Frozen Blueberry (Montrose - 2021 - 5K)
Registration:
I registered for the Montrose
Frozen Blueberry Run on November 2, 2020.
The run was scheduled for December 12, 2020. On November 23rd I received an
email stating some registered participants had expressed concerns about safety. The email also stated that the Montrose City
Council was waiting to approve the December race date. The council’s decision was pending the State
of Michigan outdoor gathering limit of 25 people expiring on December 8th
without being extended. They offered
immediate refunds for anyone that wanted one and said the run would not change
to a virtual format. They would postpone
the race if the city did not approve the original date. On December 4th we got email
confirmation that the Frozen Blueberry Run was being post-poned to February 20,
2021. The run staff made a positive out
of the postponement by gaining additional sponsors and door prizes for
participants in the extra two months. I
kept my original registration for the new late February date and milestone city
100 changed from Montrose to Auburn Hills.
The run started at 9:00am and the walk at 9:02am. Packet Pick-Up was at the Blueberry Festival
Office.
Course:
The course was light snow-covered streets. It was the slick kind of snow because it
wasn’t quite thick enough to clump together.
We ran past Carter Elementary School, through a lot of Montrose
neighborhoods, over a small creek and past Montrose Orchards. Montrose Orchards had two young girls (I
believe they were girl scouts) and a woman out by the street clapping for
participants. I waved and thanked
them. There were two boys out at a water
station with music at the halfway point.
I passed a Montrose city limit sign before turning right to the finish
where two volunteers stood waving near a parked Montrose Police car. We never ran on East State Street that runs
through the downtown of Montrose, but we were only a few blocks away at
times.
Swag:
We received a gray long sleeve Frozen
Blueberry shirt with the awesome blueberry man logo on it. It was not a large logo. I wish the picture had been larger. The little blueberry running mascot with a
face and sweat band was awesome. The
logo was small and in the upper left of the shirt like a Polo shirt. Every pre-registered participant received a
raffle prize that was on a table at the finish. It was such a wonderful idea!
Food:
Post-race food was amazing at
The Frozen Blueberry Run! They had
pre-poured hot chocolate cups with lids and bottled water. They had assorted donut holes in cups,
apples, bananas and milk bone treats for dogs!
I really liked how the hot chocolate cups had lids and the donut holes
were in cups. There were four to five
donut holes per cup and they were my favorite flavors, chocolate glazed and old
fashioned.
Awards:
Brown paper award bags were
given to the overall males and females in both the 5K walk and run. There were no age group awards. Based on a Facebook photo I believe overall
winners got a blueberry mug, large blueberry ornament and a blueberry scented
candle in a metal tin in their bags.
Overall awards came from Cape Shore in Yarmouth, ME. I was really glad that walkers got overall
awards.
City Notes:
Montrose had a lot of unique
landmarks including a very cool Methodist Church, an American flag painted
telephone pole, a snowman made of car tires, a Railway Museum and a tractor in
a field with a dummy farmer sitting on it.
Montrose seemed to have more local shops and restaurants than chain
stores. We had to drive to Kentwood for
a Valentine’s Dash at 11:00am! If it
wasn’t for the rush to get to Kentwood we would have stayed in town longer. The Kentwood Valentine’s Dash was rescheduled
from its original date just like Montrose was.
I did not register for two runs three hours apart. Fate made the day a little insane when both
reschedules fell on February 20th.
City Sign:
Montrose had a huge awesome wood
city on Vienna Road right before you enter downtown. There was an American Flag coming off the
side of the sign The flag was a first
for a city sign! I really liked it. They had their blueberry festival picture and
festive holiday décor. They also had small
ground American flags. Getting to the
Montrose sign involved parking across the street by Roxy’s Diner and walking in
two-foot deep snow to get up close to the sign.
It was a mini adventure! I also
took a picture under their city limit sign.
It was very close to their main city sign.
At the finish we received our
medals from the Blueberry Festival Queen and her court. They had awesome blueberry sashes on. It was very unique to have them passing out
medals. It was a cold job!
They had a fire pit at the
finish near their food and awards tent and tables. It was very warm. They had awesome music playing. The warmth, food and music were an amazing
combination, especially in February.
I had a lot of great email
communication with run staff. It started
by asking if they were going to have their cute blueberry mascot on their
medals and shirt. It ended with me
sending them my course pictures and race staff using my Montrose city sign picture
as a temporary cover picture on their Facebook group. They were very thankful for the course
pictures and said it gave them a new perspective. They have never had someone
take pictures on the course before. It
made me feel helpful. I loved meeting
the race director and her second in-line coordinator after the run. They were very nice people.
Their course mile signs also had
kilometers on them. It was a unique way of showing how many kilometers we had
run at each mile. I rarely see
kilometers used in race markers. I liked
it.
I loved that Montrose gave every
pre-registered participant a raffle prize.
I’ve been to a handful of run events that have done a raffle after the
event is finished, but never to one that gave a prize to almost every participant
(minus the few that registered for the event the day of). They had great prizes! They pre-drew the winners and had our names
on envelopes and on sticky notes when we came back to the post-race tent. I saw an envelope with my name on it and
inside was a gift certificate for a free hair cut at Talk of the Town Salon in
Montrose. It expired in three
months. I also saw thermo mugs, DVDS,
clothing, hats, blankets, a lunchbox set and a Brookstone heated electric
windshield
…. just to name a few. ^_^
I told the race director how unique the raffle
was and that it made her race stand out from all the runs I’ve been too.
We saw a bad flip over accident
on 275 in Northville on our way to Montrose with a lot of police, EMS and
firefighters on scene. I really hope the
people in the flipped car are okay. It’s
always inherently riskier driving to winter runs.
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