2022 Detroit Half Marathon

I just finished a 21.350km running that lasted about 1hh:54mm:51ss !

Hey, it took me more than one week, but I am finally posting about the Detroit half marathon. Sorry it's kind of a long one so let's start with the TLDR version:
After a good start, I broke down after the tunnel under the river, and had to walk several times. Final time is still under 2 hours, but nowhere near my target. Still a great race, I hope I can do it again, and this gives me motivation to train for real.

Now for some details...

First of all, getting up! With the race start at 7am, I needed to leave home around 6am. Very often on Saturday nights (or Sunday mornings really), I'm not even in bed at that time! But I managed to go to bed a bit earlier than usual, and got about 3 hours of sleep, which is actually better than most year I ran this race. I missed a few turns once I arrived in Detroit but quickly found where I had planned to park. You don't want to park too close, or you will have to wait many hours before leaving after the race. Thanks to @svanbo, I had the idea to bring a heat blanket with me, because at around 35F (or 2C), it was a bit chilly to walk the 15 minutes or so to the starting line. Once there, it was so crowded in the corrals, that I could ditch the blanket, and not feel cold at all. I guess my timing was good, because I didn't have to wait too long before we started. Still in the night, as usual.

Let's go! - source

It started well, I managed to keep a good pace, not too fast for once. The start is always tricky there, of course you don't want to start too fast, but you also want to stay in front of slower runners before getting to the bridge to Canada after about 3 miles. It was better this year though, more space for the runners, and no slow down due to traffic as it was the case in the past. As expected, a slight slow down while going up the bridge, and a slight speed up down the other side. Like most years, just this part by itself makes this race worth it. The sun starts to rise while you cross the bridge, and it's just spectacular. It was a bit cloudy this time, but still great. That's usually the only time I really wish I would have my phone with me.

View of the bridge the day before

Then it's a flat straight part along the river on the Canada side. I started to get tired a bit, but it was still going well and my pace was still under 8 min/mile. So far, so good...

Windsor (Canada) river front

But then the tunnel back to the American side arrived, after about 7 miles. I remember years ago trying to speed up there, because there is a mile under water that is timed, and I guess it's fun to get the fastest under water mile possible. This was definitely not the case this time. I was already struggling and the difficult breathing and relative heat in the tunnel broke me physically and mentally. I slowed down a lot (although it's funny, according to Strava, it was my fastest mile, probably ever, 2min31s! With no GPS signal, I guess it doesn't count as moving time, while the location changes) and I was ready to start walking already. But getting out of the tunnel, with the fresh air and all the crowd cheering, I resisted a bit, until the next fluid station where I had my first walking break. Not the last one for sure. Every fluid stations after that, and even in between. Very similar to last year actually.

At that point, I knew I would not be able to stay under 1h50min as I had targeted, and I even got worried I would break the 2hours mark. But in the end, it's just under 1h55min, my worst time ever for this race.

The finish line being prepared the day before

After a very short break, grabbing a heat blanket, some water and a few snacks they were handing out, I still needed to walk back to my car. I'm already very bad with orientation, and at remembering directions. But being tired, cold and kinda disappointed with my race made it worse and of course I got lost a bit. I walked more than needed, until finally somebody was able to send me in the right direction.

In conclusion, this was a very tough race for me. Due to an injury late March and a few other things, my training this year was very inconsistent, and I guess I'm now old enough that I cannot afford a weak training for such a race. I really thought I could beat 1h50min though. I even had a not-so-secret hope I would stay under 1h45. Well, next year will be better! Surprisingly, the next couple of days weren't bad at all, very little soreness actually. So maybe I also lost the will to dig deep in my reserves, and give in a bit too easily... That can be fixed as well for next year!

To finish, here are a few more pictures of Detroit that I took the day before. Not along the course, but in the same area, near the river walk and the Renaissance center. In spite of its bad rap, I think this city is not so bad!

Strava stats:

And totals for October, I don't want to jinx it but maybe this month I can finally reach 100km again...

Sports	Total (miles)	Total (km)
Running	47.84	76.98
Cycling	0	0

PS: except for the Detroit Free Press picture sourced at the beginning, all pictures are mine. When I picked up my bib the day before the race, with the late afternoon sun, it was a good time for photos.