ISSC Turkey Trot (Imlay City - 2020 - 5K)
Another sad running loss of 2020 was the Detroit Turkey Trot on
Thanksgiving. I look forward to making
my best costume of the year for Detroit.
It would have been my fourth year entering the costume contest. I was super excited with a hammerhead shark
costume idea. Long before November I
knew events as big as the Turkey Trot would never be able to stay live
in-person. Getting the official email
was still very sad. In place of Detroit
I found a turkey trot run in Imlay City the weekend before Thanksgiving as well
as a turkey trot on Thanksgiving in Adrian.
Imlay City was one of my most anticipated thumb cities to
visit. We had driven through it on the
way to Cass City. I like its name. I knew it was a pretty big thumb city with a
lot of businesses. I love driving on M-53. It’s a very peaceful rural version of an
expressway. The run was held at the
Christian Reformed Church on Cedar Street. It was a great location with wonderful indoor
bathrooms and a spacious lawn. They put
the start and finish line out in front of the church. They had a huge parking lot behind the
church. You could see the event from a
good distance down North Van Dyke Road.
I checked in and got my registration bag under the church
entrance from a bunch of very nice people.
They had a lot of staff and volunteers.
I had to fill out a quick health questionnaire. They had awesome shirts for both the 5K and
one mile fun run. We lined up in
staggered starts based on times. They
said a prayer before we started. I like
prayers before races. They don’t happen
to often which makes them even more special to me. The last prayer I remember before a race
start was at the Hey 5K in Muskegon.
The course was a great combination of street and trail. The scenery constantly changed on the
course. We started by running through a
grass backyard filled with a string of flags.
We went down into Imlay City neighborhoods. We left the neighborhoods and turned right
onto a small section of grass that led us to the Polly Ann Trail which we took
down to the turn-around point at Imlay Middle School. The Polly Ann Trail was very wide. It took us under some cool tunnels and right past
the Imlay City Water Tower. I really
felt like I got a comprehensive tour of Imlay City by going through
neighborhoods, their schools, rural areas and downtown.
Their finish line squad had a really awesome horn that they set
off as people came in. I ran past the
string of flags again. When I saw them I
knew the finish was close. They had
turkey medals for us and plenty of grass to stretch on. The church property was large enough for the
kids to play tag on. We stayed for
awhile. We were one of the last
participants to leave. We pulled out of
the parking lot as the course flags were being taken down. Being the last to leave a run is becoming a
very common occurrence.
We drove around Imlay City after the run. They have a very small but very nice downtown
with a lot of unique shops. There was a
lot of empty shops. It was really sad to
see so many businesses had gone out of business. It made me wonder if it was due to the
shutdown. Imlay City has a great park
downtown and a unique public pool. On
the pool building is an awesome hurricane mural made by a local student. They have a nice water tower that sits right
next to Polly Ann Trail. We drove past
our residential dog store guy, aka “Back Yard Gifts,” that we had first found
at the K of C 5K in Cass City. He lives
on the corner of Van Dyke and 5th street on the same road as the
Christian Reformed Church. You can see
his outdoor shop on Google Maps!
After leaving Imlay City we stopped in Yale and Richmond to get
city sign pictures I had missed at the runs.
They were conveniently on the way home.
I now have all my thumb city sign pictures. We stopped in Yale to eat at a drive-in. It was a really good A&W. If you don’t believe me, ask Corky.
Things I take from the
ISSC Helena Turkey Trot run are:
1. The volunteer’s signs
on the course. They were a mix of funny and
spiritual. My personal favorite was,
“Gravy is a performance enhancer.” That
man was right by the 1.55 mile turn-around.
2. The turkey-wear and
dogs that I saw on the course. There
were a lot of kids running with parents.
It was a very family friendly event.
3. The awesome family I
saw on the course and met after the run.
They had a Golden-Beagle puppy, a shepherd mix and two kids. The mom and oldest daughter had run the
5K. They told us how they had been
traveling long distances to be in live running events. They had taken a three-hour drive near
Manistee to run just two weeks prior. It
was awesome to know someone else was traveling around the state to help keep
numbers up at live running events.
4. I didn’t feel hot
during the run but got really lightheaded as soon as I finished and had to
quickly sit down against a tree in the lawn of the church. I couldn’t walk to find my family. The feeling passed after a few minutes and a
bottle of water. It was a tad
unnerving.
5. The awesome truck
trailer in the parking lot with the run logo on it. It was awesome for pictures!
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