Goodbye 2020 Hello 2021 2020 Photos 41 Mile Drive Registration: Registration was very reasonable.  The run was capped at 100 participants due to covid mandates still present.  The race had a unique late afternoon start between 2:00 and 2:20pm.  It’s nice to get breaks from waking up early.  They mentioned a white elephant raffle.  I did not see anything done at the run while I was there.  I was however given one of the Christmas mugs they were using as registration decor.  On site registration was very quick with very nice and enthusiastic staff. Course: A straight 1.55 miles down the Clinton River Trail.  It was extremely icy.  The entire course was a solid ice block. I wore YakTraks and still had to run on the side of the path in the dirt because the ice was so thick and slippery.  I haven’t seen ice that thick in a long time.  The trail was very wooded with water views and wooden bridges to cross.  The views were beautiful.  The sunlight coming through the trees and reflecting off t

    Jingle Bell Jog 2020 Photos 261 Mile Drive My love of Michigan’s west coast and Lake Michigan gets me really excited about west coast Michigan cities I have not been to.   Manistee was no exception.   I was hoping to stop into Manistee when I ran in Free Soil but had forgotten about the Wings of Mercy race that Saturday night.   I got a hotel for the Jingle Bell Run in Manistee that was dog friendly with a continental breakfast and pool.   I always try to stay under $120.   There are nice family hotels in that price range.      The ride up to our hotel was not bad.   We drove up in the evening.   I was able to stuff, sticker and stamp 80 Christmas cards on the way up.   Jason doesn’t usually drive to runs.   He did this time so I could become Buddy the Elf and get our cards finished.   It was good teamwork.   I dropped our Christmas cards off at the Manistee Post Office the next morning.     The Days Inn of Manistee was a nice inexpensive hotel with a pool that was open lat

    Alma Home For The Holidays Jingle Bell 10K/5K 2020 Photos 125 Mile Drive Alma’s Jingle Bell Run can be summed up with one single word: wet.   I love a good weather experience, but they usually don’t happen on longer runs.   I signed up for the Alma 10K.   Lately, I’ve been registering for longer distances whenever they are available.   A lot of runs I do are limited to 5Ks.   I like mixing in longer distances.   I had no idea it would be raining nonstop in December.   In colder temperatures, rain is much harder to run in than snow.   Snow doesn’t make you quite as wet as rain does.   When you add in temperatures in the 30’s it can become extremely uncomfortable.   I told Jason when I saw the forecast for the weekend I was going to need a poncho for this run.   He had a really nice poncho from the monthly survival box he was once subscribed to.   It even had a hood!   The one downfall was its heaviness.   It was raining the entire drive up to Alma.   Thankfully, it was not a hea

    Polar Run Michigan Brewery Series 2020 Photos 38 Mile Drive   One of the biggest milestones, city 100, was originally planned to be Ludington.  A fractured pinky toe delayed city 100 and Ludington became city 95.  City 100’s second plan was to be Montrose.  Montrose had an awesome Frozen Blueberry Run in December.  The run would not only be city 100 but would also hit another huge landmark, my 150 th run.  I thought the second plan seemed even better than Ludington but then The Frozen Blueberry Run got postponed out to February.  I had to search for a third back-up city.   Michigan Brewery Running Series was the race company that put on the first run I missed due to my fractured toe.  Jason ran for me in Livonia at their Supernatural Brewing 5K.  I saw on their schedule they had another brewery run at the Rochester Mills Brewery in Auburn Hills.  Auburn Hills was close to home and I knew what to expect from their races after being with Jason at Supernatural Brewing.  The downsid