I have been wanting to run run a race on Mackinac Island so a few months ago I signed up for this one. That was before I knew it was likely we were moving next spring and I wouldn't be in Michigan anymore so it was a fortuitous choice.  I asked Cindy if she wanted to go and make a weekend of it and she said yes, so I made reservations at the host hotel (Mission Point Resort).  The hotel looked cool, but it was a bit of a disappointment.  The building was old (like everything on the island), the room was small, it was hot and there was no thermostat to turn down the heat. I ended up turning on the window air conditioner to offset the heat.   You could hear a family of kids running around in the room above us.  And to top it off, the food was average at dinner and terrible at breakfast.  But it wasn't all as bad as I make it sound. We had a good time and I slept good once the kids stopped jumping off the bed onto the floor above my head.  Lots of families with kids there. Many for the race but also for Halloween stuff. They had trick-or-treat on Saturday evening.  (Bed and breakfast is the way to go if you ever go to the Island. That's what we did last time we stayed there.)

I loved being in a room so close to the start. I went to the bathroom half a dozen times before walking down to the start line. No stops needed in this race.

I ran a 2:08 (9:50 pace) on my last half on a very humid day, and I ran a 9:21 pace at the Crim 10-miler at the end of August.  So my goal was a 2:04 which would be a 9:28 pace. I haven't been doing any distance running. Last time I went 13 was my last half and I only had a couple 10-mile runs and a 12-mile run in the 2+ months since that half. 

So I set off at what felt like a comfortable pace. The first 2.4 miles were along a flat road on the eastern side of the island. There a pretty strong wind out of the west so we were protected from that.  I hit mile 1 in 9:02 and mile 2 in 9:09 and it felt easy so I was feeling good about my goal.  Then we turned up into the island on a dirt trail.  From there it was all up and down. Mostly up in miles 4 & 5 until we were at the top of the Turtle's back near the airport landing strip. We came out of the woods into the open and the wind was from our right with gusts that felt like they would blow you over. I remember one big gust and you could hear a bunch of "Ahhhh", "Wow", "Oooohhhhh" from the runners. Then we all laughed about that.

My Garmin couldn't handle the turns & hills and started smoothing out the corners, so I just started checking it at the mile markers. The Garmin ended up saying 12.94, but they have run this race 19 times and I am pretty sure they have it marked accurately for a full half. I looked at the Garmin upload and when I zoomed in I could see some of the spots it missed a turn.

Miles 6 & 7 were up and down but mostly down, 8 & 9 were back up, and then mile 10 or so we started going back down until we hit the road where we entered and I knew it was 2.4 miles back to to where we started.

My legs were utter toast, but surprisingly I wasn't winded or fatigued. So I actually ran a couple faster miles at the end. Probably even a sub-9:00 on the last mile. I thought about friends who run through the knee pain and was thankful that I didn't have any foot or knee problems. And no calf cramping either. Just plain old running soreness.  I wore my light Brooks Pureflow shoes and I wasn't sure about going 13.1 on minimalist shoes, but it worked.  It helped that 7 or 8 miles were on dirt.  I could really feel a difference when we turned off the road.

Official time was 2:00:57, 9:14 per mile.  14/37 age group, 193/387 male, 317/1063 overall.  If those numbers are accurate there were 387 men and 676 women. Can that be right???  I may recheck the results after I give them more time to clean them up.  But I think I recently read somewhere that more women than men are running.

They also had a 5.7 mile run. It was the last 5.7 of the half marathon course. I looked up the results and I would have been 2nd in my age group easy and maybe close to first if I had a very good day. It was a pretty weak division.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/620151152 - Ignore the elevation numbers. Whether I run here in flat Midland or on hills it always says 300 feet of elevation gain. While it wasn't the mountains you all run, it was more than 300 I am pretty sure.  Maybe 300 from the lowest to the highest, but it was a constant up and down for 8 miles. It had to add up to more than that.

I've had two half marathons under 2 hours so this was my third best half. One second better than Deadwood in 2010, but that one was almost all downhill.  I think I have some more sub-2:00 halfs in me if I hit the right course on the right day and I train a little better.

Nice race, Dave.  Glad you already had a sub-2:00 in the bag, as that :57 would have driven me crazy.  hope to match you some day.

Nice job, Dave.  That hill work you're doing is paying off.  Yeah--I think you'll be going under 2 in your next half.

You'll definitely get sub-2 on a flatter course with less wind. Nice run for you on little training. I know what you mean about old hotels with noisy kids upstairs! They frequently don't have much for sound-proofing!

Nice running, Dave.  Up and over the top sounds like a challenge.

TomS

Wow...I thought Dave was heading east, Starr...but your invitation just might convince him to stay...at least until after next fall.

Good job, Dave!  I've never gone sub-2 hour in a half - looks like you're close!

Great Race, Dave, and way to crush your goal!  I've never been to Mackina Island, and want to someday.