Run for the Arts (Interlochen - 2022 - 5K)
221.6 Mile Drive
Registration:
Run for the Arts had
very artistic wording describing a course participants would “traverse” on with
live music playing and art to view. I
was given an option for “non-binary” for the first time ever while registering
online. I was curious how non-binary was going
to be handled with awards, if a separate age group
category would be added etc.
Packet pick-up was
in the Fine Arts Building on Center for the Arts grounds very close to the
entrance. There was a drum set and a
bunch of music stands in the large room.
There were great bathrooms in the Fine Arts Building. The volunteers did pose and smile for a
picture but three of the five wore masks and unfortunately their smiles
couldn’t be seen.
I found Run for the Arts after registering for the Mushroom Glow Run in Mesick the same night of May 7th. I like to make longer northern Michigan trips worth the drive even more by booking two close runs if possible. I did that with Shelby and Fremont in 2019 and it worked out great.
I thought Interlochen was the band camp that Jason went to for a few weeks during a middle school Summer. Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Twin Lake was wher Jason went, two hours south of Interlochen. I was way off. When I ran in Shelby and Fremont we drove by Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp. Jason got out and stood by the entrance sign for a picture. I should have remembered Interlochen wasn’t his band camp. I looked at cabins I passed on the course thinking they may have been Jason’s.
Thinking Interlochen was where
Jason had gone to band camp was an inspiration for my 5K registration. Interlochen is also a community that only has two
runs a year. It’s hard to get. I like
running in hard-to-get cities.
Course:
The Run for the Arts 5K course was beautiful. It was a good combination of trails and pavement as they had stated in their description.
We did a lot of zigzagging through Interlochen’s Center for the Arts grounds. The start of the race was by The Kresge overlooking Green Lake.
We went south through woods and cabins on the lake and circled back to the entrance of Interlochen passing our car in the parking lot.
We went down Eugene Ormandy Avenue with camp buildings on the left and parking on the right, before we turned onto a trail and pased the first musical area on the course. It was a group of brass instruments.
We took a long paved path back to the lake along a large open grass field with a park. The sun was beaming bright in front of us.
The second musical area on the
course consisted of two guitarists on a porch.
They were near a bell on the top of a wooden structure. I think the bell was an art sculpture.
Mile two of the course transitioned to wide dirt roads with funny course signage.
A hilarious Director of Music Production made a joke about the Chariots of Fire being an FM synthesizer playing one note over and over again.
After Chariots of Fire, we
were on a dirt path with tall pine trees surrounding us. We came back to
paved roads and to our third musical station with five brass instrument
musicians that included three trombones.
Jason played the trombone in middle school.
Some very nice course volunteers guided us back out to Eugene Ormandy Avenue (the main road through
Interlochen Center for the Arts). A woman in a yellow shirt commented that it was neat I was taking pictures. We
headed north and then took a left at the Phoenix passing the Mallory-Towsley
Center for Arts Leadership building and Charlie’s Shack before circling around more
cabins.
The mile two marker was by the Center for the Arts water tower and Herbert H. and Barbara C. Dow Visual Arts building. I got awesome pictures of the green and white water tower as I passed it.
We came to a fork in the road where I could see runners coming back towards me to my left. The first direction was to head right at the fork.
The fork took us onto a trail back out to more cabins and Green Lake. We had been absent from water views for a bit.
It was nice to see the lake again.
There was a mix of stone and wood cabins. I passed a volunteer with an amazing smile
and a very happy inspiring attitude.
Braeside Recreational Hall was one of the best areas of the course because I got so close to the water.
The building had really large windows overlooking the lake with cool wood columns inbetween.
I passed a young
girl by Braeside and told her she was awesome.
I loved her colorful clothing.
Our fourth musical performance was a serenade. …a fast groovy serenade. A man was playing an electric kayboard above us on the balcony of the Grunow Building.
After I turned the corner of the Grunow Building I saw a huge auditorium and….
Jason and the kids!
After waving and giving high fives to my family I went up a hill and circled around “The Bowl,” a huge outdoor auditorium. The Kresge is a slightly smaller auditorium next to The Bowl. Jason and the kids were standing in front of the Kresge.
There was a sign in front of The Bowl that read,
“In this place you hear the crack that ends everything and
starts so much.”
It was quite a magnificent outdoor auditorium.
I came to stone cabins after passing the auditorium and felt like I had traveled back in time. They were my favorite cabins on Center for the Arts grounds.
I went up an incline passing the Interlochen Shed (the most epic campus sign) completing the loop back to the water tower and aide station. The second time I passed the aide station I was heading to the finish with a third of a mile to go. It was a straight shot down Fredrick Stock Avenue.
