HEY 5K (Muskegon - 2020 - 5K)
181 Mile Drive
Muskegon was one of the top cities I had been waiting to run in. It has so much to offer with Michigan Adventure, Muskegon Lake, Lake Michigan, Normal Kruse Dog Park and Muskegon State Park alone. I’ve always loved their Veteran’s Memorial that Muskegon Causeway takes you through over water. Our Lee’s Famous Chicken sister store is located in Muskegon and has a drive-thru! On the way back from the Jazz Blueberry Run I saw a street sign in Shelby, MI advertising the Hey 5K. Any sign that advertises a run right now instantly grabs my attention. Had it not been for that sign, I may have not run this race.
I got worried the night before when I went on the Hey 5K website and saw a cropped picture that had the words, “COVID….Due to Governor’s Order…..2021.” We were already in Muskegon and I thought the run had been cancelled. It was a really sad 20 minutes until we found a larger picture of the message that simply stated the cut-off was, “100 participants due to the Governor’s Order.” Planning runs is much more difficult now. I had originally planned to run at the Michigan State Police training grounds on August 15th. Two days after registering I received an email that the run had gone virtual. I try my best to reach out to race directors personally when upcoming runs are on the fence about having an in-person event.
Lake Sch-Neep-A-Ho Campground in Muskegon was amazing. It had so many amenities! The grounds shop blew me away with its layout and design. We were shown the gathering area attached in the back of the shop. It had a pool table looking out over the lake, four video game machines, tons of board games, two large tables and a kitchen. I was bummed we were only staying one night and were not going to be able to come back to the gaming room this trip. We got a rainbow fire packet, snacks and drinks and went to our campsite to set up for the night.
On the way to our camp site we stopped at the bathrooms. I got out of the car, saw a huge horse fly and immediately went around shutting all the car windows so it would not get in. I walked away from the unlocked van with Corky in it. Corky managed to lock the van by jumping up on the window. We had no way to get into the car and we were on a timeline to get the tent up with the sun setting. It looked grim until Corky managed to unlock it the same way he had locked it 10 minutes later.
Our camp site was right on the water but also backed up to US-31. The 31 on-ramp was on the otherside of a brick wall two car lengths from our tent. We got the tent up and then enjoyed the colored flames dancing around the starry sky. We saw the Big Dipper and tons of other stars. The kids were amazed. Our past camp sites were filled with so many tree branches it made stars hard to see. We love seeing what the universe actually looks like with less city light pollution. It’s one of the best things about camping. I didn’t sleep at all Friday night because we forgot our tent heater. I also forgot that Lake Michigan temperatures sink into the 50’s on the west coast. The loud motorcycles getting onto the expressway jolted me awake a few times. Not getting good sleep before a run can be a problem for me.
Parking and directions were no issue with the Hey 5K. The whole family came up to the start with me. Packet pick-up was inside the city office building. The building had very cool architecture, signs and historical items inside. They had really nice bathrooms which were being cleaning as I came in. I loved my goodie bag with hand sanitizer and Hey Radio bracelets, tattoos etc. They gave participants a really thick well-made shirt with their cool race logo.
The starting corral was one of the best. It was very long and got progressively tighter as you got up to the starting mat. They did this to try and help with social distancing. I think it may have made social distancing slightly worse, but regardless, I still thought it was a super cool start. I had a huge adrenaline rush at the Hey 5K start line. The music was loud and awesome. They played “The Hey Song” a lot. It was perfect considering the run name. It’s a great song to get people pumped up and excited before a sporting event. They sent runners off in groups of five every 10 seconds. The line moved quick but still slow enough for anticipation to build. The adrenaline wiped away my tiredness and then we were off!
The course started and finished in downtown Muskegon which was AWESOME! We took off and ran past shops and restaurants. We went past a huge silver statue then to a main road where we turned to make a “U” shape down another city street. I ran past the Muskegon City Park and Muskegon Library. The first half mile was the last half mile and a volunteer joked, “Have we met before?” the second time I saw her. Jason and the kids found a bakery in town that they were at when I finished. After I crossed the finish line I stretched on a raised cement flower bed wall. I went over and looked at the age group award table and saw another table next to it with all kinds of cool things, a Smore’s kit, foldable chairs, soccer balls etc. I asked and was told they had a raffle for all registered participants. I love runs that have raffles! We’ve been lucky enough to get awesome things at a few. At Burton Race2Grace I got a $100 Meijer gift card!
