BREAK THE ICE (South Haven - 2021 - 5K)
155 Mile Drive
Registration:
I registered for Break the Ice
on January 12th for $30.00. $10.00 of my registration was my SWMI RACERS
membership fee. I thought it was a great
deal. With the SWMI RACERS membership I
get $5.00 off any SWMI RACERS run for an entire year. I should be able to make use of it in that
large time frame. Registration listed the
event as the 7th Annual Break the Ice and Frosty Dash. There was a note reminding registrants to
make sure they registered for the right event as there were awards for both walkers
and runners. Packet Pick-up was at South Haven High School on Friday and Black
River Tavern on Saturday morning.
Course:
It was February on the west coast of Michigan. I was expecting the most brutal weather and it
got pretty close. I saw a “Heavy
Freezing Spray Warning” for South Haven as we were driving to the race. I had
never heard of a Heavy Freezing Spray Warning before. We’ve had freezing rain and freezing
temperature advisories but never a “spray.”
That was the part I was curious about.
There was a 40% chance of snow through 9am and it was 16 degrees in
South Haven as of 8:38am. That’s a
brutal winter run! The course started at
the corner of E. Kalamazoo and Eagle Street in downtown South Haven. Only a few people were at the Black River
Tavern when I got there. All the race
participants had just walked out. I got
there five minutes to start. It was a
miracle we made it. I asked staff
members that were still in the tavern where to get my packet and they told me
the race director was at the start of the race.
On the plus side they had great bathrooms in the tavern. I couldn’t get my bib in time to start. When I got to the start line I was told to go. The race director reassured me I could get an
official finishing time at the end. I’ve
never run without a bib except when runs haven’t had them. I was still nervous that I wouldn’t get a
time so I made sure to use my apps to track the run.
The course was a huge rectangle through South Haven neighborhoods. The majority of the course was down Kalamazoo
Street and Monroe Boulevard with short distances down Lovejoy and Water Street. We passed the South Haven water tower on
Lovejoy Street. I love running up close
to city water towers. When we turned
right at the water tower there was a fire hydrant spraying water towards a
chain link fence. The water was freezing
on impact. It made a huge ice formation
on the fence and a pool of freezing slush water on a portion of the
street. I got some mist from it. It would be a precursor to the freezing spray
from Lake Michigan in the final course mile.
The first view of Lake Michigan coming around a slight bend on Monroe
Boulevard was amazing. It’s an incredible
sight to see the lake in the winter with waves crashing up against huge mounds
of ice on the shore. I got my camera out
to take photos and video and was slammed in the face by bursts of icy
wind. I couldn’t catch my breath and had
to look away from the lake. It was in
that moment I learned what a freeze spray was.
It was wild and fun to run in. I
couldn’t have run in those conditions the whole three miles. I was able to take some awesome Lake Michigan
photos from the course in between ice sprays.
We went by Lake Michigan again on Water Street by South Beach but this
time we were far enough away from the water that I didn’t get hit by the
freezing spray. During the last quarter
mile winding east on Water Street I began to get really cold. I had taken my mittens off halfway through
the course. I put them back on, but I
couldn’t shake the cold. When I crossed
the finish line I was ready to get into a warm car.
Swag:
We got long sleeve light blue
cotton t-shirts with the South Haven Lighthouse on them. The red and blue contrast was really
great. We got awesome finisher
ribbons. They were a brighter blue with
the light house and run name. I’ve never
gotten a finisher ribbon. The kids have
gotten finisher ribbons before. I liked
mine so much I bought a white frame at Michaels on the way home. With red card stock behind the ribbon it made
the perfect display. The practical
reason for the frame was to keep the ribbon safe. It already started to fray on our way
home.
Food:
I think a lot of the
participants went back to the Black River Tavern to grab a bite to eat. I hope
I didn’t miss a great post-race party.
There was no food anywhere by the finish line. I got my ribbon and left to get to my
family. When I was in the tavern before
the run I didn’t see anything set up for after the race but something could
have been put together during the run. I
hope they had something back in the tavern for participants. I haven’t found
pictures online showing food or refreshments post-race.
