Half marathon, check!
This past Sunday I finished my first, and certainly not my last, half marathon. I ran the Detroit International Half which as I mentioned before takes you over the Ambassador Bridge to Windsor Canada (yes, you have to run with your passport and they can stop you if you look 'suspicious'), along the shoreline and back through the tunnel to Detroit for 6 more miles of running in the D. Aside from the tunnel (as hot and humid as I imagine hell must be) it was freaking fantastic.
A friend of mine ran the full marathon which runs the same course and at mile 13 splits and flows through the rest of the city. They also have a US only half which takes on that second half. I think I'll go that route next year so I can see the second half of the course. I'm not crazy enough to tackle a full. Not yet anyway, at the end of my 13 I was ready to be done. Part of that may have been due to the 3 1/2 hours of sleep the night before.
The nerves began to set in the moment I picked up my packet.
Can you tell?
I rarely get anxious, I'm a real 'go with the flow' kinda gal, but this whole race threw me for a loop. I don't know what it was exactly, I knew I'd finish. For some reason I couldn't sleep, and that is never my problem. I'm embarrassed to say I cried because I couldn't sleep. Now I laugh about it, but then - I cried.
I finally fell asleep near 1 am and 4:00 came quick.
Can you sense the excitement?
Aside from the view at the top of the bridge (which is the most amazing thing I've ever seen) my favorite moment was at mile 7 when some random runner started to talk about the Breaking Bad finale (which I haven't seen) and I yelled "No! Stop!" And he answered "Run Faster!" And I did - it was a much needed push. Too bad I didn't have that threat the whole run.
I think the lack of sleep seriously slowed me down. My pace was off by close to a full minute. But I finished. By God, I finished.
2:26. A full 16 minutes off my goal. But I got my medal, I got my Shorts Soft Parade (the best beer in the world) and I finished.
Now next time, next time will be a different story.
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