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Detroit International Marathon (Read 72 times)

tcg


    Hi guys,

     

    Haven't posted in a long while, came over here after RW shut down the forums.

     

    I'm still running but just barely, I have two ankles with screwed up tendons but I am part of a relay team for the Detroit Marathon this Sunday. I get the first leg which allows me to run over the Ambassador Bridge so that's cool but quite an incline.

     

    Steroid shots in both ankles this Thursday and I should make the little over 10k without issue.

    My wife gets the longest legs at 6.7 miles, my 33 year old daughter gets to cross the finish line, two of her freinds pick up the other two legs.

     

    Start time should be about 30 degrees maxing out in mid 40s. Gonna be loads of fun.

     

    Then I start seriously considering surgery to repair the tendons.

    wolvmar


    UM 45 Ohio 23

      I'm running as well. Will be third try at this marathon; first time since 2013. It's a really great race and beautiful course, especially the first half with the bridge to Canada, running through Windsor and the return to the U.S. through the tunnel.

       

      I was hoping for temps in the 40s but, oh well!

      wolvmar


      UM 45 Ohio 23

        Good luck with the relay and your future surgery!

         

        Hi guys,

         

        Haven't posted in a long while, came over here after RW shut down the forums.

         

        I'm still running but just barely, I have two ankles with screwed up tendons but I am part of a relay team for the Detroit Marathon this Sunday. I get the first leg which allows me to run over the Ambassador Bridge so that's cool but quite an incline.

         

        Steroid shots in both ankles this Thursday and I should make the little over 10k without issue.

        My wife gets the longest legs at 6.7 miles, my 33 year old daughter gets to cross the finish line, two of her freinds pick up the other two legs.

         

        Start time should be about 30 degrees maxing out in mid 40s. Gonna be loads of fun.

         

        Then I start seriously considering surgery to repair the tendons.


        Feeling the growl again

          Well by most standards the incline is rather moderate...I guess the ultimate assessment will depend on your injury and its impact.  Detroit was my first marathon and the impact of the part you describe was minimal in my ultimate memory of the event.  Overall in retrospect I consider the whole event relatively flat and liable to people going out too fast and suffering the consequences of going out too fast.

          "If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does.  There's your pep talk for today.  Go Run." -- Slo_Hand

           

          I am spaniel - Crusher of Treadmills

           

          tcg


            I'm running as well. Will be third try at this marathon; first time since 2013. It's a really great race and beautiful course, especially the first half with the bridge to Canada, running through Windsor and the return to the U.S. through the tunnel.

             

            I was hoping for temps in the 40s but, oh well!

             

            We all ran the international half last year. It was loads of fun. The bridge and tunnel are quite a challenge. I enjoyed running through the tunnel but boy was it humid in there.

             

            For others reading, the tunnel is a mile long under the Detroit river joining Canada and the United States. It also has a pretty good incline entering and leaving.

             

            One other thing about the race, I never felt more secure at an event this large when running the course. The police and all the other law enforcement agencies present is an awesome showing of force/protection.

             

            We're making a weekend out of it. We live less than an hour away but we still booked an overpriced Marriott hotel room right on the river.

             

            Good luck with your run.

              Another fan of the Freep here. Ran it in 2014. The run over the bridge was one of the highlights - based on the start time, if it's a clear day you get a beautiful view of the sunrise over the city skylines. I don't remember really feeling the incline, since it was early in the race. But it just so happened there were some handcycle folks going by at the same time, and those guys were working pretty hard. Tunnel was weird - the day I ran had similar temps to what you'll get, and it ends up being warm & humid in there. Plus of course you lose GPS signal, so I had no idea what was going on with my time the rest of the race. (Probably for the best, the way things ended up going.) The ~3 miles in Windsor between the bridge & tunnel had such great crowd support the whole way! Those Canadians really come out for it. Another highlight was running through Indian Village & some of the other neighborhoods, with people's homemade aid stations in front of their houses, passing out all kinds of goodies. I didn't take anything, but it was cool to see. Oh well I did actually take a beer around mile 25, at which point I had pretty much given up all hope. And at that moment, it was about the most delicious beverage I've ever had.

              Dave

              wolvmar


              UM 45 Ohio 23

                DavePNW - love the beer at 25 miles! I did that my first time at the Freep in 2010. I was really hurting and figured it couldn't make it worse.  It didn't and now it's a great story to tell!

                 

                I'm hoping to be more on pace this year and willing to forego but if it's a bad day, I'm stopping for beer!

                 

                30 degrees out this morning and Sunday morning looks like it might be about the same. Not happy about that. It was really tough to adjust this morning.

                   

                   

                  30 degrees out this morning and Sunday morning looks like it might be about the same. Not happy about that. It was really tough to adjust this morning.

                   

                  Better 30 than 60! Those sound like pretty good marathoning conditions. It was 30s at the start when I ran it. Went with long sleeves & shorts, and throwaway hat & gloves I tossed 4-5 miles in.

