nothing like passing relay exchange points on the back half of the course to have runners with fresh legs easily run past you while you can barely pick up your feet. Just sayin'.
-Capacity - ALL the races (marathon, half, and 5K) sold out this year, sometime in September. So you have to register early, and after the race sells out, you can't transfer to another (so no switching from the full to the half if the half is sold out). Also, because of the border crossing and clearances needed from Homeland Security, everyone is pre-screened when they register, so you canNOT sell or transfer your bib to anyone else. So if you want in on this race, you have to decide early. The marathon had 4,400 spots and the half had 10,300 or so.
-Congestion around the finish chute for spectators, but that happens. The sidewalk was just narrow in this area. In general I wish the start and finish were somewhere a little more exciting rather than Fort Street.
-Parking - we had no issue, but that is because we got downtown super early. It can be expensive though if you don't get into some of the recommended structures.
-Spectators - the ones on the course were great, and there really was quite a bit of crowd support the first half of the race. But, it definitely diminished on the back half, especially on Belle Isle. Weather could have played into this as well.
All in all, I don't have that many complaints about the race and I would recommend it to others. After my first marathon, people asked if I would do another and I said I wasn't sure. Now after doing two, I will again say I'm not sure, but I will probably run another at some point. The half-distance is definitely my favorite and races are more accessible, but I'm not ruling anything out. I still have a sub-4:00 to shoot for!
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