The run was fun and I'd say not as hard as I had feared. I'm glad I took the opportunity to preview the course. I'll try to create short overview: We had to leave early Sunday morning to make it to Pinckney in time for the 8:30 a.m start. I got up at 4:30 a.m. for a good breakfast and coffee. We loaded up the bikes and left the house at 6:30 a.m. There were something like 1300 runners - my number was 1190. The weather that morning was very nice. The sky was mostly clear and the temperature was right around 50 F with a forecast high of a little over 60. The marathon runners started at 7:30 a.m. - they were doing two laps around the 13.1 mile trail (see my previous post for the map). I'd guess about 100 people ran the marathon. Those of us half-marathoners started at 8:30, and we started in waves based on estimated pace. I started in the third wave and ran the first 3 miles at pretty slow 10 minute/mile pace, mostly because I was afraid of pushing too hard early in the run. If I succeeded in running the whole thing, it would be the longest distance I'd ever run. Somewhere after mile 3, I decided to pick up the pace to something a bit more comfortable, which was probably around 8 minutes/mile most of the time. I don't think it saves me much energy to run slower than 8 minutes/mile. The miles ticked by pretty easily, and other than a bit of an upset stomach, it was mostly painless. I slurped down a Clif Shot at 45 minutes and again at about 1.5 hours. Each time was at a water stop - I actually stopped runing to make sure I got enough water to wash down the thick, sticky gel. It's hard to run and drink at the same time. I think I could feel the energy boost from the Clif Shots. At mile 11, I was beginning to realize that if I kept up a pretty good pace, I might finish in less than 2 hours. Of course, the biggest hill in the event is at the beginning of the 12th mile. It's really only about 100 feet of climb, but after running 12 miles, it feels pretty tough. Lots of folks were walking it. I never walk up hill! By the time I reached the top, I was feeling some real pain in the outside of my right knee. Maybe I should have walked. I pressed on, trying to push my pace. Most of mile 13 is downhill, and trying to keep my time under 2 hours, I ran it fairly fast - within the limits of my tolerance for knee pain. Nearing the end, I was very glad to see Cindy, Abbey, and Quinn sitting on a blanket in the grass near the home stretch to cheer me in. I made it across the line just under the 2 hour mark - 1:59:24! Later I learned that I'd placed 41st of 104 men in the 35 to 39 age class. I guess that's acceptable.
After a very long soak in the icy water of Silver Lake, I was almost able to walk. I was hoping the ice bath would help with pain and swelling since we still had a bicycle ride to do. Quinn and Abbey rolled up their pants stood in the water with me, and of course Quinn got his pants wet. I hobbled to the car and we drove to Chelsea, MI.
The previous weekend we had started a ride from the Silver Lake parking lot, but we weren't real happy with routes and the roads in the Pinckney area, but Chelsea was only about a 10 or 20 minute drive to the southwest. I needed a bit of time to rest and get some food before I could ride, anyway. In Chelsea, we had lunch at Mike's Deli in Chelsea. What a great little deli!
I ate a huge sandwich, which was wonderful, but didn't help my somewhat upset stomach. I assumed that my stomach was upset from nerves before the run, and then simply from running. This doesn't usually happen to me, however, and then for several days after the run, Abbey and I both had slightly upset stomachs. Maybe it was really a stomach virus.
After our leisurely lunch at the Mike's, we walked back to the car and set up the bikes. I was very tired, but it was probably good for my legs to get out and pedal. Once we were going, I really depended on Quinn to push us up the hills, and for once Cindy and Abbey out-climbed us on nearly every hill. Nonetheless, I'd say this one of the best bicycling days we've had.
We followed ride 35 in Cari Noga's Road Biking Michigan book. We've ridden this route before - at least some of it - so we knew where the first required stop (playground) would be, and we knew the roads were smooth and had limited traffic.
The wind was strong from the west, so starting out to the west seemed wise, but our pace was slow - especially since my legs ached and I felt like throwing up. We stopped at the first park and playground on the route for a long rest. The kids remembered this little park as soon as they saw it, because the last time we were here there'd been a huge mayfly hatch and the adult mayflies were everywhere. You can click here to back and see pictures from that ride. It was Mother's Day 2007 - two weeks short of year ago. We're much stronger riders than we were back then - although I was feeling a little weak at that particular moment.
Here's a shot of the girls on the road.
Michigan has a gazillion little lakes and ponds like this. In the Waterloo State Recreation Area (where most of this ride travels), the terrain is rolling and there's water in every low spot. We're far enough south that the trees are mostly deciduous.
Quinn, modeling his Bell Furio helmet, on the move, with my photographing-while-riding technique reflected in his glasses. Probably more dangerous than chatting on a cell phone while riding.
Abbey, in her wild hair.
Cindy, with golden hair so long these days.
What's the proper etiquette for passing horses? It was a bit tricky because we needed to alert them to our presence, but didn't want to spook the horses. Once the riders knew we were behind them, they wave us around them, but as you can see in the photo, we couldn't tell whether any traffic might have been approaching. They told us it was clear. I suppose they could see from their high vantage point.
They admired us while we admired them, probably each thinking we were glad we'd made the choice we had - well, except maybe Abbey.
That's all the pictures. At the midpoint of ride, not long after seeing the horses, we took a little excursion to Portage Lake (wonder how many of those there are) that was mentioned in the book. There was supposed to be a playground and bathrooms. The playground was in disrepair, but Quinn didn't mind. However, the bathrooms were worse - unmaintained, unsanitary, and unusable. Nonetheless, we had to go. But not here. So we rode back down the road to a crappy-looking (!) corner convenience store that had no public restrooms. They pointed us toward a state park down the road a bit further.
Waterloo State Park and Campground. It was very nice - Cari Noga might want to add this one to the next edition of her book. We might have to come back and camp sometime. We used the facilities and played at the playground for a while before we started the second half of the ride. We were at mile 16, and expected to ride about 33. My legs were tired, which was expected and tolerable, but I was feeling a sort of whole-body exhaustion. Everyone else was doing quite well. It was after 3 p.m., the sky was getting cloudy, and the air was cooling, so we felt we needed to get going before it started to rain. We had a snack and a few Clif Shot Blocks and hit the road. Quinn loved the concept of the Shot Blocks - they're kind of like a giant gummi energy block - he figured he could ride to the moon after eating one of those! He must of talked about it for the next half hour. He decided he should eat a couple each day before school so he'd have plenty of energy at school!
The ride back was really nice. We saw very few cars, although we did have one scary encounter with someone's dog - thought it might eat Quinn, but since he was so full of energy from the Shot Bock that there was no way the dog could catch us.
Abbey discovered the strategy of cranking hard on each downhill to help attack the next climb. She was pushing hard (Cindy, too, of course), so Quinn and I really had to work to keep up with them. For the last 15 miles of the ride, the hills are continuous, so we were either climbing or descending. It was really fun.
Once back in Chelsea, we load up the bikes and walked to Zou Zou's for drinks and a snack. I was so completely exhausted I was euphoric. Zou zou's coffee was great, and a necessity for keeping me awake for the drive home. We decided we should do this ride several more times before the MUP tour.
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