Sunday, October 21, 2007

DETROIT HALF-MARATHON!

I had an awesome race =)

The weather was perfect, the wind was more cooling than hard to run in I found. The best part was that I felt good and strong all long. I finished in 2:22:04 my 3rd best time out of 5 halfs.

Most of you know, I caught mono at the beginning of August and I was unable to run for more than 2 months. I started training for this race 3 weeks ago and I only did 2 long runs (8 and 10 miles). Considering all these, my goals today were to:
1-enjoy the race
2-run at a comfortable pace and
3-try to finish under 2:30.

So, 2:22 is a totally unexpected result for me and I'm pretty happy with it. =)

This is the first race I run without my ipod and I enjoyed it a lot because there was lots of people cheering on the side of the street. I don't think I would run without it in smaller races (like Forest City...) I always had tons of people around me (30-40 people!) for the duration of the half! I usually run alone in smaller races so that was a great change.

I have a “thing” for bridge, I love them! It’s hard to explain but everywhere I visit I’ll photograph them and I really feel in love with the Ambassador bridge since I moved here. So, running on it was a big highlight for me. The tunnel was HOT, I was sweating buckets, the breeze at the end felt so good. And the crowd on the Detroit side was so much bigger than on the Windsor side!

I saw my parents at the end of the tunnel, waiting for me near mile 9. It was great to see them. My dad tried to take 2 videos with his camera and ended up with nothing cause he’s technologically challenged... Lol Oh well at least he tried =) This was also the first time, my mom saw me run at a race and that made it pretty special for me.

Overall experience was awesome =) I want to come back for the full one day!

Thanks for reading everyone.



Before the race starts at 7:15 AM with my parents, it was so dark! And it wasn't super easy to get up at 4:45AM!!!

It only took me 2+ mins to cross the starting line , I was in Corral O which was in the middle of the row.

The race is over and it's bright oustide! With my folks again

9 comments:

Marky Mark said...

Congratulations and well done! From mono to a half is amazing!

yumke said...

Congrats on yet another race and what a fantastic time giving the recovery. I think you will have lots of strong runs ahead of you!

Marcy said...

OMG how cute are you guys!!! You did AWESOME chica!! Especially with everything that you've been through with mono and all. Way to go!!!

TNTcoach Ken said...

Yay, Running Chica! You are awesome and I kept looking for any one that resembled you, but alas I didn’t. I was smart and only ran a mile and a half from the start. I stayed on the course and cheered for everyone. I was tempted to cross the bridge. Great job once again.

Arcane said...

Nice comeback considering the circumstances. Congratulations!

TNTcoach Ken said...

Saw your running photos and it looks like you were having a good old time.
http://www.runphotos.com/

jellypepper said...

Well done! Your recovery from mono was amazing and way to go on hitting al three goals!

Laurel said...

I am such an idiot! I knew your race was this weekend, but I totally flaked when I was giving out props on my last post before the marathon! I am so sorry :(

I am so glad you had such a great race! What an awesome time! I am so proud of you! I can't believe you came back from mono to take on this race! Amazing job!

I love the second picture of you bty. You look so cute in there waiting to start :)

I too am fascinated by the Ambassador Bridge! When I was a little kid we used to cross it to go visit my relatives in Windsor and I loved it. Now, everytime I see it, I get all excited :)

So, have you made a decision about Miami?

Sonia said...

Thanks everyone =)

I had a lot of fun at the race. I'm happy it wasn't too hard after the lack of training due to the mono!

Laurel I think you'll have your answer from my next post.. =)