Brooksie Way Half Marathon Report

This time of year is great knowing that we are moving out of triathlon/cycling season into running/marathon season.   Nice cool days and colorful leaves and a build up to some type of long distance run.    This day(Sunday, October 4th) was the 2nd annual BrooksieWay Half Marathon at Oakland University.   Having lived in this area, I knew most of the course and was excited to come back.   We had another GRC athlete participating and eventually leading her field.    While I’m a huge advocate of negative splitting, this course is almost impossible to do so, especially on this day with a tailwind leading us out and a headwind coming home.   Needless to say, the course is all downhill for the first half and all uphill for the remainder of most of the second half.   It’s more about energy and heart rate maintenance. 

The goal was to average 7:30’s knowing it wasn’t flat.   I blew it out the window on the first 2 miles by averaging under 7:00’s, but feeling good.   It’s also good to find a bigger guy to draft off of on the headwind sections, but all I could find were petite girls, they weren’t much help!   The crowd support was good and the volunteers were plentiful.   Overall it is a well organized event, the only knock was it started 15 minutes later than published.   Even had decent medals with some weight to them. 

The coach had a decent day with a 1:38 (7:30 avg).  But even better was Jane, who once again WON HER AGE GROUP, even after easing up before the finish due to a tight hamstring.   She continues to amaze the coach and I know she is going to do awesome at IM Cozumel.  

Post race continues with Hammer Recoverite and my new found secret weapon, Zoot Compression Recovery Tights.   These things are legal doping!   I absolutely love them.   After a good long run, I shower and will take a 1-2 hour nap while wearing them.  I am not lying when I say that I can recover the next day as though nothing happened.   If anyone has any doubts, they are well worth the money, at least for recovery.  I haven’t tried them yet for workouts. 

Another great day for GRC!