The First Annual Bruckelaufe was a success!

I’m sure when the organizers of the first annual Bruckelaufe half-marathon in Frankenmuth, MI selected the date of October 6, they were praying for a cool, clear, bright, fall day.  Their prayers were answered. The weather could not have been any better for running.  About 40 degrees at the 8:00AM start with almost no clouds.  The wind was blowing steady and did pick up throughout the race making some of the mile long stretches out in the fields a bit difficult but that was offset by the brightly colored leaves, farmlands and slightly rolling hills. 

As I lined up with the crowd of nearly 600 runners for this inaugural event I was undecided on how hard to run the race.  I have another half-marathon in two weeks so I was considering just coasting through the Frankenmuth race as an easy training run. But a couple of miles in I was pacing under 9 minute miles and felt great so I stepped up the pace and decided to set a PR.   

As we ran down long country roads and over a dozen bridges I focused on keeping a steady pace and picking off runners ahead of me to pass.  The strong wind was slowing others down but I pulling my cap on tighter, looked down and pushed through it feeling especially good when I passed guys that looked like they would be in my age group. Approaching the finish line I kicked into a sprint to pass two guys that had maintained a lead over me for miles.  My goal at the start was to break 2 hours and I finished at 1:52:40 so I was pleased.  I definitely plan to run the 2nd Annual in 2013.