Detroit Free Press Expo and Marathon - Oct 17/18. 2015

Was planning on doing Detroit last year but got into Chicago so did it instead and resisted the urge to do a back to back marathon since I am not getting any younger and there is no reason to wear out the body at such as early age.

Drove down to Detroit by myself on Saturday after running some errands, it was a nice 3 hours drive, went straight to the expo which was at the Cobo Center, it was easy to get to, lots of parking at the center that was listed outside for $10 but was actually $5 for those attending the expo.

I got flagged to see the immigration officers before I could pickup my bib, so had to show passport and answer some questions, not much at the expo, I thing the biggest selling product was  pouch for your passport since we were advised to have it with us doing the race, just about every vendor had their own version of passport protector. I went swiftly through the expo not much was of interest and no real freebies which for me is the fun part of expos.

On the way out got in some expo pictures and made my way to the hotel, I decided to stay at the Westin in Southfield which was only 15mins away and much cheaper than the hotels downtown.

Check in was a breeze at the hotel, even thou it seem very busy with a wedding, hockey group and  people watching a Michigan game all hoovering around. Went through the google map app to see what kind of restaurant was around me and there was an authentic Chinese restaurant nearby with great review, went over to try it out. You can judge the quality of a Chinese restaurant by how many Chinese patron are actually in there, this one was packed and they had a separate authentic Chinese menu, which is always fun to order from, it normally translate to no sugar and junk. The food was great and I was very tired, so was in bed promptly by 8pm since I had a 4am wake up alarm set. Parking is going to be a pain according to the where to park map we were given.

Had a really good night sleep, love the Westin Heavenly bedding, woke up refresh and relax, now to start the day, got everything done and was out of the hotel by 5:15am after requesting a 3pm checkout which was happily granted. Parking was a pain, getting into the free casino slot wasn't happening so headed off towards the start to look for parking, found one $20 absolutely no way, so drove around and found another about 15mins walk from the start for $5, I don't mind the walk after the race, seem perfect to flush things out.

This was a wave start, well organized with lots of porta potty around just about every corner. For some reason for this race I couldn't stop peeing not sure what the trigger was but by race start I had used the restroom close to 6 times and within minutes of starting I had to use it again, oh brother. WE had some nice snow flurries at the start, the joys of a midwest race never know what to expect nothing was coming off it was just too cold.

 Beautiful course, pretty much flat except for some incline on the bridges and towards the finish, running to Canada was interesting there was some crowd out along the route, the tunnel back was hot despite how cold it was outside so I really can't imagine how nasty this will be on a hot day.

They did a good job showing all the beautiful parts of the city, at no time did I feel unsafe, despite running by myself most of the time especially after the Half Marathoners joined us and before the American HM caught up with us.

Slightly disappointed in the lack of food at the end, no beer either. We had banana, chocolate milk, hummus(did not sure what I was suppose to eat this with) and protein bar, I guess my annoyance was further fuel by watching the volunteers eat sub sandwiches.

I walked over to what I thought was the after party but there wasn't much going on and I wasn't interested in buying over priced food and I also was cold if there was another party somewhere I didn't see it and wasn't going to walk around looking for it when I still had a 15mins walk back to my car.

I wasn't shooting for any finish time since I just did Akron 3 weeks ago but I always aim for under 5 hours when I do this multiple races, could have done much better if I wasn't constantly looking for a porta potty



Got back to the hotel after picking up another Chinese meal, shower took a quick nap then left the hotel about 3pm, this makes it easy for me to go straight to church instead of home since I may not make it back out.

All in all a great time in Detroit and we can cross off the great state of Michigan in our quest for 50 states.#runDetroit

Saturday, Shelby and I got to our run destination and decided going out for a run was going to be worthless, it was raining but since the temp was only 29, it was slick everywhere, we could get the run in but it will be us going for quantity and not quality, not worth it to me to do that.

So came back home and did Runerval 1.0 hanging with Coach Troy and The Clydesdale, I find it interesting that Coach calls this an easy workout, did most of the workout at the 10k pace and even for the final challenge instead of holding at base pace did 5k pace instead. Before the Runerval workout did, D2S P2 RAMP and Timed metabolic workout .

Then it was time to make a quick stop at my sister's place for her birthday party before heading to downtown Cleveland for an event at the Westin and an overnight stay.

Sunday, went looking for the Westin Fitness Lounge, I know they have been upgrading and emphasizing the important of exercise and sleep and great Fitness Lounges, well had to say this did not disappoint, probably the best hotel gym I have seen and I was like a kid in a candy store playing with all the toys and then when I found out I didn't have to check out till 3pm went back down after breakfast and nap for more fun.

Jacobs ladder is one of my favorite equipment and not found in too may places so extremely excited when I saw it and nobody was using it, oh I was in fitness heaven.