I almost made a
right turn around a tree approaching the finish instead of going left and a
volunteer corrected me. At the finish
line was the last of the 5K musicians, a keyboard and saxophone duet. They were awesome.
Swag:
I received a Caribbean blue shirt that read, “Interlochen Run for the Arts.” There was a paint palette next to the text. The logo was pretty small compared to other run shirts I’ve gotten. I loved the shirt’s softness and ocean water color. It looks light blue in my pictures but it is actually a greenish blue.
All finishers received beautiful finisher
medals that matched the race shirts and had the paint palette in the middle of
the run name. The lanyards were
customized and had “Run for the Arts” “Interlochen” and “Finisher” on
them. Finisher
medals were heavy and high quality.
Restrooms:
Four Porta-Johns were put up by the start and finish gathering area overlooking the Green Lake.
The outdoor bathrooms were in addition to the
really nice restroom inside the Fine Arts Building at packet pick-up. The Fine Arts bathroom had light pink tiles
with black tile accents, a window with a drape and a cute sink. It reminded me of a bathroom in an older 1950's home. It was very nice.
Food:
The post-race food tables set up at Interlochen make it onto my top 10 best post-race food list. There was a fruit table with bananas and dried cherries in Dixie cups.
A second table had bags of regular Great Lakes Potato Chips and Think protein bars in Lemon, Chunky Chocolate Peanut, Brownie Crunch Chocolate and Crème Cupcake.
A third table had Nuun watermelon flavored instant hydration packets and Northwoods root beer in huge 16oz yellow plastic cups!
GoGo
Squeeze had a separate sponsor table with different kinds of GoGo Squeeze
flavors that included:
-
Peach
-
Red Raspberry
-
Amazing Apple
-
Strawberry Yogurt
I hadn’t seen a GoGo
Squeeze Peach pouch before. The GoGo
Squeeze Rep was awesome and took the kids picture for her Facebook page when
she saw me taking mine. She let all the
kids take a pouch. I didn't know the GoGo Squeeze manufacturing headquarters was located in Grawn, Michigan, only six minutes from Interlochen.
I loved the post-race food at Run for the Arts. Interlochen knows how to
put on a buffet for its 5K participants.
Northwoods root beer, Nuun watermelon hydration and Great Lakes chips
were the best. I hadn’t had Nuun
hydration before and watermelon is my favorite flavor. It’s been a long time since I’ve had root beer
at a run. I was able to get cups of root beer for Jason and the kids.
In addition to all that amazing food waiting for finishers Sweet Treats Ice Cream Truck was parked outside Osterlin Mall near the entrance of Center of the Arts. We passed it as we were walking to our car to leave.
The ice cream truck owner was giving away half a dozen free items on her menu. Jason asked for a free fudge bar but the kids and I couldn’t resist our favorites that cost a little extra.
Luke looked like Derek Zoolander after finishing his Sonic pop. He even nailed Zoolander’s iconic pose!
Awards:
There was no official awards ceremony at Run for the Arts. Results were posted on a large blue board near the finish line. There was a table with black embroidered OGIO duffel bags that had the same writing and symbol as the finisher medals.
Personalized Center for the Arts duffle bags were
only given out to first place finishers in ten-year age groups. They needed 16 bags total. I am not sure what overall finishers
received. I came in fifth in the 30-39
age group. I would have come in third had
it been five-year age groups, however that still wouldn’t have landed me an awesome duffle bag. I love that I got a wonderful finisher medal. I felt good about
my place and time.
Aide Stations:
There was one aide
station near the halfway point of the course at 1.25 miles. The station was manned by two women, one was
holding a small dog. There were
pre-poured Dixie cups on a table filled with water. The aide station was in a well thought out
location at the start of a loop. It was
passed twice by participants. Putting it
on the second half of the course instead of the loop on the first half was
a great choice. Participants are often tired and thirstier at the end of a run
Timing:
Mac’s Sports Timing provided the timing for Run for the Arts using Chronotrack Systems. I liked Mac’s website. It was very professional. Mac's Sports has experience in all kinds of races, not just running events. They have experience with chip timing that has to withstand high speeds of cyclists and water damage during swimming.
It looked like Center for the Arts designed the start and finish line
and Mac’s Sports added the cones, clock and timing mats. Results were posted very quickly and updated
every couple minutes.
City Notes:
Interlochen is another very small
Michigan town. It is so small that it’s
technically an un-incorporated community with a population of less than 600 people according to the 2020 Census.
Interlochen Center
for the Arts (Interlochen CFTA) is a 501 non-profit known all
over the world as a prestigious fine arts school for gifted and talented art students
(musical, theatrical etc). They pride
themselves on being a “true artist’s retreat” and state that Interlochen Center
for Arts is:
“Where wonder
ignites creativity.”
