Christine was able to scratch off one of her athletic bucket list items today...she completed the
Detroit Free Press half marathon! That's 13.1 miles in case you were wondering. We are so proud of her and the effort she put forth today. She was able to finish the race strong, beating the personal goal she set for herself.
Several months ago, her friend Richelle asked her is she'd be willing to do the half marathon in Detroit. After some deliberation and thought, she signed up and began training. She and Richelle worked hard to get to today, despite work, school and kids pulling at their training time.
We drove up to Detroit on Saturday to Cobo Hall to pick up race packets. After getting checked in, we strolled through the hall, looking at the many vendors who were selling running-related gear. Before we left, we snapped a photo at the race countdown timer, each holding their race bibs.
We then headed to the hotel to check in. After getting our stuff in our rooms, we searched out a place for dinner, eventually taking in a very "nutritious" dinner at the buffet in the Greektown Casino. Afterwards, we went back to the bar at the hotel to catch some of the Tigers-Rangers baseball game and have a couple of pints. It was getting late and the runners needed to rest up for the big day on Sunday.
It was a cold morning when they headed to the start/finish line around 6:30am, with the race having a start time of 7am. The
13.1 mile course began on Fort St. in Detroit, took them over the Ambassador Bridge into Windsor, Ontario, back through the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel and a loop around dowtown Detroit before finishing up back on Fort St. Chris and I were waiting at the hotel for both runners, as the race course went right by our hotel. At 10am, we spotted Richelle heading for us. She was doing great and able to give us a smile on the way by.
Once Richelle went by, Chris headed to the finish line a few blocks away to greet her. She finished with a great time of 2hr 42mins 7secs. Not long after, I spotted Christine. She also was doing well and ahead of the personal pace she set for herself. I snapped a quick photo before heading to the finish line too.
At this point, she only had about a half mile to go to finish the race. I quickly made my way to the finish line, weaving my way through the immense crowd to see her finish. I then spotted her, running strong to the finish line. It made me smile to see her finish this way after a long, grueling race.
UPDATE: Here's the
link to a video of Christine finishing, around the 20sec mark in the video.
As you can see, the finish line timer reads 3hrs 42mins 24secs. However, at the start of the race, the runners were started in waves and Christine's wave started about 25mins after the first runners at 7am. As a result, her actual finishing time was 3:18:04, much better than the goal she had set for herself!
Click here to see the race results. Once finished, the runners had a long area for cooling down, stretching and getting some food and drinks. We met up and made the 3-block walk back to the hotel. After relaxing for a bit and packing our bags, we grabbed lunch with our friends at the bar and finally made our way home.
Christine pushed herself and completed something alot of people could never do. The kids and I are super proud of her and can't wait to cheer her on in her next race!
