CHRIS COOK MEMORIAL RUN (Fremont - 2020 - 5K)

  Chris Cook Memorial Run 2020 Photos

185 Mile Drive

The Chris Cook Memorial Run was an elaborate city extravaganza weekend I put together after missing two weeks of running.  There were no runs the weekend after The Greatest Fourth in the North and the week after that was a weekend reserved for Jason’s LARP.  I wanted to make up for the lack of cities.  I miraculously found two runs on two separate days during the same weekend 40 minutes apart in two new cities.  Jason landed a camping ground smack in between the two cities so that our drive each morning was 20 minutes.  Twenty minutes was a huge difference from the 45 minute drive into Lake City on our last camping trip.  Both runs also had later start times of 8:00am and 9:00am.

The Oak Knoll Family Campground was very different than Kestelwoods.  It had a lot more trees.  The camp sites were staggered with natural steps and had a dense forest behind them.  Their check-in was a very cool general store that was right on site.  They had a lot of great items inside including a homemade art wall.  The father wood burns and carves golf balls.  I bought a great carved votive holder for my memory wall.  We always love trips that take us up 96 through Lansing because we stop at Fazoli’s almost every time.  I tried a new white sauce pasta and cheesecake.  We got the awesome huge family deal that lasted as a second dinner Saturday night at the campground.  We saw the best Spartan license plate on our drive up!

Due to my need to excessively clean and leave the house immaculate before we leave for a road trip I cost us some drive time.  We pulled in to Oak Knoll at 9:30pm and had to get the tent up rapidly fast.  It would have been a peaceful night but we were next to the most obnoxious neighbors in the campsite.  They stayed up past the quiet hours of 11pm talking loudly and laughing until 1:30am.  When three people talk that loud at a silent campground in the middle of the woods, the sound radiates everywhere.  On night two they got in their car in their underwear at 11pm, drove off and came back with drinks.  They were quiet until 3:00am when the man decided to come out to the porch of their cabin and talk to a friend on an insanely loud speaker phone for 30 minutes…

There wasn’t reception at Oak Knoll.  When we woke up I had to hope I got the two runs right.  We joked about that but I was nervous as I laughed.  Thankfully, we ended up making it to the right run on the right day.  It would have been just like me to get runs mixed up.  

Fremont had an interesting instruction for mask wearing runners to start first.  I may have been too far back but I saw no runner wearing a mask.  I do not think masks are needed while running.  I think they can be quite dangerous, especially in summer heat.  I’ve never had an issue social distancing while running in the events I’ve attended since the pandemic started.  There was a nice speech given thanking us for coming out given the circumstances.  I give the runs that are still going so many thanks for promoting health and community through in-person exercise events.  They have to work through such tough mandated restrictions right now.

The Chris Cook Memorial started and ended at Fremont High School.  I’ve been to many runs that have started at schools.  Schools provide large starting and finishing roads, huge parking areas and in general have great amenities for registration, timing and post-race awards and snacks.   Fremont High School was one of the nicest schools I been to for a run.  The school’s architectural design was captivating.  The course was relatively flat.  I went up and down hills from time to time with longer flat breaks in between.  The sun beat down on us hard.  I got Fremont Lake views along the way. The last quarter mile stretch cut off from the main road onto a trail back to the school.  It was a very scenic portion of the course.  Jason was waiting at the finish line for me.  It was really motivating.   I think the reason I felt like death during this race was my speed.  I was running a lot faster than normal.  I got one of my best times since the shutdown and my shin splints.  Ironically, I came in fourth.  

I loved that this run was dog friendly.  I love being around fellow furry runners.  I got to see Echo the German Shepherd next to me at the start.  I was able to watch him and his owner finish!  I liked how big their shirts ran in size.  They were really comfortable tech shirts that were cool in the heat.  I wish they had had a few post-race snacks.  There was only water for participants.  A granola bar would have been awesome.

When we left the run we went downtown Fremont and stopped at their local Farmer’s Market.  We got a huge container of maple syrup, a bunch of unique baked goods, new dish towels (W e needed them very badly) and three different types of garlic for Jason.  We stopped at the Fremont Veteran’s Memorial Park for the kids.  Before we left we got the World’s Best breadsticks at Spanky’s Pizza.  We can attest Spanky’s in Fremont has the World’s Best breadsticks.  Their look and taste is like nothing we have ever had.  We ate them in the park and then left back to camp to grab some beach supplies.  When we got back to camp we walked around the grounds and found a trail that had an animal scavenger hunt!  We only found three of the twelve creatures.  I was really bummed that we didn’t spot bigfoot. ^_^

Things I take from The Chris Cook Memorial Run are: 

1.  The best race dog of all time!  He had the run shirt and bib on!  I have seen a handful of dogs wear bibs, but I have never seen a bib/race shirt combo.  He looked fantastic in it.  His owner said they were going to the lake to have a good “float” after the run.  I dyed laughing.  I hope he enjoyed his float.   Echo the German Shepherd was also amazing.  He came in at 30 minutes with his owner and you could tell they both worked so hard.  

2. I got my first medal without a lanyard.  I don’t know if it was because of the pandemic.  They were handed out in plastic bags to us at the finish.  I had a spare lanyard at home for it when we got back.  

3.  Fast does not always mean placing and slower speeds do not always mean not placing.  You just have to run your hardest because you never know what crossing the finish may bring.  Be happy of the accomplishment in any circumstance.  If you place consider it an extra exciting bonus.  Never be upset of your time.  I’ve heard too many runners say a run was awful because of their time.  They beat themselves up thinking they always have to be improving.  That’s simply not true.  

4.  The cleanliness and extra steps Fremont took to beautify their city did not go unnoticed. Fremont is a very large rural town with a lot of amenities.  We could live there.  We really enjoyed cruising around town.

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