In June I had my first half marathon in 5 years. A disastrous one in 2014 led me to swear off June half marathons because the humidity was torturous. Later, I did a wonderful full marathon in late June, but I justified it was up north and cooler temps in the morning. That one turned out great, by the way. So I wanted to get myself motivated with a half marathon. I should have picked a 5k or 10k back. I certainly went against my own advice and didn’t start with something small to ease myself back. I worked my way up to 10 miles over the 12 weeks I spent training.

My longest run at 10 miles actually felt the greatest in a while. I ran it without walking, the first ‘long’ run in some time without a little walk break. It was at Stony Creek Metropark, which is a gorgeous loop and full of hills. It’s always perfect for preparing athletes.

My longtime friend and running buddy Matt signed up for the Dexter to Ann Arbor half marathon. He had done this distance at the race at least once before. Doing this race together allowed us to carpool and share logistics; it was at least an hour drive there so an early morning.

The day before, Matt and his husband picked up our race packets while my boyfriend and I got kayaks set up. We kayaked 5.7 miles along the Huron river. The mile markers were out and ready.

Even though we arrived over an hour early, parking had started getting crazy but we got a spot in a parking garage and got in the line for the shuttle bus to the start. This was a point-to-point course and I had not done one of these before, at least that I could remember. It felt like the line had gone on forever waiting. Sitting on the school bus with our knees hitting the seatback, it had been a long time since I’ve been on one.

It was a short ride but a long wait in line for the porta-potties. They certainly could have added more. As the start time got closer and closer, the line was still long. It’s no wonder there were lines for all the potties along the course route because people didn’t have a chance to go prior to the start.

Once we were underway, there isn’t much else to add. It was a beautiful morning, the sun shining, and the course was tough. It was hilly but only one major grade around mile 5 that I am sure I would have been faster walking up than the shuffle up I was doing. Besides that, it was really nice and made me miss running as consistently as I used to. I did keep thinking, “wow, this is really long.” The course followed the Huron river. I’ve ran races that say they are along the shore but none truly were as accurate as this one. It really followed along the river’s edge besides the start and finish. Near the end, everyone was shifting to the side of the course that was in the shade. The temperature warning for the race in the preceding days was high alert but it dropped as the weather shifted. At least the humidity was lower.

In the end, I finished in 2:15:17 time, average pace 10:15. This was about 20 minutes longer than my average time. No wonder why it felt so much longer! I’m used to finishing the distance in less time! That’s okay, though. Speed fluctuations go up and down, it’s something I have to work on. I rested my legs for a week and while I can’t say I’ve continued running consistently in July and August, I have pursued other activities.