VALENTINE'S DASH (Kentwood - 2021 - 5K)
Registration:
I was in contact with
Valentine’s Dash race staff before I registered because many runs were
teetering on cancellation with outdoor limits being at 25 still. I received an email from the City of Kentwood
Parks and Recreation stating they were doing everything they could to keep the
run in-person. They had already moved the
run’s location from previous years so that they could accommodate waves of
participants starting. They seemed very determined
to keep the run live. On January 16th
I registered for the Valentine’s Day Dash.
Registration was a great price at $15.00 each. I saved $5.00 for Luke and myself by
registering us as a couple, the “sole mate” couple. They were creative with that one. The race donated funds to the Little Free
Pantry which gives food and hygiene products to local people and my favorite
part….
“No questions asked.”
The run was scheduled for
February 13th. On February 9th
I received an email notifying participants the event was being postponed one
week due to a polar vortex that dropped the temperatures in Grand Rapids to
unsafe lows. I looked at the forecast
thinking the temperature was going to be below 10 degrees. It was surprising when I saw 21 degrees for February
13th’s forecast. The wind chill prediction must have been concerning. I’ve run in temperatures in the teens
before. Being it was a 5K on streets I
would have felt comfortable running but I wouldn’t have done a longer trail run
in those conditions. The unfortunate
thing about the postponement was its timing with Montrose. I checked the start time for both races. Montrose started at 8:00am and Kentwood had five
waves from 11am-12pm. I emailed Kentwood
race staff to ask if Luke and I could be put in their last wave. I got an amazing response that we could start
between 11:45 and 12pm. I was told they
were impressed with my dedication to complete both races on the same day. Montrose and Kentwood were two new cities
that I had anticipated for awhile. I was
indeed determined.
Course:
The Valentine’s Dash course was not entirely street and
sidewalk. On the way to packet pick-up
we went the wrong way past the park entrance and got to see runners heading
east on 60th Street SE to the finish. We started in East Paris Nature Park heading
south and then east on the Paul Henry Thornapple Trail. The trail turned into a sidewalk along 60th
Street SE for a large portion of the course until we got to Paris Park Nature
Reserve where Kentwood Police were parked and signaled for us to make a right
into the woods. We did a short loop
through the woods along Plaster Creek and went back out the way we came down
the same path back to the finish. East
Paris Nature Reserve is surrounded by subdivisions but we didn’t see many homes. It was pretty dense. It felt totally secluded. The nature reserve was my favorite part of
the 5K course. Luke and I stopped at lot
to take pictures in the woods. We took pictures next to every mile sign. On our way back to the finish Jason, Ryan and
Will drove by in the minivan and waved to us from 60th Street SE.
Swag:
We received red long sleeved Valentine’s
Dash shirts with white lettering. It was
great Valentine’s Day colors. It wasn’t
too hot wearing the Kentwood run shirts as a double shirt so we wore them out
to run over our shirts. We got brown
swag bags with a 16oz bottle of Vitamin D enhanced Shine Water, a Kellogg
Protein Bar, sticker, gray gaiter and awesome Ziplock bag full of candy. The candy bag was the best part of the
swag. In mine I got a lemon head, double
bubble, mini pop sucker, 3 Musketeers mini and Trolls gummy worms.
Food:
They had water bottles for
finishing participants. We had already
received flavored water bottles, candy and a protein bar in our packet pick-up
swag bags.
Awards:
City Notes:
Kentwood is a city we are very
familiar with during our time spent living in Grand Rapids in 2016. Kentwood has 18 parks! Woodland Mall is located in Kentwood. The Krispy Kreme of Grand Rapids is also
technically in Kentwood with a Grand Rapids mailing address. Kentwood may not have a traditional downtown,
but it has a huge variety of shopping, eating and parks for entertainment.
City Sign:
We saw the Kentwood city sign
coming to the race. When you get off M-6
and head towards Gerald Ford International Airport you will see it right across
from the airport at the intersectional of 44th Street SE and
Patterson Avenue SE. It helped that
Envah had a parking lot because Patterson Avenue SE is a very busy divided road. The sign was still a walk to get to in very
deep snow. Luke decided to run through it. It was awesome. We had a lot of fun taking our picture at the
Kentwood sign. It was a great winter
city sign photo and experience!
The Valentine’s Day Dash
welcomed Valentine’s costumes and there were a few people that dressed up. My favorite was the card couple whom I took
pictures of on the course and after the race.
I chatted with the woman and she told me that had just met the man at
the race. It was a great love
story. What are the chances of meeting someone
while you are both dressed as cards at a love run? We also saw a dog wearing a red shirt and
bandana.
Volunteer 10 in the wooded
nature preserve was so enthusiastic and awesome when I asked to take her
picture. I also got two other flag volunteers to stand in a cool pose for a
picture. I really liked the nature
preserve volunteers. When we were
leaving a volunteer saw me taking a picture of their “Event Parking” sign and
stopped and smiled instead of pulling it out.
They had a really cool timing
company that had a big monitor at the finish mats. It flashed our name and finish time in a list. I had told the race staff I could run the 5K
in under 30 minutes when I asked to be in the last wave but I was tired from
Montrose two hours earlier. It worked
out to stay with Luke and take it easy.
We came in five and a half minutes after what I had told race
staff.
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