My Toughest Half Marathon Ever!!

So I embark on this half marathon called the Brooksie Way, named after L. Brooks Patterson... the county commissioner or something. But anyways... if you click on the link in my last blog, you will see how the course is set up. All downhill for the first 4-5 miles, then all uphill from 5-10. This race was no joke!! My last 2 halves were likely due to not being in shape. I really wanted this race as a tuneup for my full in 2 weeks. I had no intention on PR'ing this course even if I wanted to. It was pretty cold this morning, but it warmed up at the start to about 50 degrees. To me, that is perfect running weather. We had some of the Hanson's running with us... Brian Sell, Kyle O'Brien, Patrick Rizzo, Mike Kilburg. Guess who came in #1,2,3,4??? LOL.

I felt soooo good the first 3-4 miles, but I intentionally held back because I knew what was to come. Just prior to the start, 2 deer got caught in the mahem... they got scared and took off running into the crowd, chicks screaming and running!!! Them deer was hurdling cars like olympic hurdlers!! That was a site!!! Overall, it was like 3000 runners. The race was pretty unremarkable for the first 4 miles. I drafted some short lil lady going at 7:30 pace until she started to fade. Then comes the hills...

The first hill was looooong, about a mile, then it levelled off, so I was like "whew, what goes up must come down"... not even... just 1/4 mile later, another 1/2 mile straight uphill. Turn the corner and guess what??? Another hill for about 1/2 mile. Thank God, there was a slight downhill for about 1/4 mile, then turn the corner on Dutton Road (dirt road) and guess what??? More hills!!! At this point, I was dying!! Legs burning, breathing heavy, left hammy tite... So I hit the 10 mile mark around 1:18:00'ish. A little faster than I had planned... but then I had an idea!!!!! I'm hurting ANYWAYS, so why not just pick it up?? I had been running with the same group for a while, so it was time to put on the afterburners!!! So mile 10... ITS ON!!! My mantra was "I'm not getting tired". Amazing thing happened... I was running "mad" and the rest of the hills didnt seem like much!! I started to attack the hills instead of running them... I said to myself "rest at the top of the hill".

So the last 5k, the race was on!!! I passed sooooo many people that passed me in the beginning. I think I ran the last 5k faster than any 5k part of the entire race. But then again, I wasn't "racing" in the beginning. During the last half mile, 2 guys and some short lady passed me up... I was like "aint no way i'm punking out now". So it was a race between the 4 of us. I waited until I was at mile 12.75 for my kick... because they were getting a little far ahead of me. And guess what??? It was DOWNHILL!! I swear, I put all my energy in catching them... picked them all of 1 by 1. I cant remember the last time I ran that fast... about 100 yards one guy re-caught and passed me and the lady was on my heels... to my surprise. So I darted once more, passed the guy for good and the lil lady kept with me!! AINT NO WAY I'M GON LET SHORTSTUFF BEAT ME!! It was a real photo finish, but I got her!! Funny thing... I was not tired at the end!! I could run at least another 3-5 miles at that pace, I felt. Hmmm... I finished in 1:41:24 and here are my approx splits...





Mile 1) 7:38
Mile 2) 7:39
Mile 3) 7:33
Mile 4) 7:40
Mile 5) 7:48
Mile 6) 7:52
Mile 7) 8:09
Mile 8) 7:58
Mile 9) 8:03
Mile 10) 8:13
Mile 11) 7:18
Mile 12) 7:29
Mile 13) 6:59
Last 0.1) forgot to stop Garmin...

My half-way split was 50:44!

Oh 1 last thing... I got a new Garmin, the 205 and it was accurate within 5 yards of each mile!! Detroit full marathon, here I come!! And I run on...