“Where curiosity becomes confidence.”
Interlochen CFTA’s
prestige comes at a price and is almost three times as expensive for two weeks
at camp than Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Twin Lake, MI.
Interlochen CFTA has
a long list of notable graduates including actresses Felicity Huffman (1981)
and Rumer Willis (2002-2004). Other celebrities
that spent summers at Interlochen CFTA include:
Ed Helms (1991),
Terry Crews (1986), Ana Gasteyer from SNL (1979-1981) and Josh Groban (1997-1998).
At the age of 15
song writer and singer Jewel traveled all the way from Homer, Alaska to attend
Interlochen CFTA.
Jeffrey Epstein even attended Interlochen CFTA
as an avid piano player in 1967.
Interlochen CFTA is
a 2,100 acre campus that is like a small city.
During the Summer its campus can house up to 3,000 students in addition to
their 500 regular school year attendees.
In 2021 Interlochen
Fine Arts Camp finished a renovation project 30 years in the making from the
first day ideas were discussed in 1991.
The renovation spanned over 17 buildings and included a major $24
million music center that opened in 2019.
Interlochen State
Park became the very first state park in the state of Michigan in 1917 when the
last virgin pine trees from a century of logging were saved. Center for the Arts backs up to Interlochen State Park. The community of Interlochen is nestled in between Duck and
Green Lakes and receives lake effect snow from Lake Michigan but no cool Great Lake
breezes, making for very cold winters and very hot summers.
Interlochen has a lot of nice businesses that include Lochen Wood Ice Cream and Mini Golf, Mrs. O’s Crap Shack and Hofbrau Food and Spirits. Google lists Hofbrau Food and Spirits as a steakhouse. Hofbrau has an amazing log cabin design with 26 draft beers and so many delicious food photos online. I wish we could have stopped to eat there. We had a busy mushroom hunting schedule to get to.
Mrs. O’s
Crap Shack (I did a double take because I thought it couldn’t be “crap” and had
to be crab) gives out a spunky fun resale vibe in its description online. Mrs. O’s motto is, “The hassle-free side
hustle everyone’s talking about.” Based
on the shop’s Facebook page, the owner has an outstanding sense of humor. As for Lochen Wood (another funny play on
words) we drove by it and the mini putt-putt mountain looked amazing.
City Sign:
Other Awesomeness:
Run for the Arts had amazing musical performances on the 5K
course. The most outstanding musical
performance was the National Anthem performed by an amazing young electric
guitarist. I was blown away by his
unique twist on the national anthem, as was the entire crowd that watched
him. It was the coolest national anthem
at a run event.
The start of the race was given by a giant filmmaking
clapperboard. The woman that slammed it was at the top of the Run for the Arts
start arch. The start arch looked like
it was constructed out of scaffolding ladders.
It was a very unique starting arch.
The woman yelled, “Take One!” as she slammed the clapperboard together. The slam was a lot quieter than expected and
runners did not immediately take off. A
horn was blown seconds after the clapperboard was slammed that sent runners
officially off.
Run for the Arts course support was great. There was a woman standing with a little girl holding a sign that said, “Run for the Farts." The “F” was turned on its side. It was a fun play on words. There were a lot of course volunters, fun signs guiding participants and musical performances (something I have never had on a course before).
There
course had six musical stations with brass instruments, guitars, a piano and a speaker playing well known songs. The scenery was beautiful with a large
portion of the course near water.
When we got back to our car, before leaving for East Jordan, Michigan I fed the dogs. We didn’t have spoons so I scooped Corky’s wet food out with my hand into his bowl and then…
Here is a funny video of Jason calling me a Neanderthal.
I have videos of
the five of us trying to recreate the “Angry Birds” chant minutes before pulling
into Center for the Arts in Interlochen.
It took us a few tries to nail it.
There was a massage therapist providing free massages after the
race. I put my name on his list and was called while I was stretching to get a massage. After the race the massage therapist picked random people from his massage sign-in sheet for a free one-month membership to a gym near Interlochen. I was called and told I had won one, but unfortunately, I couldn't use a gym three hours away. My Run for the Arts massage was shorter and
lighter than Mason the night before. I
can’t believe I was able to get two massages in a 12 hour period at two back to
back races. It was awesome!
Course Rating: 5 Stars
Post-Race Food Rating: 5 Stars
Swag Rating: 5 Stars
Awards Rating: 4.7 Stars
Race Execution: 5 Stars
Restroom Rating: 5 Stars
Aide Stations: 5 Stars
Timing
Company: 5 Stars
Post-Race Activities: 5 Stars
Run for the Arts Quote:
“The Earth without “art” is just “eh.”
- Unknown .
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