MOUNT BALDHEAD CHALLENGE (Saugatuck - 2019 - 12 Mile)

  Mount Baldhead Challenge 2019 Photos

174 Mile Drive

2019 MOUNT BALDHEAD CHALLENGE!!!!

The toughest race I have done.

I consider it a half marathon because it was only one mile short and the course was so intense.  I was very worried about my calf from Mackinaw.  I thought about switching to the 7.5 course, but my gut said it was all or go home.

The night before the run they had a kids race and gave out their left over ceramic medals from 2018.  They had a huge food tent with all kinds of snacks for kid participants.  I picked up my packet at the kids run from some very nice older men.  After the kid's run we ate at our favorite restaurant in downtown Saugatuck, Scooters!  New food items this visit included: sloppy joe, beef vegetable soup and their FRIED TWINKLE of amazingness!!!  Everything at Scooter’s was wonderful.  We found Peace Tea at a gas station on the way to our hotel.  We bought out all the Raspberry and Peach in their cooler because we have such a hard time finding it at home.

The next morning before the run started they had games and awesome 90's music for families.  The bus was busy taking the 7.5 mile runners to the other side of the Kalamazoo River to their separate starting area.  An amazing cannon firing started the run.  It misfired the first time they tried.  For the first three miles I worried about my leg going out on me like it did when I fractured my ankle.  After three miles I let that worry go and ran with a clearer mind.

We went around the Kalamazoo River over the Girder Bridge and into Douglas on Bluestar Highway.  We passed lake houses and were on a steady slow incline up past the Mount Baldhead stairs into Mount Baldhead Park trails.  It felt like a good tease to run by the most intense part of the course, the steps up Mount Baldhead, knowing I would come back more exhausted later and climb it.  After weaving through trails for what felt like a mile I came to a screeching holt the top of Crow's Nest.  I told the volunteer how amazing the view was and took pictures.  I had to stop and admire the view of Lake Michigan from that height.  It was a total surprise.  Breathtaking is the only word to describe it.  

I left Crow's Nest and ran back into the woods enroute to the 302 steps to the top of Mount Baldhead.  I was exhausted by the time I reached it at mile seven.  I initially tried to jog up the stairs but that quickly turned into a power walk that turned into a sluggish keeled over walk.  I was walking next to another runner who I chatted with the whole way up.  She was an awesome woman from Holland.  I could barely move my legs by the time we made it to the top.  At the top of Mount Baldhead the course became an immediate downhill slope in four inch dry sand.  Luckily, an ATV had just gone down the path and I was able to run in its freshly compacted tracks for gained stability.  It was not a steep hill, but the sand was a huge challenge.

After Mount Baldhead and Crow’s Nest came another unbelievable surprise....LAKE MICHIGAN!!

We ran on the wet sand right next to the waves!  I will remember that moment forever.  I wish that part of the course didn't have to end. I had no idea part of the course was running on Lake Michigan.  It was totally worth the wet shoes.  No other course I have run has been on the sands of Lake Michigan.

After Lake Michigan it was back to downtown Saugatuck.  It was the home stretch.  I loved seeing my family waving at me from across the Kalamazoo River as I came to mile nine (the 7.5 mile start).  They helped me regain strength for the last and most tiring three miles.  I really struggled in the last mile and stopped to walk a lot.  Everything was beautiful but the course was non-stop with challenges. 

Jason picked me up and twirled me around at the finish.  A fellow runner said, "I wish my husband did that to me."  He bought me a tiny stain glass ghost I had admired walking through town before the race.  I have  the ghost hanging on my medal wall next to my Mount Baldhead Challenge sticker.  

The Root Barrel was a landmark I ran by on the course.  It's a giant rootbeer barrel that serves lunch!  We ate lunch there and it was fantastic.  They had macaroni hot dogs! I got a meatball sandwich. We played badminton after eating using their net and rackets.  I had so much sand in my shoes from the race we took a video of Jason pouring it out.  We spent the rest of the day on Lake Michigan (getting more sand in shoes). The kids braved the cool water and built a massive fort out of sand.  Corky went into hardcore relaxation.  A group of amazing dogs came by and licked the kids.  It was awesome.

The Mount Baldhead Challenge was amazing, stunning and incredible.  The medal is epic, the shirt sums it up great and the accomplishment is absolutely unbelievable.  Mount Baldhead is the ultimate running challenge.  It stands as my favorite course in my Michigan running. There is nothing else like it that I have been to yet.

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