By Brad Slazinski

Contributing Reporter

While many were either sleeping in or waking up on Sunday Oct. 5, thousands of people were awake at 8 a.m. in Rochester Hills getting ready to run the Brooksie Way half marathon. I was one of those participants and I had a thought before I started this race — “why am I doing this?”

It was a challenge to see if I could finish my first race of over ten miles. People have various reasons for doing these things. Some use it to celebrate a change in their lifestyles, others see it as a unique challenge in their lives, and some do it to train for the Detroit Marathon. My goal was to finish and be able to live to tell about it.

Training for a half marathon was new to me. Whether I was at school or a job, training was a bit difficult due to time constraints — but I managed.

My serious training started in late August. Prior to that, I had just done some light running.

I would run around six to eight miles a day for a few weeks with only one day a week off. If I was pressed for time I would go at least four miles so I could still get a run in.

Around mid-September I started increasing the amount of miles I was running to ten.

Running so far was difficult because my body wasn’t used to it.

As September wore on, I found myself running ten miles more often. Then, in the week leading up to the Brooksie Way I started taking it easy.

That week I hit a snag when I pulled a calf muscle all because I simply stretched my legs.

One moment I was watching a movie and I stretched out, the next it felt like someone took a baseball bat to the back of my leg.

I panicked mainly because, if it was bad, I wouldn’t be able to run the Brooksie Way. I spent the rest of the day putting ice on the back of my leg and by the next day I felt better and was

able to run.

Race day arrived and, while I looked forward to running my first half marathon, waking up at 6 a.m. wasn’t the best thing in the world.

I arrived with about an hour to spare so I walked around trying to keep warm. Fortunately, it got warmer around race time and I was able to wear shorts.

Close to race time, I ran into some friends of mine who have been runners for a while. One of them, Tara was running her second half marathon while my friend Josh was running his first. He also wanted a new challenge.

Anyone who has run a race of any distance that has large crowds will attest that the start can be very chaotic. The start of such races are bottlenecked and there are times when you get caught way too far back. You just want to get moving as quick as possible to avoid getting boxed in.

For those worried about time technology, no matter where you start, the clock will start as soon as your shoe — which has a chip tied to it — hits a mat fitted with the proper timing technology.

As I heard the word “go,” I thought it was for the half marathon and as I cut across large groups of people I heard from the loud speakers that this start was for the 5k instead.

In frustration, I shook my head and stopped. A few minutes later, I heard the rules for the half marathon start and the standard “On your marks, set, go” roared over the crowd. I took off and, as soon as I hit the mat, my clock started.

The starts of races are weird especially if one hasn’t raced in a long time.

For me it felt like a change of scenery, something new and exciting and different from my usual routine. For some experienced runners, it’s just another day, another race.

The first part of the race started nicely — going right into the sun so we would be warm for a bit and going downhill for the first four and a half miles.

Running down Walton Road. I basically told myself that I am going to try and not get too excited so I won’t tire out too early in the race. As I got to the Clinton River Trail which is surfaced with dirt, I remember thinking “my turf for now.”

The whole trip through the trail was a flat, mostly straight path which was enjoyable and had great scenery.

At the sixth mile, I entered Paint Creek Trail, a place that I was familiar with having lived near it for a long time.

The race started going uphill, but only slightly. Hoping that this was temporary, I took it easy in hopes that there would be plenty of downhills to enjoy the rest of the race.

Unfortunately, I was wrong. As soon as I got out of Paint Creek Trail, it was uphill and very steep for the reminder of mile six. During that trek, there was the occasional comment from spectators saying that the uphill was almost done.

I was hoping that on the otherside of the hill would be a nice long downhill in which I could lengthen my stride and just conserve some energy for the time being.

Sadly, it wasn’t meant to be. The rest of the course, barring the last three miles, was just nothing but uphill to which my mind occasionally screamed out “Why do you keep doing

this?”

I ignored my negative thoughts and kept going as the uphills just kept coming. Fortunately, there were the water tables every mile — even though I drank very little. It’s near impossible to drink and run at the same time I learned. It did come in handy for keeping me cool. As I saw the mile ten sign I thought to myself, “three more to go.”

The last three miles of the race was something of a relief for me. This part of the race was mostly downhill with the exception of one small upward incline in comparison to the other hills I’d seen.

When I made it to Walton and Adams, my mind was simply thinking “almost done, almost done.”

When I got near Meadow Brook Hall, which was where the finish was located, I started speeding up taking advantage of the downhills. I saw the finish hidden off behind the trees. I sped up and as soon as I approached the side entrance to Meadow Brook Hall, I felt like Road Runner in the Looney Tunes cartoons. I managed to pass a few people and as I finished I stumbled around, bent over panting like a dog and nearly vomited.

After the race, I spent most of my time getting over the fact that I ran 13 miles and lived. As soon as I was done I went home and slept for the rest of the day.

Overall, I did quite well for a first half marathon and finished 274th overall in a group of 2,339 runners.

As I conversed with a friend about this race, she asked, “Why do you do this to yourself?” I replied: “Because I enjoy it.”