When race organizers realized the popularity of running through these wonderful areas of Detroit, they found a way to incorporate them into this year’s race and presented runners with an entirely redesigned race route. While the new route remained an international race and runners would run over the Ambassador Bridge into Canada at sunrise. Then return to the US via an underwater mile long tunnel. Most of the balance of the route was new. This included still new areas of Mid-Town such as the historic Woodbridge neighborhood. I told myself I had run over the bridge and thru the tunnel enough times (12th during my career), I wanted to experience these other parts of Detroit especially the Dequindre Cut. I also saw it as a unique opportunity to feel like I was running an entirely new race too, albeit a race that was at the same time very familiar to me. So, I switched my entry from the International Half Marathon to the US Half Marathon and was anxiously looking forward to this exciting opportunity!
Let The Racing Season Begin!
Even though it’s mid-August it felt like the re-scheduled Dexter / Ann Arbor 10K was the beginning of the fall racing season here in Michigan. Since the return of local races in our area late this past fall many runners have been aiming for now. This 10K represented a “tune-up” race for me to allow me to judge how my summer training thus far. My major races are The Crim 10 Mile in two weeks, followed by The Brooksie Way at the end of September, and the Detroit Half Marathon in mid-October. My goal is to finish near the top of my five year age group in each of these races with the peak race being Detroit.