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Detroit Half Marathon - RunHalf Marathon


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Detroit, Michigan
United States
Detroit Free Press Marathon
43F / 6C
Sunny
Total Time = 1h 44m 15s
Overall Rank = 474/9559
Age Group = F25-29
Age Group Rank = 15/841
Pre-race routine:

Ate pretty normally in the week leading up to race, and tried not to go super hungry at any point. Got quality sleep Friday night. Saturday night I got maybe 3 hours of actual sleep. (I also downed a couple cups of water when I woke up overnight in an effort to ensure I had enough water in my system...) I had trouble sleeping so finally I woke up at 3am race morning. (7am race start.) I ate a banana and 4 pieces of gu chomps, and also had some green tea 3-3.5 hours before start. In the 2 hours leading up to start I was starting to feel like my stomach was a bit off, and it got me worried for the race...
Event warmup:

Walked around, jogged a little, stretched some. Waited at the nearby Westin hotel until close to race start... warmth!
Run
  • 1h 44m 15s
  • 13.1 miles
  • 07m 58s  min/mile
Comments:

Basically as soon as I started running, the side stitches appeared. Seriously. Without fail, I have encountered side stitches in EVERY tri run I've done. And now this carries over to stand-alone runs?! I *need* to figure this out!!! I am convinced that today was because I drank too much water in the morning.

Anyway, so this side stitch nonsense was not good for my mental psyche. Due to the side stitches, initially I was thinking this is not going to amount to a good run. But I just tried to keep going best I could... At one point I put my fingers over the stitch for a couple minutes, and when I let go it went away for a bit. But for most of the run it was persistently nagging. As a result, I didn't want to consume any water/food as I didn't want to potentially further the problem. Finally in miles 8 and 9, I took in some gatorade at the aid stations which I walked through. Also grabbed a few m&ms that were being passed out. In both cases I just felt I wanted to add in a few calories to get me through to the end.

My mile splits were all over the place, but my 5k splits were relatively consistent. Generally speaking, whenever I tried to pick up the pace, I just felt like I couldn't go faster. The last half mile was a real struggle.

Despite the side stitches, I think I did close to as well as I could for this day, as immediately upon crossing the finish line I could feel the soreness in my calves when I started walking. And then when I went for a little jog, I couldn't, as my quads were not allowing it.

Upon quick reflection, I am okay with the race. Although faster would have been nice (of course always.) I say this because a couple years ago I ran basically a 1:46 on 3.5 months of running on 20mpw... well, this time around was a lot more running both number of months and miles per week, and I basically only cut down 2 minutes. It just seems like I should have gone faster... Although I guess this race did have a couple more inclines than the other course, but...
What would you do differently?:

I would not drink as much water in the morning, as I *think* that may be the cause of the side stitches???
Post race
Warm down:

Well I wanted to jog around as part of my cool down, but that didn't work out too well for my legs. Instead I walked around, a lot. Did some stretching as well.

Event comments:

Things I liked: Running over the bridge and seeing the view of Windsor and Detroit. Running an underwater mile. Running through two countries, crossing an international border crossing twice. Hearing Canadians cheer us on, with a distinct Canadian accent. :D Being welcomed back to the great US of A. :D Mile markers were clear, and I did not miss a single one (which surprised me!) As someone who doesn't do big races often, I liked the atmosphere. Happy to get a long sleeve tech T. It was also cool that they differentiated the shirts between marathon, half marathon, and relay. They also definitely get an A+ for social media presence! They are very engaging with their facebook and twitter audiences and I think it adds to the excitement. The so-so: the post-race massage idea was nice, although they are students, so I feel it's probably hit or miss (I think I got a miss...) I wasn't too impressed with the post-race food. Although the chocolate milk was nice.




Last updated: 2012-10-14 12:00 AM
Running
01:44:15 | 13.1 miles | 07m 58s  min/mile
Age Group: 15/841
Overall: 474/9559
Performance: Average
[official] 5K 25:02, 10K 49:30 (24:28), 15K 1:14:06 (24:36), 20K 1:38:52 (24:46) ... [self-timed] 1 7:57, 2 7:46, 3 8:23 (w/ climbing up bridge), 4 7:37 (w/ descent on bridge), 5 8:04, 6 7:44, 7 7:52 (w/ underwater mile, down and up), 8 8:08 (walked through aid station), 9 7:57 (walked through aid station), 10 8:11, 11 7:53, 12 7:53, 13 8:02, +0.1 0:44 (=@7:20)
Course: We get to run through 2 countries! :D Course had a few more inclines than I would have liked. (Several bridges and/or ramps, which also meant there were declines.) But, I haven't really heard this complaint about this course, so it could just be me being a wuss. :-p
Keeping cool Drinking
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall:
Mental exertion [1-5]
Physical exertion [1-5]
Good race?
Evaluation
Course challenge
Organized?
Events on-time?
Lots of volunteers?
Plenty of drinks?
Post race activities:
Race evaluation [1-5]

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2012-10-21 7:46 PM

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Expert
1249
100010010025
MI
Subject: Detroit Half Marathon


2012-10-22 4:43 AM
in reply to: #4462690

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Master
3486
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Fort Wayne
Subject: RE: Detroit Half Marathon

Looking at your 5k splits you had a very good race!  You were very evenly paced throughout the race.  To be so close for each of the splits is telling about the course profile.  The only one that was off much was the first one and that is to be expected in large events.  Everyone is all smashed in together at the starts, but that isn't a bad thing necessarily because it won't let you take off like a rabbit and burn up.

The soreness in your calves would also be likely from the climbing.  I don't know what your normal runs are but if you had seen these significant elevation changes it would be expected to have sore calves. 

I think it looks like a very solid race!  Congratulations!

2012-10-22 6:57 AM
in reply to: #4462690

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Master
3205
20001000100100
ann arbor, michigan
Subject: RE: Detroit Half Marathon
Very, very nice race. Way to keep going in spite of the side stitches.
2012-10-22 1:19 PM
in reply to: #4462690

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Master
2167
20001002525
Livonia, MI
Subject: RE: Detroit Half Marathon

Way to go Samantha.  I agree that this course feels just a touch harder than where I PR'd which was the Martian in Dearborn--pancake flat.  The bridge seemed looooong.  Running out of the hot tunnel to an incline and into the cold messes with one's head a bit!

Nonetheless, you had an amazing race considering the nagging side stitch.  You were probably thinking, "Really side stitch?  Like racing in and of itself isn't uncomfortable enough?"  Still hitting a solid PR, good for you girl!

2012-10-22 7:59 PM
in reply to: #4462690

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Expert
2380
2000100100100252525
Mastic Beach, NY
Subject: RE: Detroit Half Marathon
Samantha you had great race. You ran a pretty tough course and had to endure the issues with the side stiches for the entire race and you still PR it. I think a very gutty effort on your part. The scary part is if you get that side stich issue figured out you probably could do even better.
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