I ran the Dexter-Ann Arbor half marathon on Sunday. The temperatures last year were in the 90s and it was sunny. It was a little cooler this year, in the high 60s, sunny and windy.My race was going according to plan up through mile 8-9. I could feel myself slowing down. When I passed spectators on the side of the road, I heard them say that the two hour group was coming. Somewhere in those stretch of miles, the two hour group passed me. I tried to stay with them, but they got away from me.
When I passed the 10 mile marker, I told myself to speed it up. I only had a 5K to go. I picked up the pace and started passing people. I was actually gaining ground on the two hour group. I was still behind them, but they were about 15-20 seconds ahead of me. I had some Honey Stinger chews before the race, I took in some more around the 11 mile aid station. After eating those, I could feel myself getting some energy back and running faster. That was short lived. Before hitting the 12 mile mark, the course took us up a huge hill. I used all of my energy running up the hill. Once I was down the hill, I had 1.1 miles to go. I just wanted to finish the race and give everything I had left.
I ran as fast as I could on the flat surface and passed a bunch of runners on the straightaway. Less then a mile to go and many people were walking. Some of those walkers I passed got me right at the end of the race. The final 1/4 mile of the race is on an incline. My legs were so tired running up the final incline, that a couple of the walkers I just passed ran by me at the finish line. There was not much I could do to respond, I gave all that I had.
I finished the race in 2:03:36. That time was exactly one minute slower my time from 2011 (2:02:36). My goal going into the race was to run a sub-2 hour half marathon. This course has a bunch of hills, so I'm still happy with my time. It took me three tries to run a sub-2 hour half marathon at Detroit, so maybe 2013 will be my year. I plan on running this again next year. If I do, it will be my third time. I hear three times is a charm.
