I ran this race 9-6-08 and just now am finding the time to write my report. So, we make reservations at a Days Inn for 2 night up in Mackinac City. We arrive around 10pm Friday night and are asleep around 11pm. Wake up at 6:30am relatively refreshed and are on the ferry to the island at 7:30. We arrive on the island at 7:50 and then walk to the Mission Resort hotel to pick up our race packets. We then find our friend that paid for the cozy hotel room on the island and drop off a bag with clean clothes. We then proceeded to the start line.
We get there with about 30 minutes or so till race time. I do a warmup and stretch and then we're down to about 10 minutes and we start to crowd the start line. We're chatting it up and telling each other where we're hoping to finish. I was shooting for anything under 65 minutes. Then suddenly the race starts. We don't hear a gun just the crowd starting to move. So we're off!.
The first mile is through downtown Mackinac Island City. The crowd is cheering as we go by. Cool! It's crowded though and hard to pass folks. Finally, it starts to clear up and I can settle into my pace. Mile two I'm running well and have a 14:45 split. cool, right on target if not a tad fast. Still feeling good. Mile three rolls around and am at 22 even. Sweet. Still feeling great! Mile four rolls around and I'm looking for H20! Finally find one 1/4 mile up the road. Phew, much better. Mile 4 was under 30 minutes! Feeling good. Mile 5 and 6 I think I must have fell asleep as I don't remember much from them. Mile 7 I'm at 53 minutes and some change. I pick up my pace for the final mile. By 7.5 miles I'm cruising and passing people with relative ease. 1/4 mile from the finish I kick it into a gear I forgot I had and was flyin past every runner still in sight! I finish with a personal best 1:00:22. 6th place in my age division and 121st overall!! Nearly under an hour!!! This was my first time doing this race and my 1st race after the Crim. I ran horribly at the Crim and figured I'd do quite well to redeem my confidence. Never thought I'd run that well though!!
Sadly, school is back in session and my study time is taking precedence over running. I'm a little sore yet as well so I'm not in too much of a hurry to find time to run yet..... My racing schedule is down to maybe 3-4 races the rest of the year and are all 5k's I think. Unless I can find a longer one that's not too far away...
Scott
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