Whenever people ask what my next race will be, I preface it with, “I THINK it will be…” knowing very well that I could randomly add a race to my schedule at any time. That’s exactly what I did with the Bridge to Brew Half Marathon in Port Huron. 

The Holland Haven Marathon is only a month away and I’m feeling more and more skeptical about whether I’m prepared to run a marathon at my goal marathon pace. I know other parts of the country have been MUCH hotter than it’s been in Michigan but it’s been warm enough for me to struggle through plenty of runs this summer. I feel like I’ve been dragging a lot and I’ve been much slower than I’d like to be. I’ve racked up lots of miles and should have the endurance aspect covered but the pace aspect is questionable. I thought it might be good to find a race this weekend to help me get through my long run and possibly help me find a little more speed. 

RunMichigan.com‘s race calendar is the first place I go to hunt for races and I found the Port Huron half marathon listed there. My training schedule called for a weekend long run of 16-20 miles with 6-8 of the miles at marathon pace OR the option of racing a half marathon. It seemed like jumping into this race might be a good choice. For several years I’ve wanted to do a sunrise run along the St. Clair River and Lake Huron by the Blue Water Bridge and Fort Gratiot Lighthouse. This race would allow me to check all of those boxes! Plus, the weather looked nice for race day and I knew the course should be flat. Two days beforehand I decided to go for it. $50 was an especially reasonable price for a last-minute half marathon registration!

The race took place on Sunday, August 13 at 7:00. I decided I should aim for 18 miles for the day so I’d get a full long run done. Since I really wanted to catch the sunrise by the water and it would take somewhere around two miles to get from the race location to the Blue Water Bridge, I settled on five pre-race miles with a 5:30 start time. That was so early that only a couple other people had arrived to start setting up.

I wore my headlamp and light-up vest since it was totally dark when I started. I made my way to the waterfront and found a few people fishing in the St. Clair River. A few boats went by and it was really peaceful and pretty.

As the sun rose it was everything I had hoped for. I get so energized by runs like that with such awesome scenery. The hour-long drive had already been worth it before even running the race.

I headed toward the Fort Gratiot Lighthouse but I hit 2.5 miles just before I got there so I had already gone far enough. I knew I should also watch the time, so I headed back.

Once I got back toward the downtown area where the race would start, I decided to hit Main Street for part of the run. It looked pretty with lights strung across the street.

I made it back to the starting area just before 6:30 and hit the porta potty line before it got too bad. There were only four of them and I knew that line would grow quite a bit as we approached 7:00. I collected my shirt and bib, swapped to a dry shirt and hat, and changed into my special carbon plate speedy running shoes.

At 7:00 we started with a short stretch through downtown before heading to the St. Clair River. We ran on the same path I had run earlier and of course it was pretty during the daylight as well. I was definitely glad I chose to do this race.

Sometimes I’m a little iffy about signing up for a first-year race because they can have kinks that need to get worked out. However, I saw that the event was tied to the Elite Feet Running Store so I trusted that they would host a good race. They had a ton of volunteers along the course to make sure we followed the correct route and they were wonderful. It was a quiet run without music or any spectacles along the way, and there were a few groups of spectators in spots.

It was an out-and-back course with several miles along the river and by Lake Huron, a nice path by a cemetery that was along the Black River Canal, then by a high school and golf course. We ran on the road at times and on some sidewalks, where I was a little concerned about how that might work when we had people running in both directions. By the time I got back to the sidewalks there were only a few people still on their way out though, so it worked out just fine. It was a small race with just under 200 people running the half. Although small, I always seemed to have someone close enough within my view to help me keep my pace going.

When we got to the halfway point and ran around a circle in a neighborhood I was able to scope out how many women were in front of me. At that point I was the eighth woman and I was curious to see if I could move up at all by the end.

My real goal for the race was just to see if I could run a decent number of miles at my goal marathon pace, which is around 8:00/mile. I ran eight miles at marathon pace on July 13 and here I was a month later without having run any real marathon-paced workout since. I attempted a workout on a day when it felt like 90° and only managed three miles that were a little faster and not even at my goal pace. The concern about aiming to run that pace for 26 miles was the motivation for doing this race! I’m not sure if I can reasonably attempt to try that without doing the proper training.

My pace for the first five miles of the race was between 8:01 and 8:05 so I was on track and my breathing wasn’t too labored. I didn’t realize it until I looked at my splits after the race but I managed to run a sub-8:00 pace for the rest! I was in the 7:50s for nearly half of the race. My breathing DID start to feel a little more labored and I kept wondering if it would catch up with me at some point and I’d struggle through the final miles. I got into a good rhythm though and felt pretty strong. It really helped that even though it was a bit humid, it was in the 60s. That was a nice break from the 80s I’ve been running in too often lately.

I managed to catch up to a couple of women and believed I was in sixth place with a few miles to go. Seeing the fifth place woman ahead of me helped motivate me to keep pushing when I had a couple miles left. It was fun to run on the riverwalk again on the way back, and one great thing about this race was how flat it was. I was able to maintain my speed somehow and caught up with the woman in front of me. She was running strong so that helped push me to give it my all. I finished the last mile in 7:26!

My official time was JUST under 1:44 with a 1:43:59. It turned out that the woman I passed near the end had started the race farther back than I had, so she actually beat me by eight seconds. So close! I was thankful for her because when it got hard to keep pushing in the final miles, it helped to have someone else around to keep me going. I was still pretty happy to come in sixth place out of the women!

I don’t think this race had any photographers so this single selfie is the only picture of me from the day!

We received a pint glass after we finished. There was a place serving beer (thus the Bridge to BREW part of the name) plus they had snacks like watermelon, bananas, oranges, chips, Pop Tarts, granola bars, mini Rice Krispies Treats, and some fruit chews. Plenty of options!

I ate my snacks down by the water and thought about how my boat-loving dad probably would have enjoyed hearing about this race.

I stuck around long enough to hear that they gave awards to the winners of the 5K age groups so I figured I didn’t need to stick around for the half marathon awards since I was third in my age group. I wanted to head out for some sightseeing before I went home.

I went to Lighthouse Park so I could see the Fort Gratiot Lighthouse. I learned that it is the oldest in the state of Michigan!

There was a nice beach with some pretty scenery and I loved taking it all in.

Although this race was somewhere around five minutes slower than my half marathon PR, I was really happy with how it went. It was such a relief to finally have a good workout at marathon pace. Based on the effort it took, I’m still not sure if it will be the best idea to try to maintain that pace for 26 miles in a month. I might try to aim for a slightly slower pace come race day. However, I still have four weeks to put in more work. I have the Crim 10-mile race in a couple weeks where I will surely push the pace again. I can hope for cooler temperatures soon which could help. At the very least, this was a confidence-booster and a really nice scenic run on a beautiful day. I would return to this race again in the future!

– Janet

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