Detroit Marathon

I am so behind on my blogging that I am only now finding time to write about the Detroit Marathon, which took place a month ago. I went to my first marathon because Dem ran in it as part of a fiver person relay team. She ran her leg at a great pace that she would have been very happy with last year when she was running more frequently (good job dear). Unfortunately I forgot to take my camera with me, so I'm forced to steal pictures from our friends that we went with (thanks Betsy, Ali, and the Swishers).

It started the night before when a bunch of us crammed into a car and drove to Detroit to register for the race. We also went out to eat together, which was nice since these friends are ones that we don't get to see much.

Dem and Betsy in the back-back seat.

The next morning we all drove together in the same car early in the morning. The picture below is hard to make out but I'm glad we have it. After waiting in traffic for quite awhile my friend Colleen and I let the runners start running from the highway to their start point while we drove off looking for a place we could park. Dem and Dan (Colleen's husband) had to sprint from the car to a bus that would take them to their start locations...they made it with minutes to spare.

Dropping off the runners on the highway since the traffic was backup for miles.

Colleen and I found a parking spot close to the starting line (next to Comerica Park) and then realized we had many hours ahead of us with nothing to do. After wandering around in the dark for awhile we finally decided we would try and walk to where our spouse's starting positions were...4+ miles one way.

Picture of Detroit skyline in the early morning.

We made it Dem's starting position and said hi before she started, but then we decided not to go to Dan's spot since the extra two miles seemed a bit much for us. It was actually really fun walking around with Colleen since she really loves running. Spending time with anyone that really loves something always makes you appreciate it a little more. It was so great seeing people cheer on those struggling, kids joining their parents to finish the last mile, and the joy in the faces of those having a good run.

The lead group including the winner, Nicholas Stanko, whom Colleen knows.

Sadly after we walked ~11 miles we actually screwed up the timing and ended up missing Dan finish (as well as all our friends). After some confusion we finally found everyone and pictures were taken of the runners. Then it was time to head home.

Dem, part of her team, and part of a second girls team...good job ladies.

Interestingly on our walk back to the car we spotted these tanks...apparently they are shooting some kind of military movie in Detroit.