The Hey 5K’s age group ceremony was really nice. They had a great courtyard for all of us to gather and spread out in. I was surprised that they had a lot of younger age groups with no participants. When they called third place for 30-34 my heart sank. I love third place and I had miraculously run much faster than I ever expected with my intense lack of sleep in the chilly tent. I try to run fast at runs that do not have finisher medals. They motivate me more. They called second place and I knew at that point I wasn’t getting an age group medal. My mind turned to possibly getting lucky and winning a raffle Smore’s Kit. At that moment they announced I had won first place in my age group. It’s been a long time since I took a first place award home. My time was only 15 seconds longer than Coleman last weekend. The thought occurred to me that maybe, just maybe someday in the distant future I could run a very high seven-minute mile at a 5K. My Sanford Monument 5K time was only 17 seconds from “the sevens.” Only time will tell. I never thought with my back I would be able to beat my high school 5K time of 27 minutes. Life can surprise you. The women that won age group awards for ages 50 and above were tickled to death as they walked away with their medals. It was really heart-warming to see. I’ve known runners that don’t care about age group awards and a few that have even thrown them away before they got back home from an event.
After the award ceremony a local church group performed a cool chant and received a beautiful trophy. They handed out amazing raffle prizes. They ended the raffle with tumblers full of awesome gift cards. Every registered participant was entered in the raffle. If someone didn’t go home with a medal they still had a second chance to go home with something cool. A man who I believe was a local pastor gave the best speech to conclude the run. I was really moved by it and filmed as much as I could of it.
We had to leave the Hey 5K quickly because check-out back at camp was at noon. We wanted to get our free boat ride in before leaving. It was awesome row boating around Lake Sch-Nepp-a-Ho. They have three water fountains! I had some struggles rowing which we thought at first were due to a stronger right arm but ended up being due to a shorter right paddle. ^_^ Corky enjoyed boat rowing. The kids were able to play at the park and meet a friend named Lucian while Jason and I packed up the camp site. We went to camp site #22 for mimosas and punch. Two awesome ladies were making drinks and taking 100% donations for local Muskegon veterans. I talked with them and learned that the one was a cross country skier and ultra-runner. Cross country skiing is extremely hard. She blew me away. The punch was amazing. The kids loved it.
Muskegon is a huge city. The first city sign we found said, “North Muskegon” and Jason suggested looking for a sign that just said, “Muskegon.” We did not find a “Muskegon” city sign and ended up coming back to the north sign 20 minutes later. We did get a nice tour of the different areas of Muskegon during the city sign search. The North Muskegon sign was beautiful with so many flowers! We stopped at Lee’s Famous Chicken for lunch. We haven’t been to our Lee’s back home since the shutdown. We spent the rest of the day at our favorite dog friendly beach which was only eight minutes away from the run start! The amount of parasailers on Lake Michigan was a sight to see! The waves were huge! We saw a lady surfing. At one point the golden retriever that had been sitting next to us came over to visit. Eddie and the kids played with a stick for a long time. He was a really cool dog.
Things I take from The Hey 5K are:
1. The amazing start line with music. I like staggered starts. I wouldn’t be opposed to staggered starting being a new change to running events.
2. THE BEST RACE VOLUNTEER HOMEMADE SIGNS!! I made a collage of them but I also have them included in the album as single pictures. They made me laugh so hard. The fart sign guy was waving his hand by his butt!!! I couldn’t capture that amazingness on camera while running. It was clear the volunteers were given boards for their stations and allowed to use their individual creativity. I will absolutely remember Muskegon’s volunteer signs for a long time.
3. The prayer that was given before the race start. I didn’t know the Hey 88.9 radio station was a Christian Rock radio station. How cool! I like having a blessing given before a run. I don’t get that often. It made sense with the race host in this case.
4. Muskegon is a wonderful city. It tends to get a bad reputation across the state. There are areas like Muskegon Heights with higher crime rates but the Muskegon Heights high school was very nice. Muskegon’s Watch mUSkeGOn campaign is doing amazing things in Muskegon. I heard from a local that downtown is set to get high rise hotels in the following years to make a skyline. The downtown area is clean, beautiful and bursting with life and business. There are so many things to do in Muskegon. It’s a city surrounded by water with huge state parks and trails. Michigan’s only amusement park is nestled in northern Muskegon. Muskegon has a wonderful veteran’s park, pier and one of our favorite dog friendly beaches. Muskegon is making way for more improvements in the coming years. They should be proud of their past, their present, but even more so of their future. We would live in Muskegon.
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