The Ann Arbor Marathon is such a great race that I returned to run the half marathon for my fifth year in a row on Sunday, October 4. The course seems to change a little bit each year depending on where construction is taking place around Ann Arbor. That just keeps things fresh and interesting! I’m glad Epic Races manages to adapt each year to keep the race going strong. As usual, the course was challenging but also very scenic and enjoyable.
The last couple years I went to a concert the night before the race which isn’t very ideal for getting enough sleep. This year I got a little more sleep, but instead of a concert the day before, I ran a half marathon. I’m not very good about coming into this race fresh and rested! Somehow I continue to pull it off fairly successfully though. The day before, I tried to take it easy and keep my pace under control at the Running Between the Vines half marathon in hopes of running fast in Ann Arbor. Still, I wasn’t sure how my back-to-back half marathon plan would play out.
When I signed up for this race I hadn’t planned on running the other race yet. I didn’t realize I’d be driving from Jackson right through Ann Arbor on my way home and that it could have worked to stop by the expo. I normally wouldn’t want to make the hour drive each way to go to the expo, so I opted to have my packet mailed to me for an extra fee because race day pickup was not an option. I received my shirt and bib in the mail a few days before the race.
I left home just before 6am on race day and was able to find free street parking (a perk of a Sunday race) a few blocks east of the start. There was a Throne public restroom without a wait that was close by. It’s a step up from using a porta potty so the morning was already off to a smooth start. I also lucked out and happened to run into a guy from work who was running his first marathon. I’m glad I got a chance to chat with him and wish him good luck.
Half an hour before the start I left my warm clothes at gear check and went out for a mile warm up jog. I thought I might get a little cold during the downtime between my warm up and the start, but it was in the high 40s and I actually felt just right. It was going to be a great day for racing.
There was a rainbow in one direction and a glowing orange sky in the other as I made my way out to a turnaround point at the Michigan Theatre. We got some pretty great scenery before even starting the race.
In past years I’ve lined up in the corral a little too late and got caught up in a mob of slower-moving people. This year I was there 20 minutes early and entered the corral right as it opened, allowing me to get closer to the front where I wanted to be. There were about 300 people running the full marathon and 1,000 running the half all starting at the same time. I figured I should be able to run under an 8:00 pace so I stood just in front of that pacer.
Some years we’ve made a quick left turn onto Liberty where we’ve run east past the stores and theaters downtown, but construction prevented that this year. Instead, we began with a straight stretch to the south. It went from flat to downhill pretty quickly and all I could think about was having to run UP that hill later on tired legs right before the finish!
There was a short out-and-back stretch that was surely there just to add a little extra distance. I got a very slight glimpse of the big block “M” of Michigan Stadium.
Soon enough we got into the heart of the University of Michigan’s central campus and back to the route the race usually takes along University, past the law quad then north past a bunch of other campus buildings.
A fun feature this year was running through a blow-up shark mouth that made me smile.
A little bit of rain started early into the run but it wasn’t forecast to stick around very long.
After two miles we made our way to Geddes Ave. which features a couple miles that are mostly downhill. There are stretches where I picked up some big momentum flying down those hills. The rain continued and I had to be wary of traction on the road at times. I definitely avoided wet leaves over by the curb. Even with the rain, the sky looked pretty and it didn’t take long to clear up.
When we got to Gallup Park along the Huron River, we ran a stretch on a wood chip trail that I had never run before. It was fun to see a pretty area that was new to me.
After looping around the park, we followed the Border to Border Trail along the river for several miles as the race usually does. It’s nice and flat there and I liked admiring the beginning of some fall colors.
We hit the halfway point of the race while along the path and I’d been maintaining a pretty speedy pace. I guess the race the day before didn’t hold me back, but I’d have to see if I could keep hanging on for the second half.
I knew the hard part was still coming – the climb by the hospital. While I ran 7:36 for the mile before, I slowed down to 7:57 for the mile by the hospital. My pace continued to fluctuate for the rest of the race, all depending on what kind of hills popped up. I dropped back down to 7:22 for the next mile! That was a surprise because that’s when we ran through Nichols Arboretum. We normally hit the famous “Arb hill” then, one of the most difficult parts of the course. One good thing about changes in the course this year is that we didn’t climb that hill. We made up for it later though…
It was nice to spend more time running the trails through the Arb. We had lots of twisting and rolling downhills through the woods. We even got a segment of double track trail that I hadn’t run before. We came out into a neighborhood and THEN we made up for the climbing we had missed earlier. There was no break when we got out to Geddes!
That area where I flew along downhill on the way out? Now we got to run UP it on the way back. I ran 7:54 and 8:10 for those miles, quite a drop off from some of my 7:20s and 7:30s miles. I’m actually surprised I was as fast as I was because I really felt like I was crawling. That climb definitely got to me.
Once I was done with the stretch on Geddes, I was able to recover and get moving again. We got back to a flat part of campus and I started cruising.
I came across people doing the 5K and 10K at that point and the course got a little more congested. I had to do some weaving to make my way around walkers and slower runners.
I knew the climb just before the end was coming, and it was rough, but at least the road leveled out for a little bit of recovery just before the finish line.
I saw my photographer buddy Greg Sadler waiting at the finish and got my usual high five from him as I passed by.
I stretched for a while before heading to the post-race area to collect some food. I enjoyed the usual Epic goodies of pancakes, an egg and cheese wrap, cookies, and more!
When I dug into my results I realized that my time was only 16 seconds slower than my race on the totally flat Belle Isle course a couple weeks earlier. For as hard as I thought the hills felt, my speedy time didn’t really reflect that. After more digging later, I found that this was actually my fastest Ann Arbor half out of the five by 20 seconds! I guess flying down the hills really helped balance out the struggles up the hills. Doing well on the challenging course just made me feel more accomplished!
Because I was third in my age group I could collect an award. I had seen a cool hat was one of the options and I’d been hoping I could run fast enough to get one. It’s definitely a prize I’ll put to use!
I was tracking my work friend Shubham in the app so I could figure out when he was due to come back to start his second loop. I went out to wait for him and was glad I could cheer him on. Doing two loops of that course is hardcore!
I walked around campus for a bit to enjoy the gorgeous day before heading home.
I still felt fine, but by the next day I was tight enough to take a rest day after my double half marathon weekend.
Next up is an official challenge (unlike my personal back-to-back half marathons) with the Detroit mile and 5K one day, then the half marathon the following day.
– Janet
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