Half marathon

I did it! Half marathon #2 is in the books for me. My official time for the 32nd Detroit Free Press/Flagstar Half Marathon was 2:47:39. It was 13 minutes faster then my time from 2008. In 2008, I walked during the race due to an ankle injury. This year I ran the entire way. I didn't feel any pain from my plantar fasciitis. It was only around mile 10-11 that I thought about how my good my heel felt. Some trouble spots for me were the inclines on the Ambassador Bridge and the Detroit-Windsor tunnel and miles 9-11. There were times I felt like walking but I knew I had to keep going if I wanted to improve my time.

Some random things from the half marathon:

All of the Porta-potties I used were clean except for the last one. I used one about an hour before starting. I never seen one so dirty. Urine was all over the seat and floor of the Porta-potty. It was the nastiest thing ever. I did try to clean it up so I could use it. All I can say is thank goodness for Purell Hand Sanitizer. I carried a bottle in my pocket and it came in handy a lot that morning.

The temperature at the start of the race was 28 degrees. I wore a short and long sleeve dri-fit shirt, shorts and ear warmers. I was thankful that I brought a sweatshirt and garbage bag to dump before starting the race. My fingers were numb for the first mile.

Before getting on the Ambassador Bridge, two people that I went to high school with found me to say hello. I thought it was neat that out of 19,000 runners, I happen to see two that I know. Last year I didn't see anyone I knew.

We were supposed to have run by the Red Dawn set. I looked for it and missed it. I did see some Soviet tanks used for the movie on the people mover back to the hotel.

Sadly three male runners died during the marathon. They died in a span of 16 minutes according the Detroit Free Press.

It was a great day to run. The early morning was a bit cold but it turned out to an awesome day for runners. Next year I will be signing up to run my third half marathon. The 2010 Detroit Free Press half marathon is October 17.