Marathon #38: Detroit Free Press Marathon

I am pleased to share that today I finished the 2025 Detroit Free Press Marathon, my 4th of the year and 38th total! But the weather made it a super challenging day, and I wasn't always so sure I had it in me to cross the finish line…

I knew coming into this race that it was going to rain. I have been tracking it for the past two weeks hoping for a shift in the weather patterns, or an inaccuracy in the forecast, but no such luck. The forecast called for steady rain throughout the entire race, and sting winds of about 20mph, with gusts up to 40mph at times. Yikes!

The worst of it was in the first 8 miles, where the rain was heaviest, wind was very strong, and literally everybody got soaked to the bone. My shoes were waterlogged within the first 2 miles of running through poorly drained street puddles, and my socks were squishing with every step. Wind made it really difficult to cross the Ambassador Bridge into Canada, and I was getting blasted in the face and eyes with rain sideways. It was miserable. The rain lightened up a bit, the sun rose, but the wind kept strong for the rest of the race, making it a tough day out there.

Despite all of the horrible weather, I was too amped and went out faster than I wanted to go today. It was really excited to run one of the only international marathons in the US, and I wanted to make the most of it. The canadian miles in Windsor were my favorite parts. After coming off the bridge, we had about 3 miles running along the south bank of the Detroit River, with the sun rising, and Downtown Detroit waking up in our views. It was beautiful, and I was flying through those miles with the 3-hour pace group, sticking with them even through the tunnel back into the US.

It became apparent to me in the incline part of the tunnel around mile 8 that I had gone out too fast. I was dripping wet, cold, and started to feel some early signs of let fatigue. It took me another couple of miles trying to power through to convince me, but I ended up abandoning my time goals, slowing down a bit and settling into a steadier pace around mile 10. I tried to focus solely on getting through the wind and rain and crossing that finish line on my feet.

Around the halfway point I was starting to feel really fatigued. Battling the wind really takes a lot out of you when running, and it really only helps when it is directly at your back. The rest of the time, it is just a constant struggle and energy drain to run against it. The rain stopped for a bit, but I was already soaking wet and carrying all the extra water weight the whole way. For just about every mile after the halfway point I stopped to walk for 30-60 secs as powering through was too tough feeling the relentless wind, and knowing how many miles I had left to get through.

I don't have much to report on for the last half—It was just a grind to get through it. There were some interesting neighborhoods I got to run through, and lots of great street art throughout the city. The few people who were out cheering were nice, but they were also not so excited to be out in the weather!

My friends Daniel and Jessie came out to cheer me on around mile 25 with their daughter, and it was a really nice boost to see some familiar faces near the end and receive some speed-boosting high-fives!

In the end, I was able to cross the finish line, exhausted, cold, and soaked to the bone, but happy to be done. My official time was 3:19:36 so definitely not my fastest, but given the conditions, I am proud of it nonetheless.

And of course, I went for my traditional post-marathon tattoo and incremented my tally!

After cleaning up, I spent the day with my friends and had a blast, thanks for the great time!

Next up is marathon number #39 in 2 weeks, back home in New York City. Stay tuned!