CHILI HEART 5K (Saint Clair - 2020 - 5K)

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  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 was a chili station with white chicken chili and two different kinds of beef chili.  They had all the chili mix-ins!  It was awesome.  I love chili.  I tried each one. They had so much chili leftover they had to package it up in To-Go bowls.  They also had YoPlait yogurt, bagels, coffee and Tim Bits from Tim Hortons.  I got a huge Canadian vibe with all the maple leafs on the table.  The award ceremony was nice and went fast with ten year increments.  They handed out certificates for 17 and under participants (places 1-10).  That was really nice.  The middle school was amazing with inspiring messages all over their walls.  I had to get pictures of the quotations.  The cafeteria was a great place to eat and warm-up after the race.  It was huge and fit everyone comfortably.

As for race weather, it was very cold.  It was one of the coldest mornings we’ve had this mild Michigan winter.  I didn’t unzip my second layer for the first time and was still a little chilly crossing the finish line.  Overall it was a low cost run with finisher medals and great post run food.  The race staff chose a fantastic venue with a really nice course route. I saw my first wild coyote coming off 94 on the way to the run.  The Saint Clair McDonald’s has a separate mini McDonald’s sign at the intersection that reads, “1000 feet down.”  I have never seen that before.  The parks in the city are very well maintained with really nice equipment.  Saint Clair had a huge kid’s park, skate park and a natural hiking/running/walking/bike path.  Their Pizza Hut even had a cool roof!  The Saint Clair little league field blew us away with their beautiful sculpture at the entrance.  Jason bought us a Mexican woven blanket at a gas station while I was running and I absolutely love it, as you can see from my pictures.  I got amazing cheesy Asteroid socks on the way home from a cool new shop in Old Village.  Saint Clair is my favorite city sign picture pose so far!

Things I take from Chili Heart are:  

1. Coming back from being very sick and needing little victories and bouts of strength.  

2. The beautiful Jordan Creek as a running path with fresh snow falling as we ran.  

3. My first coyote spotting!!  It stopped for a picture but then ran when I tried to ask it how it’s morning was going so far.  

4. Seeing my friend Mike!  Chili Heart was close to his home.  He sat at our table with us for the awards ceremony. 

5. An amazing water-front town that values upkeep, not far from The Blue Water Bridge and Canada.



Location: 4335 Yankee Rd, St Clair, MI 48079, USA

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