This weekend, when 26,000 runners leave the starting line in Detroit, Michigan Governor Gretchen Witmer will be among them.
Witmer is not running in the full or half marathon; those are 21 km and 40 km, but she will take part in the 5K run Saturday morning. It gets underway at 9:30 a.m.
The course will take her and other participants along the Detroit Riverwalk, past Milliken State Park, the Aretha Franklin Amphitheatre, and through the historic Rivertown Warehouse District before finishing in front of the DNR Outdoor Adventure Centre on Atwater Street.
More than 3,200 runners will join her.
Bystanders encourage runners during the 2014 Detroit Free Press Marathon. (Photo by Adelle Loiselle)
The half and full marathons are Sunday morning, and the event will mean some road closures on the Windsor side of the border.
The full marathon starts on Fort Street at Cass Avenue, heads to the Ambassador Bridge, over the border and down Riverside Drive West before going through Downtown Windsor. It will head up Goyeau Street to Park Street East and through the Windsor-Detroit Tunnel and back to Detroit, before taking the runners through Corktown, Mexicantown, Indian Village and around Belle Isle. The finish line is again where the race started on Fort Street.
The half marathon is also an international run without the scenic tour through Detroit's neighbourhoods.
Runners are expected to arrive on the Canadian side of the border between 7 a.m. and 9:45 a.m, so the Ambassador Bridge will close at 5:45 a.m. and reopen once the runners have passed over the span.
The Windsor-Detroit Tunnel will shut down at 6:45 a.m. and reopen at 10 a.m.
Huron Church Road from College Avenue to Riverside Drive will be closed during the marathon, along with Riverside Drive West to Goyeau Street, and Park Street East until 10 a.m.
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There will also be some disruption to Transit Windsor service Sunday morning on some routes.
Athletes from over 50 countries are expected to take part this year.
Last year's winner was Christopher Chipsiya of Mexico, who ran the course in 2:20:59.