Bill and I completed the Detroit Half Marathon today! It was the first race of this length for both of us – Bill has run the full marathon the past two years but never the half. With Aunt Martha and Aunt Terry’s help during the week (they watched Robin Tuesday and Thursday mornings while Lilly was at school) I was able to follow a 10 week training program with 2 short runs and one long run on the weekends when Bill was home. I didn’t miss a single training run and remained injury free despite a swollen hip joint that I sought physical therapy for this past week. Bill didn’t have as much training to do but did a few longer runs during the week.

Nana stayed home with the kids and Boppa drove us downtown at 5:45 am. It was 50 degrees and mostly cloudy, a perfect day for a run with just a few sprinkles. Bill helped me to push the pace. I struggled around mile 9 (after going up the tunnel, tough) but pulled off a very strong finish at a 9 minute pace for the last mile. We finished the half in 2 hours 24 minutes (tag time was an 11:02 mile but let it be known that my watch said 10:57 so I’m going with that!). I didn’t have a goal time but expected to finish around an 11:15 pace so I was VERY happy with this.

It was a wonderful event and so much fun to run with Bill. He really kept me on track and I enjoyed just about every minute of the race. More races from us in the future!

For the complete set of photos, click here.