Dexter-Ann Arbor is a race that has been around since 1974 and I finally got around to running it for the first time last year. I enjoyed it enough to consider going back again this year and made it official when I realized the half marathon could be a good way to get a long run done three weeks before Grandma’s Marathon.

Like last year, I skipped the expo the day before the race because driving over an hour out to Ann Arbor and back two days in a row just isn’t practical…time-wise or gas-wise! I don’t love paying an extra fee for race day packet pickup but that’s how some races work and it made more sense for me.

A few days before the race I checked in with my friend Lisa who lives in Ann Arbor. We met up at the race last year and she was doing the 10K this year. I’m glad she shared parking tips with me because I hadn’t been aware of the construction around downtown Ann Arbor where I normally would have parked. I got to town around 6:15 and parked easily in Kerrytown which was a few blocks from the finish. It’s a bonus that the race takes place on a Sunday when parking is free!

Packet pickup was quick and easy and thankfully another friend named Lisa who was also running the 10K spotted me. She had time to kill before her race started at 7:15 and I wasn’t too anxious to line up for the shuttle buses yet. Last year I was on the first shuttle and had at least an hour and a half to kill before the start. No need to be that excessive this year! It was nice to catch up for a little bit before I finally caught a bus around 7:00.

The bus ride only took about 15 minutes but it began to register that I had to run all that way back! I still had over an hour until the 8:30 start but it felt like a good amount of time to balance potential bathroom lines and doing a warm up run. It’s funny that the 10K starts nice and early at 7:15 while half runners wait until 8:30. As the race website explains, an Amtrak train can cross through Dexter as late as 8:20. We definitely wouldn’t want to run into a delay at a train crossing!

Since I had only run the race once I didn’t know what the usual routine was. I knew that we got dropped off in a slightly different spot and the start line had moved from where it had been last year. As we walked past the start I was glad I heard the announcement that the school was open this year. I had expected that last year and it WASN’T open which left me shivering outside during my excessively long wait. It was 44° when I got dropped off this year and it was nice to have the option to sit at a cafeteria table inside as I ate a bar and got my stuff organized. 

I’m also glad I did the race last year when we were dropped off in a spot where I could see that there was a track behind the school. Based on the layout this year, the track was over a quarter mile from the start and I’m not sure I would have wandered over that way. The track is a perfect spot for warming up plus there are real bathrooms there. After a little time inside, I headed over there to warm up for 2-3 miles.

With only eight weeks between Boston and Grandma’s Marathon, I have loosely gone back to the final weeks of my Boston training plan to decide what kind of mileage I should be doing leading up to the next race. I have never run two marathons this close together and it’s a new thing for me to figure out how to balance recovery from one while also getting prepared for the next. I normally would have run 20+ miles the weekend of this race, but I ran 20 each of the prior two weekends and figured 15-16 miles on this day might be a reasonable approach. 

By the time I finished the first mile around the track I felt warm in a t-shirt and shorts…and never cooled down after that. It was a beautiful, sunny morning and probably around 60° when the race started. That wasn’t exactly hot, but it was warm enough and just went up from there. 

I hit the bathroom at the track when there was no line but did find a line for gear check. That stressed me out a little bit but it moved along fast enough that I still made it to the starting line with 10 minutes to spare.

Since I ran a 1:37 half in Toledo in March, I thought a 1:40 half should be totally reasonable and within reach. I ran 1:40 in this race last year so it seemed like a good goal and I lined up by the 1:40 pacer. After the fact, I recognized that Toledo was a totally flat course and maybe 1:40 wasn’t so “easy” after all…

I’ve rarely had much luck following a pacer and that was the case once again. Even though I started right by the 1:40 guy, congestion and craziness at the start separated me from him. His pace sign said that he should be running a 7:38 pace. I managed 7:35 and 7:30 for my first two miles and still couldn’t catch up. I slowed down a little after that so it was a lost cause and I just had to do my own thing as usual.

The course was different in a couple spots this year. Instead of getting a little taste of the main part of downtown Dexter, we bypassed that due to construction. A more significant change was a new loop through a neighborhood around the 5-mile point. After the race plenty of friends rightfully complained about how the hill in that neighborhood was just cruel!

