It seems like the only blog posts I write lately are race recaps. I realized today’s adventure was something worthy of remembering and I ought to write something more official about it rather than just posting a few pictures on social media. This blog acts as a journal of sorts for myself and it could be fun to look back at this run.

It’s been a long time coming for the new Gordie Howe Bridge to open, connecting Detroit, Michigan and Windsor, Ontario. The bridge has been complete for a bit but political games kept it from officially opening until recently. Once it finally opened, a lot of people were anxious to learn when pedestrians could use it. In the past, people used to be able to cross the Ambassador Bridge, but that changed after September 11. Since then, the only way for pedestrians to cross between Detroit and Windsor has been during the Detroit Free Press Marathon (and International Half Marathon) which I finally ran for my first time last year. It’s a pretty cool experience and there has been a lot of interest surrounding this new bridge that has a pedestrian path. August 5 was announced as opening day and a lot of walkers, runners, and cyclists lined up to be there on the first day. I’ve been following a lot of talk about the experience and logistics involved in Facebook groups. My friend Lisa and I had already planned to run together the weekend of August 15-16, and when we realized the bridge would be open, we planned to do our run there.

The bridge’s official website recommended parking at a park in Mexicantown that is two miles away. It’s a bit more doable on bikes but maybe not quite as ideal on foot. Thankfully I saw plenty of recommendations to park at Historic Fort Wayne which has a free parking lot right across from the entrance to the bridge. We realized that a lot of people parked along the street which worked just as well. There isn’t much around the area other than some pothole-ridden roads, empty fields, and construction. The good thing is that there are some brand new bike paths being added. I’m not sure how far they’ll extend eventually – right now it was just a short stretch near the entrance. A lot of cyclists parked farther away and biked to the area which works because the roads aren’t busy, but again, it’s not as ideal to cover that kind of mileage by foot.

Because there has been so much excitement around this, I didn’t know if we could expect to find a crowd. The bridge opens at 8am during this season, so Lisa and I met around 7:45 and found a few people waiting by the gate along with a few other runners gathering a group and some cyclists who arrived after us.

I’m glad the people up front were paying attention because there was no announcement or person there to open the gate for us. There was just a click when 8:00 hit and the gate unlocked. There was a little uncertainty, wondering if it was okay to go. It was!

Soon after we entered, Lisa and I started our watches and began our run. We joked about how it felt like jail at the beginning, but this IS a border crossing so of course it’s not going to be lax on security. There were some cameras and we passed a couple guards sitting on chairs who monitored people as they passed by. Soon enough we were out in the open on the bridge.

I had wondered how it might work with people sharing the path and it was just fine for us. We stayed to the right and cyclists passed on the left. No one flew along – people were pretty chill and there to check things out.

I took some pictures on the go and told Lisa I may stop here and there for others. I was thankful that she gladly humored me. As a photographer I wanted to really take in and appreciate the beauty of the architecture.

It was easy enough to glance through the slats along the side of the bridge to look out at the Detroit River. I did have to stop and specifically aim in between slats to get a clear view though. It was a muggy morning, like they all seem to be this summer, and pretty gray. We got a little hint of color early though!

Of course we had to stop for a picture at the boundary line. We were able to have someone take our picture because others were doing it too! One cool thing about this experience is that there were lots of smiles and people greeting each other. Because this is a new and kind of novel thing, I think we all appreciated how cool it was to have this opportunity.

In the meantime, of course the run got slightly more challenging as we climbed the incline. I’ve read that it’s a 5% grade. I could definitely feel myself working but we run so much that we were prepared for it so it didn’t phase us much. It’s also a gradual climb. Eventually you get a decline that makes up for a slow start!

Lisa and I were ahead of the runners and walkers who started after us, so when some of the people on bikes went by, we had moments when the path was totally clear. The road was too because I guess there wasn’t much traffic yet just after 8:00 on a Saturday.

Our watches hit two miles just as we got to the customs building on the Canadian side. I carried a Nexus card and Lisa had her passport. There was no wait and we chatted briefly with the officers before they gave us the okay to pass through. No fees, no hassles.

We planned to run 6-8 miles and chose to run out two miles in Windsor and back. Unfortunately, my sense of direction isn’t the best so we headed a direction that basically just took us around the grounds of the bridge for a couple miles. There was a sidewalk the whole way and we crossed paths with a few others who were headed to the bridge, but it’s pretty industrial with no good scenery. It’s the same way at both sides of the bridge. Fortunately just as we approached a gate where we wouldn’t be able to go any further, we hit four miles and it was time to turn around anyway. We realized that we should head the opposite direction in the future for the possibility of seeing more exciting sights. We probably need to do a longer run to make the most of it. We’d like to get up to the riverfront path which could be more like a 10-12 mile day.

As we headed back I was inspired by people who were taking selfies with the bridge in the background so we got one of those too.

After a couple miles we got back to customs on the US side and the only delay I had was that the camera wasn’t positioned very well and my officer had to mess with that a bit. My officer was a bit more rigid while Lisa’s was more chatty about the run we had just completed. Once again though, the process was easy enough with no wait.

When we got back to the parking lot it was probably around 9:30 and there were a ton more cars there while there had only been a few of us when we arrived. Plenty of people were gathering in a group to bike across.

I knew that we were an easy two miles from the Mexicantown Bakery so we went there next. I’ve been a couple times before and know that it’s overwhelming with tons of great options. Going in there hungry after a run can be real trouble!

I managed to limit myself to four things and had to dig into the chocolate croissant before making the drive back home.

It was definitely a fun experience crossing the bridge and getting to run in two countries this morning. One other fun aspect is that I happened to hit 1700 miles of running for the year when we got to customs in Windsor.

We agreed that the bakery visit is a good reason alone to motivate us to go do this again! We also want to plan a better route for the Canadian side and hopefully see more. It’s probably most ideal on a bike because it’s easier to cover more ground and do fun stuff like stop for a meal. That’s not something we’re going to do when we still have to run back! We had a fun morning and I feel lucky that we had the opportunity to try something cool like this.

– Janet

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