FREEP Half post race...

At our team fundraiser on Thursday a friend told me that he was not going to be able to run in the 1/2 marathon in Detroit this past weekend because of a stress fracture. Since he already paid he asked if I would like to run, since it fit perfectly into my training...What the heck!

I have always wanted to run in the FREEP so off I went. The early part of the day was uneventful. I parked and arrived about an hour before the start. I milled around for a bit until I finally found some people I knew. About 15 minutes before the start I headed to the porta-potty for my pre race bathroom break. OH MY GOD, the line could not have moved slower and as the national anthems finished I still had about 40 people in front of me. I just finished my business and made it to the back of the line as the gun went off.
Slowly we made our way to the start and crossed the line some 7 minutes after the gun. My goal was to finish the half at the same time the winner finished the full, 2:17:ish gun time. So I needed to finish in 2:10:00 or there abouts by my calculations. At about 3 miles I finally was able to maintain a pace without dodging folks and headed for the bridge. This is only marathon that crosses into AND back from another country. The crossover into Canada is made on the Ambassador Bridge. Just onto the bridge we cross mile 4 and for the next 1/2 mile or so there is a 5 degree incline. Then a short level off and then down hill to Windsor. With maybe 200 yards to go the bridge started to vibrate in unison with the cadence and I will admit I sped up just a little.
After about 3 miles in Canada we made it to the tunnel back to Detroit. Another unique feature to the FREEP is the underwater mile. Upon entering and leaving the tunnel you activate your 'chip' and get to see your underwater split time (8:58). The climb out of the tunnel was the hardest part of the day for me, mostly because there just was no air moving and claustaphobia was starting to set in. Once out, however the sunshine and breeze were back and there were people everywhere, what a lift!!
As per usual I hit a semi-wall between miles 11 and 12, once I finished that mile it disappeared, again as per usual. With four blocks to go you could see the finish and the crowd was huge on both sides of the street and this is where is got a little surreal. I could hear the guy on the microphone saying something about he needs to finish under 2:17 to get a bonus of $2,500.00 and it gonna be close. Lets make some noise to help him across. That was nice of him! Then I realized he was in fact not talking about me, but the winner of the full. I was maybe 50 yards from the finish as he made the turn to home and they raised the finishline tape as I approached. Again, that was nice of them to do that for me!!! As I broke through the tape to the gasps of the fans... Kidding!! I just missed crossing the line with the winner. I beat him by about 19 seconds. That fact that he ran twice as far has no bearing on it what-so-ever!
Finish time...2:07:30.
Everything was great, the weather, the course, the fans, the volunteers, the views and all of the people working the aid stations did a great job! Thanks to them especially and my family/wife who let me relax most of the day after I got home.

R.P.D.