I went into the race thinking about how I like courses with rolling hills. I began to question that thought early into this race. I remembered that there were a couple of bigger climbs and that the race ends on a hill, but I didn’t remember THAT many hills. 

I just ran Boston and somehow this felt worse? The funny thing is, the elevation chart doesn’t really reflect how hard it felt. I think my pace chart gives a better idea of how it kept fluctuating.

At the beginning of a race I’ll often fly along without realizing I’m going so fast because I’m fresh and it feels effortless. On good days I can pick up the pace for the last few miles and finish strong. Not this time. The entire race felt challenging. Other than taking advantage of some quick downhill momentum when I could, it never felt easy. That made it harder to stay on top of the mental game. I questioned if I’d want to run this race again in the future and kept thinking about how brutal it felt. Still, I always try to find a positive twist. I told myself that hills make me stronger and this should be a good workout to prepare me for a hill that comes late in the Grandma’s course. I was still going to get 13 miles done at a pace faster than marathon pace. I told myself that I was hanging with a bunch of strong guys which felt impressive, and we were hauling pretty good. Still…it was a GRIND.

The course mostly runs along Huron River Drive which is lined with trees so at least the course was pretty and I enjoyed that aspect. 

There aren’t many good spots for spectators along most of the course so I especially appreciated one aid station that had a Reno 911 theme. They were dressed in the police outfits and had a bunch of fun signs that made me laugh.

When I finally got to Main Street, which is the final stretch of the race, there was a little reprieve with a downhill segment. I tried to push as hard as I could knowing that it wouldn’t last and eventually I’d hit the final climb to the finish. I didn’t feel like I had a strong kick but I managed a 7:15 pace for the last full mile – my fastest of the race. I clenched my teeth the whole way in because it was rough. Instead of running 13.1 miles, I ended up with 13.25 even though I really tried to be conscious of tangents. My pace for the last quarter mile slowed back down to 7:40. At least I saw my Ann Arbor friend Lisa and her husband Jan who were cheering for me!

It took a few minutes to recover before I met up with Lisa and Jan. Lisa’s race had finished a couple hours earlier so I was very grateful that they hung around. It was nice to chat about our races as I had some post-race treats of pretzel bread and pizza.

Then it was time for one of the things that helped motivate me to do this race – the Taste of Ann Arbor afterward! It’s perfect to have an event like that right after a race. The weather was great for it too.

Just like last year, I really enjoyed hanging out with Lisa and Jan as I picked up treats from a variety of Ann Arbor food establishments. This time I ended up with a little cup of mac and cheese, a donut, ice cream, and a piece of chocolate. Because I still had food tickets to use up after that, I got a few more donuts to save for later.

Later in the day I had a few realizations. I felt bad questioning if I’d want to do the race again since I didn’t remember it feeling so brutal last year. I wondered what had been different this time. I realized one factor might be the fact that I had run 13 miles a few days before the race, aiming for marathon pace for half of it. I’d also worked a couple of 15-hour days during the week while also trying to juggle my running and was probably hurting for more sleep. I didn’t exactly set myself up to be fresh for this race. It was a peak week of marathon training with a total of 58 miles. In comparison, I didn’t have any agenda at this time last year and ran 44 miles the week of the race. It probably wasn’t realistic or practical to expect myself to pull off a speedy half marathon so easily and I shouldn’t have been so surprised that it felt hard.

Ultimately, they won’t always feel great and I still ran a solid race. I was only 22 seconds slower than last year. I’ve learned a couple lessons if I end up doing this race again in the future. One, I really should run hill repeats in training to prepare. I had done plenty of hilly runs recently but specific hill repeats could help. Two, I should rest leading up to it if I expect to really push myself. Otherwise, I should take it easier and discipline myself enough to consider it a “training run” rather than a RACE.

Despite some suffering, it really was a good day. I got a tough workout done, got to hang out with friends, enjoyed some yummy treats, and had a good time hanging out in beautiful Ann Arbor.

– Janet

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