UPDATE: After writing race staff
it was confirmed on August 27th that there were no post-run
refreshments or food for runners due to covid.
Awards:
It was listed on RunSignUp that
there would be awards in five-year increments for runners and walkers, but
there were no age group or overall awards for this event on the day of the
event. Nothing was mailed out to
participants.
City Notes:
South Haven, Michigan is a very
unique coastal town. I’ve been to a lot of towns on Lake Michigan. South Haven was the first where I could stand
on the edge of town and see Lake Michigan from the Black River Tavern. Most west Michigan coastal downtowns are
within blocks of Lake Michigan but the way the town is laid out you can’t see
the lake unless you leave town. There
was a lot of large art sculptures and murals in South Haven, may of which were
nautical themed. They had a great candy
store, bakery, dog shop and rock shop. The
Golden Brown Bakery had gluten free donuts and cupcakes!! They had lighthouse cookies! Sweet Haven Candy Shop had a lot of older and
unique candies that are hard to find in a lot of grocery stores including….
ANT CANDY!!
Shops in South Haven had cool
names in general like “The Blueberry Store” and “Nature’s Country
Cupboard.” Nature’s Country Cupboard had
the coolest home items. They had Bob
Ross Energy Drinks. Their small dressing
room upstairs was so cozy with a great city view. In Decadent Dogs the kids got a mini field
trip learning about freeze dried duck heads, pig snouts and turkey necks. We ended up buying a duck head for Bean and
Chris’s dog. Corky got a salmon skin. The shop was amazing with wall to wall
merchandise. I found too stickers that
looked just like Bean and Corky.
On Water Street right next to
South Beach there was a HUGE sledding hill between two residential homes. The kids went sledding for an hour
there. The hill would have gone right
into the street but the city was awesome and set up tons of hay stacks at the
bottom. The kids hit them a few times
and they worked as great buffers.
We went to Six Chicks Scratch
Kitchen after the race. It had a lot of
cool country decorations, very nice bathrooms and great food. The salad I got was huge. I love restaurants that have homemade
dressing. They had gluten free bread!
City Sign:
South Haven had an awesome
layered sailboat and lighthouse “Welcome to South Haven” city sign right in the
middle of their downtown. It made it
easy to find and take a picture next to.
It was very cold! We found a
beautiful mural leaving town that also said, “Welcome to South Haven” and got
that as well. South Haven’s city sign
was one of the best maintained city signs I have found.
I made a huge mistake with Break
the Ice….I thought it was on January 31st and drove the family out
to find no run happening…
I didn’t have a run on January
31st. Break the Ice was a
week later on February 6th. It’s so rare for me to have a weekend without
a running event. I think that is what
threw me off and caused me to think Break the Ice was on January 31st. It was a long drive to make in the winter two
weeks in a row. We stayed in South Haven
on January 31st, went to lots of shops, took the majority of my
album pictures and let the kids go sledding for what seemed like hours before
coming home. We made a great day of
it. The weather was sunny and mild
compared to race day weekend. It was a
much better day to go sledding.
Now I can officially say I made
it to a run a week early! After years of
getting to runs at the last minute I have made up for it with South Haven.
Thankfully Break the Ice had a
non-chip timed start with a chip timed finish. Normally I am not big on same start times (no
chip timing) for all participants, but this time I did not have a bib so the
setup allowed me to get an official time.
I found the race director after the race and she was able to give me my
bib. I keep all my bibs from my runs.
Luke was registered to run Break
the Ice. Even though there were a few
children his age that participated I didn’t want him running in the freezing
temperatures. I usually don’t register
him for winter runs for that reason.
I liked how the Break the Ice
course kept getting better and better as I ran.
It went from neighborhoods to the water tower, cool beach homes, Lake
Michigan, South Beach Park and ended at the South Haven Marina on the Black
River. The scenery got progressively
with every mile that went by.
We got to spend a lot of time in
South Haven. We went in a lot of shops
and met a handful of locals. We felt
like regulars at the Golden Brown Bakery for two weeks. I love the finisher ribbon I got from the
run. I loved the weather I got to
conquer. If you look at race photos you
wouldn’t think it was a good time. So
many participant faces are hilariously cold.
I love a good winter run!
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