For the third year Mario Bonano and I did security for the lead athletes at the Flagstar Bank/Detroit Free Press International Marathon.
Basically, we ride next to the women’s leader in each event and keep her on course and make sure no one steps in front of her at an aid station or interesection accidentally, etc.
Despite a forecast for rain the day was sunny and cool with light winds. A perfect day for the marathon and 1/2 marathon. There was a record 13,500 athletes registered making this the fastest growing marathon in the U.S. The biggest growth was in the 1/2 marathon with over 5,000 participants.
Local triathlon/duathlon star Kim Peterson won the women’s 1/2 marathon in commanding style with a 1:26:?? charge in perfect conditions.
Our women’s winner in the marathon was once again from the former “Eastern Bloc” Wioletta Kryza of Poland:
It was great to see the weather forecasters be totally off on this one. The weather was fantastic for running. Good to see Deeg go sub-3:00. You got to go to Boston this April.
A big thanks to the folks at GU. They totally hooked-us up with product for the Detroit marathon. We were able to provide two GU stations (MILE 15 & MILE 21). Also…got to thank the awesome student-athletes at the University of Detroit Mercy for helping pass-out GU and picking-up the packets afterwards.
Deeg, I saw your bro come by as well. He looked like he was having a good time. A good day for all.
Deeg = I saw a couple of signs out there for ya as well…nice race! Looks like I was about 40 sec behind you at the half. Guess we both ended up on the ‘Dev Paul Crash n’ Burn Plan’. You’re right about those last 2 miles - good thing they were downhill or I might have ground to a halt. Perfect conditions and great volunteers!
Thanks for posting that picture of Deeg crossing the finish line. Man, he really looked like he was in good shape. I think he will be sticking with the man bra and speedo in light of Faris’ win in Kona.
The marathon was horrible by most other accounts…the marathon leaders were led off-course, the 1/2 marathon leaders were led to the wrong finish, the race was stopped on the bridge during the middle of the race for security purposes, splits were not placed correctly for many of the miles, and so on and so on.
Here’s a picture of some of the racers being stopped DURING the race for security purposes:
That is a nice picture of me finishing- I sure look excited. The thing about that damn man bra is the chafing. Good god, its like somebody took a torch to my armpits.
it was all fun and games at 13- kinda the old “this ain’t so bad” story. Even going on to belle isle, la ta da. Then BOOM- bout mile 21 the sufferfest began- cripes-at mile 24 I hurt so bad I almost started laughing. Must have got passed by 20 dudes, and could’ve cared less.
We had just run out of the tunnel when all of the sudden the border patrol starting FREAKING out. They chased after some dude only to realize he had a number and was in the race. THEN they stopped us. They told us we need to line up and put our hands up to be scanned for EXPLOSIVES. So we did. Hands up like criminals and we each got scanned then off we went. However it did take 1:12 to get going. I timed it.
Not sure about the other guys but I ran 3:15:30 and just qualified for Boston with :29 seconds to spare.
Saw you after the winners finished crossing over the Belle Isle Bridge - your the only guy i know that rides a bike that looks like that. My wife and I were there to cheer on our freinds when you passed us.
I said “Hey, there goes Tom.” my wife “Who’s Tom?”, me “From Slow Twitch.”, her “You mean those are real people?”
Great day for a race, all of our freinds finished strong. Congrats to everybody else that was there, we were cheering for everybody!
I’m just behind the front row. That picture was taken right before they lined us up. I wish I had a camera myself. The picture of a bunch of guys with shorts and t-shirts being scanned for explosives during a middle of a race would be priceless.
Yes it would have been priceless, and congrats on your Boston time. I know the leaders went off course, but I assume the rest of the racers went along the certified course?
It was a beauty day out there. I’ll say that bridge is a hell of a hill. You don’t realize it because its so early but i think it takes a lot out of your legs for later. As for pacing – I was going for the -ve split and I was on track until the last 4-5 miles. Slowed a bit from there, 1.26 first 1/2…1.28 second 1/2. But i think that helps prove the point- if you go out with the intention of -ve splitting-you may slightly +ve split… however if you go out with the intention to +ve split.-- it could get ugly. Good race to the others out there…
Yep, nice event - some incredible scenery in places - the view from the Ambassador Bridge (almost) made me forget how bad I was already feeling. Great volunteers at all of the aid stations, too - and the H.S. band at 24 was a nicely timed pick-me-up. I just couldn’t find that ‘groove’ in the first half - knew I was probably working just a hair too hard, but couldn’t convince the legs to slow down. By about mile 17, the negative split plan was sunk, and I was just hoping to hold onto a sub-3 finish. I remember seeing an “M-dot/Go Deegan” sign around mile 15. Ended up squeaking in under 3 - 2:58:55 unofficially. It was my first stadium finish - gotta say that was pretty cool, although that ramp down to the field hurt like a mofo. Great job out there - have fun in Boston if you end up going.
