So, mom and I headed out at 6:55am, after a quick stop at Tim Horton's (where we saw 2 carloads of other people heading down) we were off. Traffic was really crazy exiting at Mack. Now that was weird but I have no idea where those people thought they were going but that was not where we were planning on parking. We headed down and got off right around Cass Tech (I can never remember the exit) and were able to park right off the service drive. Nice lot and only $10 to park. It would be a $15-20 lot for a game. Only sad thing was around the corner there was a $3 lot...oops but we got parked and headed over.
We stood in line and got the scarves from Ford which I love and a bag from Binson's. Panera had the ribbon bagels again this year and surprisingly they were stale. Not so good. We met up with Leslie and Hayley pretty quick and we walked around and checked things out. Comerica Park was open for inside restrooms which was nice. It was kind of cool to be in the ballpark when it was empty!
Leslie and Penny ready to walk
Hayley and I ready to run
Right before 9am we all split up and headed to the starts. The walkers lined up outside Hockeytown Cafe and the runners were across the expressway so the overpass separated the groups. We were kind of towards the front of the pack but still not close to the start. It was a little intimidating to be in the middle of all those people. Once the race got going a little after 9am it took us about 2 minutes to get to the official start where I started my watch. I had originally set it to 2/1 intervals since I had been comfortable with that in training but somehow I managed to reset the entire thing as we were starting so we ended up with 3/1 intervals which was actually fine and what I think I will push more for. Now the start was a complete shock to me: people in front of us were WALKING and I don't mean walking fast but just walking. We spent the entire first 1/2 mile weaving around them to find a place so we could get into a rhythm. It was really strange. We ended up running 7 minutes straight before our first walk. They had 2 water stops but one weird thing was they only had garbage after the second one so we ended up carrying the bottles for a while. Also, opening a water bottle cap when you are running/walking was not super easy but it was good.
I had been worried about running with my Hayley since she is almost 16 and for sure faster than I am. I was right since I was the one asking for us to slow our pace but she adjusted to me and it was so nice for us to be able to do this together. We talked the entire time so neither of us got winded enough to make it an issue.
We ended up crossing the finish line at 36:12 but I had us closer to 34 minutes with our slightly delayed start. We both felt fine when we finished so I think we could have pushed harder but being my first time I was just unsure how much I would have left.
Hayley and I after the race but before the rain
We decided to walk back up to Woodward since that was where the walkers where finishing. At this point it of course decided to start to rain and not a sprinkle but a RAIN. We finally talked to Leslie and they still had a while left to finish so we decided to go into the rain from our nice dry place at the Fox and meet up with them. On the way I ran into a couple of my student. Ki'Asia was down there coaching the cheer group and Ralonda was cheering with them! They had been towards the start of the race and were fun to hear as a sent off to the race!
Overall I am OK with my first try. I want to maintain a 11:30-12 minute mile for the Princess since my goal time is 2:45 and I want to be able to get a couple pictures at least (and to do this I have to do 13 mm averages). I am hoping my next race is not quite as large since I liked the atmosphere but the crowds and the walkers mixed in with the runners was just different. I am planning another race in August for the AdvoKate run which raises money for St. Jude for brain tumor research. Now the question: 5K or 10K? Either way Hayley said she is in for another race so maybe I should just train to keep up with her!!
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