OUTRUN HUNGER (Commerce Township - 2020 - 5K)
18 Mile Drive
Jason and I ran together for the first time at the Outrun Hunger
5K in Commerce Township. Jason’s parents
watched the kids for us. It was a run
close to home that helped people in need around the holidays. We both got $10 Kroger gift cards just for
registering for the 5K. Overall male and
female winners got an additional $25 in Kroger gift cards. There were no shirts. They had great medals and post-race food.
The run started at the Commerce Township City Hall which is
located off Martin Parkway. Martin
Parkway has a lot of round-abouts. I
remembered it from my drive to Pinch the Grinch in White Lake last year (Cookie
Monster GPS Hell). We checked in and
listened to the race director talk about the impact the run had on local
families in need. We lined up at the
start based on pace. Small groups of
runners took off every 10 seconds. The
course had a variety of terrain. For
half of the course we ran down Martin Parkway on a wide sidewalk. In the first mile we ran on parts of Heron
Trail. A photographer was waiting for us
in those wooded parts. He was really
nice. We went under a really cool spray
painted tunnel to cross to the other side of the road and then ran on a hard
gravel construction section that led us to the turnaround point. A very enthusiastic man was there to tell us
to turn around. He was awesome. I thought I would get to see Jason at that
turn-around but I never did. I kept
looking for him until I was almost at the finish with no luck. After I finished, I walked back through the
course until I found Jason not far from the finish line. We power-walked a little way until he took
off into an epic finish line sprint. He
ran faster than I have at any finish.
The uneven gravel and rocks on the course really hurt his knees. I had no idea what the course was going to be
like. I felt bad it wasn’t a street or
sidewalk course for his first “officially timed” 5K.
They had awesome gold medals with their shoe logo for us at one
table. There was a canopy tent with
pre-packaged food bags that had a bagel, yogurt, banana, orange, water and
multigrain bar. Biggby Coffee had a tent
and we got their last two hot chocolates. They were really good. I love hot chocolate all year round, but
especially after Fall and Winter runs.
They had good music. The race
start location was very spacious and scenic with plenty of seating.
Things I take from the Outrun Hunger 5K are:
1. The city sign was the
easiest sign to find. It was only feet
from the registration and packet pick-up tent.
We drank our hot chocolates right in front of it on a bench. I have never had a city sign that close to a
run start. I wish more city sign were so
convenient. Jason and I both got a
picture next to the Commerce City sign.
Jason is building on his cities and has five already!
2. They had great
volunteers on the course. There were
areas where runners were coming from two directions. There were awesome ladies waving us the right
way. It was very hard to make a wrong
turn on this course.
3. Getting to run
consecutive bib numbers with my husband on a 5K course. We were runners 65 and 66! It was a really awesome first.
4. How fast the runners
at this run were! Jason and I got smoked
in our age groups! Jason had a slightly
competitive experience with a woman that kept speeding up when he started to
power walk past her. It was odd and now
it is a funny story.
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