WALLEYE FESTIVAL RACE (Freeland - 2020 - 10K)

  Walleye Festival Race 2020 Photos

108 Mile Drive

TRITOFINISH is my favorite running company.  I was registered to run in Bay City this past Spring for the St. Patrick’s Day Festival and it got postponed until September and then permanently cancelled.  TRITOFINISH has lost a lot of their 2020 events due to COVID.  I was so excited when I got word that the Walleye Festival in Freeland was going to be held in person.  It was another run I have watched over the years and wanted to do.  Freeland was an easy drive up just past Saginaw.  A lot of TRITOFINISH events are held on Sundays which makes for good double city weekends.

I love TRITOFINISH because they put on great events in very unique family fun places.  They started as a triathlon company.  I love their company name being a play on words.  There’s been many times when simply “finishing” a race was difficult for me.  TRITOFINISH always has amazing DJs at their start and finish.  They have awesome long finish lines with their classic blow-up arches and logo fence.  Their post –race food is always outstanding.  They often give out coupons for local food on their race bibs.  At the Walleye Festival they had a free Hungry Howies junior pizza and glass of cider!  I had never had a junior size Hungry Howie’s pizza.  I didn’t even know they made pizzas that small at Hungry Howies.  Thanks to Freeland and the Hungry Howies in our backyard I’ve had a few now.  The cider was wonderful and right across the street from the run.  I was able to get a cider slush!  

TRITOFINISH has unique age group awards.  They do a variety of race distances at their events.  They frequently do trail running.  Their events happen all across the state even though they are based out of the Saginaw/Bay City area.  They always ask for a fun fact about participants on their registration page that the MC can announce as you cross the finish line.  They take awesome FREE race photos.  My first half marathon in Gaylord running around Ostego Lake was put on by TRITOFINISH.  It was the best first half I could have chosen.  White Dog Trail Run in West Branch was one of the most amazing family running events.  We got free event passes with our 5K registration and did zip-lining for the first time!  I’ve met some of the TRITOFINISH staff and they are wonderful.

I signed up for the Walleye Festival 10K because I knew I needed longer runs leading up to my up-coming up half marathons.  I forgot about Wings of Mercy at the time.  I ran two 5K’s on Saturday.  Total weekend mileage came in just short of 13.1 total miles in two days.   I was totally exhausted by Sunday morning.  I texted Jason at mile two of the 10K and asked if he could check on my ability to switch down to the 5K.  When I came back to the finish on my first loop instead of running through I decided to battle it out and loop back to complete the 10K I signed up for.  I knew what I was up against, a long flat and hot course out and back.  There was no shade for most of the course out next to the grass fields along the powerlines.  I thought about Lake Orion where I had dropped out of my 10K.  I didn’t want to do that again.  I made sure Jason didn’t mind waiting longer until I finished because walking seemed inevitable.  Miraculously, I finished just seconds over one hour which is only five minutes longer than my best 10K time.  I was not as slow as I felt and very excited that I stuck with the 10K and finished.

I’m not a huge fan of repeating 5K courses twice for 10K’s.  It helps me to see new course scenery, especially during longer runs.  That was a factor in my struggles.  Another factor was my hydration pack nozzle falling off at Kent City.  I had no hydration pack.  I hadn’t replaced the nozzle yet.  I did stop at the water station twice but with the scorching sun I needed more water.  I really thought I was going to walk a lot and leave my family waiting but I defied the odds somehow.  While I ran the kids played on one of the coolest playscapes.  It had a giant spider web and lounge chairs.  The kids were able to stay occupied on it.  They met new friends. 

After the race Ryan got stung by a bee playing near the baseball field.  Luckily, another thing TRITOFINISH always has are EMT’s on site.  The paramedics were able to give Ryan an ice pack to help the pain go away.  In 10 minutes he was completely back to normal like it hadn’t even happened.  The EMTs were so nice and attentive. 

I stuck around and got to witness the most epic finish by two men.  I’ve never seen two runners run so fast across a finish line.  They had the attention of the whole crowd.  When I was walking away from the finish line the MC said, “Well Mandy you can add Freeland to your city list!”  I turned around with the biggest smile on my face and gave him a thumbs up.  I tried to thank him but without a microphone he couldn’t hear me over their awesome music.  They remembered my note from registration!

After the run we left for my food freebies.  I had my first Hungry Howies junior pizza and a cider slush.  We got donuts for the family and a large pizza for the family.  Freeland is a really nice city.  It’s very large with a lot of stores and amenities.  Freeland’s roads are so smooth and spacious.  We didn’t experience traffic.  After lunch we stopped at Festival Park in Freeland.  It was a small gem along the Tittabawassee River.  It had a long boardwalk and a large grass area.

Things I take from The Walleye Festival 10K run:  

1.  The medal with the walleye fish on it.  It has great colors.  Medals with animals are awesome.   TRITOFINISH makes very high-quality medals.  

2.  The MC seeing me from across the finish and telling me I could add the city of Freeland to my checked off city list.  It was completely unexpected at that time.  

3.  The really unique safety start.  We got our bibs and walked over to a lady sitting at a table with a laptop.  They called us up in groups of 5-8.  She typed in our bibs and then after a minute she gave us the green light to start.  After we made it past the blow-up arch the next group  of participants shuffled in.  I showed up at the end of my 10K time window so I was sent off solo without a group.

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