Saturday was the Martian Invasion of Races, and my husband and I were signed up for the 10K. I had done the full marathon last year, and this would be my husband's first Martian race.
We were able to hit the race expo Friday night to pick up our stuff and have one fewer thing to worry about on race day. It was pretty small, but I picked up a few fliers for upcoming races and some Body Glide. I noticed that multiple people manning race booths didn't say one word to me, which I thought was odd. Not even making small talk to see if I'd heard of them before? Sheesh.
I also couldn't resist this coffee mug.
We got up early to let the dogs out and have coffee and a small breakfast before heading out. We wanted to get there early so we didn't have to park miles away, and even stopping to pick up a friend we arrived with plenty of time to find a metered spot only a few blocks away from the start line.
It was chilly to start, and I was glad to be wearing running tights, a long-sleeved running shirt, earwarmers and thin mittens. We tried to stay warm, got a few pictures with people in costumes, used the porto-potties -- all the usual pre-race stuff. Before too long, it was 8 a.m. -- race time!
I was running with my husband, and we started at the back of the pack. He started keeping count of all the strollers we passed and which passed us. We also came up with a new race term: Getting "Fidoed," or passed by a dog. Yes, we were Fidoed.
We kept a pretty steady 12:05-12:20 pace as we ran through a few neighborhoods in Dearborn, down an highway on ramp (pretty cool), and up Hines Drive, a popular nature-y trail and park system, for a few miles. We hit the turnaround and headed up the Rouge River trail behind Henry Ford Community College and University of Michigan-Dearborn. About this time, my husband said he had some gas in the tank, so we kicked it up a bit as we ran back on Michigan Avenue (that mile was 10:23). He took off when we hit the 6-mile mark and even yelled, "I'm actually passing people!!!" which got some laughs. Our official time was 1:13:30.
And we got this awesome medal:
Overall, we had a blast. A great course, awesome medals, decent post-race food, friendly volunteers. I think the 10K course should have had at least one porto-potty on the race course, though -- a few at the halfway point would have been enough. Other than that, it was a great time.
Most of all, I'm proud of my husband for not having to stop one time. He did great. Now, to get him bitten by the racing bug so we can do a few more!
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