WTF Winter Trail Fest 2020 Photos 122 Mile Drive The WTF (Winter Trail Fest) was really something amazing.  I love trails and had never done a trail half marathon, let alone in the winter.  My longest trail event before this run was my nine miles at Winter Loops.  I was really excited when I signed up for it.  When I read over the race details email I got a little concerned when I saw, “water crossing” in their finishing mile notes.  I emailed the race director and got a surprising response about a creek crossing around 12.6 miles. The water would be at least least knee deep.  Runners didn’t have to get into the creek.  If you choose to go around there was a short .25 mile penalty.  I was frustrated because RunSignUp mentioned the creek but it didn't say you had to go in it or else! (insert evil voice)  I thought the water would be crossed over a cool bridge.  When they said, “WTF were you thinking racing a trail half marathon that crosses a creek in the middle of winter?”   …Th

   Paczki Run 2020 Photos 27 Mile Drive The 2020 Paczki Run was an event I’ve had my eye on for a year.  I love running for good food at a finish line.  In 33 years I have never had an authentic Paczki from Hamtramck.  I have never even been to Hamtramck.  I liked that the run started late.  We got to sleep in and take our time getting up in the morning.  Many roads were shut down around the city. The roads that were still open were almost all one-ways that were very congested with cars parked along the entire street on both sides.  The homes in Hamtramck are so close together.  You can high-five your neighbor from your window!  If one person in Hamtramck had a house fire the whole neighborhood would go down in flames! I got a really good warm-up walking to the start down a ghost town street.  I have never seen so many Pawn Shops within such close range of one another.  I was so focused I walked right past bib pick-up.  After inquiring with random runners I ended up walking back to get

   Burton Hot Fudge Run 2020 Photos 69 Mile Drive Burton Hot Fudge Runs have a consistent level of greatness every year.  I like how they add and change little things.  This year, in 2020, they had BJ's chili with the hot fudge station.  I also love how you can expect the same awesome things year after year.  I love the course.  I really like the ramp going over 69.  It’s unique in how it curly Q’s up instead of just being a straight ramp to the top.  I noticed a lot of the volunteers on the course were holding Marathon cups.  They had something hot to keep their hands warm.  It made me smile and want hot chocolate.  I was glad they had the original course back this year. I thought the train track was pretty cool last year, but I like the expressway overpass more. Every year after the Hot Fudge Run I look forward to coming back into the Bentley High School gym for the chocolate treats, chili and hot cocoa.  There were not a lot of runners when I got back inside this year.  Since mo

   Chili Heart 2020 Photos 76 Mile Drive The 2020 Chili Heart 5K was an amazing run at a fantastic location in a really cool and unique city.  I learned today that Saint Clair Shores and the city of Saint Clair are not as close to one another as I thought.  We didn’t get shirts but they did give out finisher medals and nice age group medals.  The run started at Saint’s Middle School with the course along the bike path. It was very scenic along Jordan creek for a majority of the run.  I got passed by a lot of runners in the first half mile but then as time went on I slowly passed a handful of the same runners that had passed me.  I always hate passing people.  I do it really slow.  I feel like runners I pass are going to pass me again before the finish.  I felt really strong and faster than usual on this run.  The miles seemed short and I wasn’t exhausted.  I was five seconds short of the 26’s.  I couldn’t have asked for a better run even without an age group award. After the run there

   Winterlaufe 2020 Photos 87 Mile Drive Winterlaufe 2020 must be broken down into a race summary and a Frankenmuth summary. First I will break-down the race itself. The 2020 Winterlaufe race was set in a beautiful location with a very warm and cozy registration venue at the Bavarian Inn. They had a wonderful atmosphere with bagels to eat before the run. I have never been offered food before a race start. A nice slideshow was set up in the Bavarian Inn’s family dining room. There were chairs for their awards ceremony and a few cool vendors (gloves and essential oils). ^_^ The course start was a short walk across Main Street behind Zehnder's. The boys stayed warm inside the Bavarian Inn and got sweets at the bakery downstairs while I ran.  I lined up with a sweet dog named Lory and saw a good amount of dogs during the race.  An amazing Mastiff ran with his owner. I got to meet and pet him after the run.  I started the race behind a woman wearing hilarious socks.  They made you want