Dexter-Ann Arbor Half Marathon

Well, the excitement of this was spending the weekend with my girls-Jen and Kristen. Jen arranged lodging for us at her cousin's which was great. We drove to the Ann Arbor-Dexter area on Saturday afternoon when the weather was still pretty good. We stopped by Ypsilanti High School for packet pick-up which was a let down. There were a couple vendors that really had nothing. The race shirts are army green-YUCK! and the packets had absolutely nothing in them except paper to recycle. We then headed to a great time shopping at REI. No deals there but a lot of fun things to dream about. Then on to the mall for buy 1, get 1 free Aunt Annie's pretzels. Also got to take Jen to H&M store which she has never been to before. They had lots of deals. Then we headed to Jen's cousins to unload and go to dinner. We had an awesome dinner at the Dexter Pub! Great prices and great food! Kristen and I shared a great pasta dish and a piece of Chocolate Bomb (fuel for the race-YES!). After dinner we came out into what was the start of rain.

We then went back to the house and tried out the WiiFit and got ready for bed. We decided we need help with the WiiFit. We were aged at 56 years old because we did not understand the balance concept of the board. So then it was off to sleep so we could be well rested--HAHA! Well we dozed off to be awoken around 12:15 my heavy winds, rain, and wide awake. We checked the weather and saw that there was a Tornado Warning for the area as well as a Tornado Watch. Eventually the rain stopped and we fell back to sleep. What a night!

Race morning was pretty typical! Dressed and head to the kitchen for a great bowl of oatmeal with some new milk for my girls. Today I had them trying Vanilla Rice milk. We enjoyed breakfast and loaded our gear and headed out. It was off and on sprinkles so who knew what the race had in store. We all parked at the finish and took the bus to the start of the half marathon. We started in Dexter and finished in Ann Arbor.

We were all lined up and ready to roll for the start of the half marathon. Then they came over the bull horn to announce that one of the roads had a tree blocking it and there would be a half hour delay. This was no fun because we were ready to go at the 8:30 start. Luckily, I had packed Gu and jelly beans just in case I had the need. With the delay my timing would be off from breakfast to the next food. Well we then heard the gun and we were off. The course was rather pretty. It had lots of turns which I like. I am bored running along a stretch for what seems like forever. There race ran through downtown Dexter with all the little shops. Then we were mostly on roads with a great tree canopy. Beautiful! The race finished in downtown Ann Arbor.

A lot of firsts for this race: First delayed start race, first race that we were in Tornado alley (one actually touched down in Dundee and did some sever damage to Cabela's and the Splash Hotel next to it, first race that I carried my phone and sent Kristen a text to touch base with her (we were on a walking break), then they dipped cups in trash bag lined trash cans to fill for Gatorade and water at the aide stations (??) --it seems like there were more firsts but that is what sticks in my mind.

So the race was a fun time with Jen and Kristen. And some fun shopping after lunch at Tanger Outlet and WalMart. No great deals at either place though.

Now it's back to the full marathon training so we are ready for October 3 Twin Cities Marathon. One last race before that which will be the USAF Half Marathon in mid-September. Another couple of road trips with the girls. Yahoo!