                  Dave

                  tcg


                    Another fan of the Freep here. Ran it in 2014. The run over the bridge was one of the highlights - based on the start time, if it's a clear day you get a beautiful view of the sunrise over the city skylines. I don't remember really feeling the incline, since it was early in the race. But it just so happened there were some handcycle folks going by at the same time, and those guys were working pretty hard. Tunnel was weird - the day I ran had similar temps to what you'll get, and it ends up being warm & humid in there. Plus of course you lose GPS signal, so I had no idea what was going on with my time the rest of the race. (Probably for the best, the way things ended up going.) The ~3 miles in Windsor between the bridge & tunnel had such great crowd support the whole way! Those Canadians really come out for it. Another highlight was running through Indian Village & some of the other neighborhoods, with people's homemade aid stations in front of their houses, passing out all kinds of goodies. I didn't take anything, but it was cool to see. Oh well I did actually take a beer around mile 25, at which point I had pretty much given up all hope. And at that moment, it was about the most delicious beverage I've ever had.

                     

                    When I ran the half last year I was worried about losing signal, because I'm nuts when it comes time to knowing where I'm at and how far I have to go, so I got a foot pod for my Garmin. That thing worked flawlessly. As soon I lost signal in the tunnel the foot pod took over and as soon as I emerged from the tunnel the gps took over and it was dead on.

                     

                    You're right about Canada, lots of spectators and support. I did my best to high 5 as many of the little kids that had their hand out. Really cool.

                     

                    My wife has the Indian Village leg of the relay. She ran the American only half a couple years ago, she said the highlight was Indian Village.

                    wolvmar


                    UM 45 Ohio 23

                       

                      Better 30 than 60! Those sound like pretty good marathoning conditions. It was 30s at the start when I ran it. Went with long sleeves & shorts, and throwaway hat & gloves I tossed 4-5 miles in.

                       

                      Last year was about 70 with high humidity. Ran the half and it felt like a whole! Still looks frosty for Sunday but hopefully will warm as the marathon progresses. Good luck to everyone running any of the races! Go Detroit!

                      tcg


                        Well that was fun. It was really cold but the relay went off without a hitch. Just one or two minor problems.

                         

                        I had the first leg so I didn't have to deal with buses or waiting for teammates. Running over the bridge was a little easier than the first time I did it because I knew what to expect and was able to pace myself better.

                         

                        The bus taking a team member into Canada got delayed because the race forgot to pay for the buses and give notice they were coming. That seemed odd but it got cleared up quickly and everyone was in position on time.

                         

                        The second leg runner in Canada got to wait in a nice heated building with bathrooms and the exchange was pretty organized. Google Maps tracking helped a lot letting each other know where we were on the course.

                         

                        And once again the Canadian spectators were awesome, even the guys at the bridge and tunnel were teasing the Americans.

                         

                        The third leg had no shelter for the runners waiting and my wife was shivering by the time that exchange happened. There was a casino a couple blocks away so she did eventually get warm before she took off.

                         

                        The last two legs the runners had nice warm buses to wait on.

                         

                        If we do this again I would probablly run the course back through the tunnel instead of handing off and being transported back by bus. It was warm and comfortable but it was a long wait going through customs. Officers did board each bus and check credentials. They were fun and pleasant but you could tell they were very serious about checking paperwork.

                         

                        My ankles survived and I was happy with my pace. Friday before the run I found out I had a cracked jaw from a wisdom tooth removal a couple weeks earlier. I was extra cautions because a fall could break the jaw completely. Lots of ibuprofen in the suitcase.

                         

                        The rest of our team had a great time and they all said they'd do it again.

                         

                        Hope everyone else had as much fun as we did.

                         

                        On a side note... The Marriott hotel kind of ticked me off. We paid 300 bucks for the night and requested early check out. We got back 1 minute after that time and they had turned off our keys. Couldn't use the elevator or get in the room without waiting for a half hour to get it addressed. Not sure why late checkout wouldn't be relaxed this one day knowing everyone in the hotel was out on the course.

                        wolvmar


                        UM 45 Ohio 23

                          As tcg noted, it was cold, about 35-37 at race time. Kind of windy as well although it wasn't really a problem except maybe coming off Belle Isle. Organization was outstanding for the marathon as usually seems to be the case. I'm always amazed at the number of people who volunteer their time to make this happen. The bridge, Windsor, the tunnel back, Corktown, Indian Village all make this a great race. I highly recommend it for anyone looking for a mid-to-late October marathon.

                           

                          On a personal note, set a PR by 2 minutes (over prior 2013 PR) and cracked 3:30 with a 3:28:42. Really happy with that as I had fairly muted expectations coming in and was worried about the cold. Cold wasn't bad although I couldn't feel my fingers by the end (in large part a personal issue)! As usual, for me, the leg on Belle Isle is where I lost some time as well as the rest of the way back downtown. Never seem to be able to pace perfectly but was really happy with this effort.

                             As usual, for me, the leg on Belle Isle is where I lost some time 

                             

                            That was a particularly rough stretch for me too. Of course IIRC you hit it around 20, so....

                             

                            Congrats on the PR!!

                            Dave