Detroit Free Press Marathon

Detroit Free Press Marathon

Detroit Free Press Marathon

( 121 reviews )
95% of reviewers recommend this race
  • Detroit,
    Michigan,
    United States
  • October
  • 13.1 miles/Half Marathon, 26.2 miles/Marathon, Virtual Race
  • Road Race
  • Event Website

See more of our race!

Two countries, one great race. From 26.2 to 5K, we have a distance for you.

Catherine

Michigan, United States
37 12
2016
"U.S. Half or International Half—fun both ways!"
Overall
T-Shirts/SWAG
Aid Stations
Course Scenery
Expo Quality
Elevation Difficulty
Parking/Access
Race Management
Catherine 's thoughts:

I've run the international half a couple of times, and ran the U.S. half for the first time this year, and I love both races for very different reasons. The international half is a truly world class experience. It's a treat to run through 2 countries (plus the crowds in Canada are a blast), and getting to run the only "underwater mile" is a fun running bucket list item to check off. It's just really hard not to take off too fast because the energy of the huge group of runners is incredible!

The start of the U.S. Half feels like a much smaller local race--if you want the high energy vibe, do the International Half. On the other hand, if you find crowds of tens of thousands of runners overwhelming, you'll love the U.S. half! It wasn't crowded, but you still get the "big race experience" because you're sharing the second half of the marathon course. That means you get the benefits of the larger race (like a fun party atmosphere coming through Indian Village, kegs and all) and a pumped up finish line, because you'll be finishing with the marathoners!

As a bonus, if you do both races in different years as I have, you'll have previewed the entire marathon course. I don't know how many other marathons have that kind of "practice run" built in, but I've got to believe it's fairly rare. Of course, now the family expects it will be no big deal for me to do the whole thing, and I can't quite seem to explain to them that doing them both in one day is a different thing altogether. ;-)

I should note that one of the previous reviews mentions a poor design for the packet pickup, which was true 2 years ago. They've since fixed it so that you have a straight shot around the outside of the expo to get to the packet pickup. You could even sneak out of the expo altogether if you wanted, though I always find something interesting. There's always free stuff of some sort--this year we got some sample Lara bars, I won some Brooks headphones, and we picked up a free chocolate "Got Milk" cowbell, which my husband made good use of during the race. :-)

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