The race was on Sunday, but to make it worth the drive, we went for the weekend. I had thought we might spend Saturday afternoon hitting my favorite bike shops in Detroit, but I decided that would just be depressing. So we went to the Detroit Zoo, instead.
We had a great time at the zoo. This zoo is situated on a long, skinny piece of Detroit, so one really good way to see the zoo is to walk it's length and then catch the train back to the entrance.
The butterfly and hummingbird exhibit was wonderful. It was in an old, round, and very tall building with a glass roof. A small path circled through thick vegetation, and butterflies were everywhere, occasionally landing on us. We had to be careful not to let them escape as we entered and exited.
The zoo also had a walk-through kangaroo exhibit that was interesting. As we entered we were cautioned not to get in the way if the kangaroos were trying to cross the foot-path. There was a really cool polar bear exhibit, although unlike the kangaroo and butterfly exhibits, visitors were not allowed to walk through the polar bear's space. We were able, however to walk under it.
The bear was swimming back and forth between one wall of the pool and the top of the underwater tunnel. Each time it would push off from the tunnel with its truly colossal (thanks for the big word, Cailan) feet. Feet that were at least 15 inches across and 20 inches long. Wow. Colossal.
With Halloween approaching, the zoo was decorated with some very creative and sometimes ridiculous squash and gourd sculptures.
This one was really weird.
Once we were finished at the zoo, we headed south toward downtown, where we'd spend the night before the race. Since the Detroit Free Press Marathon is a big event, Cindy signed us up early for a room at the Marathon's host hotel, the Marriott. It was very convenient because we could just get up Sunday morning and walk the few blocks to the start line. We were on the 34th floor, and with the outside wall glass from floor to ceiling, we had a great view out across the Detroit River into Ontario. We could see the Ambassador Bridge that spans the river between the cities of Detroit and Windsor. In the morning, Cindy would be running across that Bridge with about 18,000 other runners.
The race started at 7:15, so we worked backward to figure out when we should get up. Start walking to start line: 6:30. Get coffee and a bagel for breakfast, Starbucks was our only option at the hotel: 6:00: Get the kids up and dressed: 5:30. Get ourselves up and dressed: 5:00. We went to bed pretty early.
The morning went pretty much as planned. The morning was cool, and the sky was still dark. The kids and I wore jackets, hats, and gloves. Cindy wore knicker-length tights and a Smart-wool long-sleeve top under her red Team Playmakers shirt. She wore a jacket for the walk to the start line. The starting area, where all the runners lined up in groups according to their expected pace, was several blocks long and incredibly crowded. Fences insured that only runners would be allowed in. One bonus was that Playmakers had a tent and a special set of port-a-potties for members of Team Playmakers - Cindy was able to avoid a long wait in line for that last bathroom stop. Once we reached the line that only runners were allowed to cross, it was time to say goodbye and hope that we would eventually be able to find each other at the finish. We wished her luck and walked off through the dark streets of downtown Detroit.
Cindy did a great job of sticking with her training schedule, so we weren't the least bit worried about whether she'd be able to run the full 13.1 miles. In training, she'd run no more than 10 miles, but it's pretty common that in training for a half or a full marathon you don't run the full the distance until the day of the event. The question was how quickly she'd finish, and if we'd be able to locate her anywhere along the course.
A few blocks down the road from where we left Cindy, the kids and I found a spot along a fence where we could watch the runners start. It was still dark. We could look up the road and see the line where the runners were waiting to start. A woman came along and gave each one of the kids a cow bell to help wake the city.
After a long wait, the race began. First off the line were a group of about 20 hand-trikes. They must be faster so they go first. Then, apparently, the faster runners in the marathon started. After about a few hundred of those, the half marathon started, with faster runners up front. Except I think there marathon runners in with them. I don't know it was confusing. All we were sure about was that about 18,000 people ran past us, and one of them must have been Cindy. But we never saw her.
We knew it would be at least 2 hours before Cindy would finish. She was hoping to finish in about 2 hours, but when she signed up she estimated 2 1/2, so she started a little further back in the pack than perhaps was best. The runners would follow a route through downtown Detroit, across the mile-long Ambassador Bridge, along the streets of Windsor, then back to Detroit through the mile-long Detroit-Windsor tunnel, which goes under the river.
First the kids and I headed back to the hotel for a little rest, a snack, and a potty break. We tried to see the runners on the bridge out our window once the sun was up, but it was pretty far away. After about an hour we headed down to the tunnel exit to see if we could get a glimpse of Cindy. We waited and waited but we never saw her. There were pace-keepers running with signs to help the runners (and spectators) know about how fast they were running (and it helped us know about where to look in the continuous stream of runners). We didn't see Cindy in the 9- or 10-minute pace groups, but we were afraid we might have missed her. We watched and watched, but we didn't see Cindy. Quinn didn't want to leave until we saw her, but if she was running faster than expected, we might end up missing her at the finish if we stayed too long at the tunnel. It would take us some time to get from here to the finish, and I'd forgotten my map, so we'd have to travel on instinct. Cindy ran 13.1 miles that day, but the kids and I must have walked about 4.
We wove our way around the course to the vicinity of the finish. The course was fenced off, and crowds of people lined the fences, so we had to walk several blocks up from the finish to find a spot to watch for Cindy. If she was going to finish in less that 2 hours, we might have missed her. So we watched and watched. We saw the winner of the marathon come by while we were waiting. He finished 26.2 miles in 2:16:44, less time than Cindy finished her 13.1. And he won $5,000 cash for it, too. Here he is, in red:
Once the 2:10 pace group, and the 2:15 pace group passed, the kids and I started to worry that we might have missed Cindy, and that she might be back in the crowd at the finish looking for us. So for the third time that day we gave up trying to find her on the course and, somewhat disappointed, headed off to see if we could locate her at the finish. A long, long time later, in a huge crowd of people my phone rang. Cindy had borrowed another runners phone and called me to let me know she'd finished. We picked a location to meet, and about 20 minutes later she finally found us.
We never saw Cindy on the course, but one of the Team Playmakers coaches was on the course somewhere along the way and took this photo. She looks pretty happy...
Cindy finished the 13.1-mile half-marathon in 2 hours and 18 minutes. Who's counting seconds at that point? She placed 3806 overall (out of 5991 half-marathon finishers), and was the 1733rd female finisher. She was the 335th finisher of exactly 500 women in the 35 to 39 age class (can you believe she's that old?). OK, so she didn't win - she didn't even finish in the top half of her age group. But the kids and I are so very proud of her! It was her first half-marathon, and she's only been running regularly for the last 6 months. We think she was spectacularly successful!
I assume she had her passport. They let her back in from Canada.
ReplyDeletePassports weren't required, but she did have to show her birth certificate when she picked up her race packet the day before the event.
ReplyDeleteI can just imagine the line of 18,000 runners waiting at a booth at the exit of the tunnel where a single officer methodically applied a stamp to each passport.
Way to go, Cindy!!
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