BAD BUNNY (Shelby Township- 2021 - 5K)
Registration:
There were registration limits
of 100 participants for each Bad Bunny event.
Bad Bunny had three events, one dirt trail and two paved path starts
spaced 45 and 30 minutes apart. I
registered for Bad Bunny on February 28th to make sure I got a spot in the
100. I have wanted to run Bad Bunny for
years. I love Move-It Fitness
events! Move-It fitness puts on Winter Loops,
which was the longest distance I ran in the first sixth months after I started
running. The one thing I noticed about Bad
Bunny registration on RunSignUp was the layout and flow. Instead of a paragraph of writing everything
was short and to the point in list format.
I liked it. I was a quick read. Everything you needed to know for race day
was on the registration page. I liked how
swag was under the, “What you get” section. The registration layout resembled my new blog
style breakdown that I started for 2021 events.
Course:
The course was in River Bends Park. I ran in River Bends Park on New Years Day in
2020. I’ve also ran in Bloomer Park for
Move-It Fitness events. The Bad Bunny
course was the same course as In With The New in 2020. I felt different. There was a huge parking lot and field with a
play structure and pavilion. We started
next to the pavilion. It was an absolutely
beautiful winter morning. The course
went from narrower trails with high grass and trees into thick woods with a wider
trail. The path opened up into a clearing
at one point with amazing sun views. We
went up and down some steep hills and over wood boards and bridges. We crossed over the blacktop path multiple
times. The trail became very tight right
after we passed Bad Bunny! Bad Bunny was
standing on the other side of the largest bridge we crossed above a creek. We looped around by railroad tracks out in
the country before going past Bad Bunny once again and heading down the blacktop
path. I thought it would be blacktop all
the way back to the finish before I came to a coned-off area of the blacktop
leading us back into the woods. It was
our last trail segment and a great one. The
trails were very muddy at times from the temperature changes and snow
melting. I got so many great sunlight
views through the trees. There were great Clinton River views. The path turned a lot. It didn’t need many course arrows but it was
definitely very circular and winding. At
one point I saw Utica High School through a clearing. I also passed a neat statue that resembled
something from Greek Mythology.
Swag:
Just as they had it listed on RunSignUp I received a finisher medal, t-shirt, buff, chocolate and was entered automatically into a raffle. I thought the buff was an awesome extra. Move-It Fitness gives out really nice finisher medals and shirts at all of their events. The Bad Bunny medal was see-through acrylic with the cute version of the Bad Bunny on it. The real Bad Bunny is slightly more horrifying. I liked the black and white colors of the shirt. Just as I love the logo on the medal I really like having a Bad Bunny shirt. The buff was the opposite of the shirt; white with black writing and logo. It was an awesome contrast.
Food:
When they said chocolate would
be given out to participants I had no idea they meant an amazing “Bunny” Hershey’s
chocolate bar! It was awesome! I only had a bite as I gave the majority of
it to Jason. He loves Hershey’s
chocolate. They also had full size water
bottles for us on a table under the pavilion.
It was great that they got bunny shaped chocolate bars. It was totally appropriate to advertise the
chocolate as “swag” with how cool it was!
Awards:
Instead of doing their traditional
awards due to the pandemic Move-It Fitness did a raffle instead. They had separate drawings for the pathed and
trail races so that there would be more winners. There was a board with winning bib numbers at
the tent after we finished. I didn’t win
anything this time and debated purchasing a Bad Bunny beanie hat but we did not
have cash on us and I didn’t want to hunt down an ATM in Shelby Township.
City Notes:
This was not my first time
running in Shelby Township or at River Bends Park. It was a different themed run and a different
time of the year. The park looked
totally new to me for some reason. It
was snow coated the last time I ran in January.
This time it was muddy. We didn’t
stay around in Shelby Township this time.
Shelby Township doesn’t have a downtown and it a very large city. There are so many shops, it reminds me of Ford
Road in Canton. Shelby Township is home
to Packard Proving Grounds that dates back to 1928. There is a very cool old water tower on the
grounds and a lot of history. Stony
Creek Metropark, Holland Ponds and River Bends Park are awesome trails for people
to get out and be active in Shelby Township.
Stony Creek Metropark has 4,461 acres of park and the 500 acre Stony
Creek Lake. It spans across two counties
due to its size.
City Sign:
I had gotten Shelby Township’s
city sign after In With The New in 2020.
We went on a wild goose case to find it.
It took a long time. I remember
doing multiple google searches, driving around and finally asking a friend. Mound Road is a busy road. Jason dropped me, made a Michigan turn-around,
came back to take the picture and then made another turn-around to pick me
up. Shelby Township’s city sign is in a
dip that the city lines make near Sterling Heights. Shelby Township is a perfect square on three
of four sides. It gets funky on its
southern border.
I was really exhausted on this
run. The night before I had a Pot of
Gold alcoholic drink from Applebee’s carry-out.
I never drink but this drink was exceptionally good. Even though I drank it with dinner it left me
feeling a bit weird because I so rarely drink.
The following morning I wasn’t hungover by any means but I was feeling a
lot less able to run for some reason. I
definitely learned a lesson when it comes to alcohol and endurance. I find it funny and ironic now that the run
is over. I was glad the course was a tad
short of a 5K because it took a lot out of me to finish this trail run.
Bad Bunny was indeed creepy and
I loved that we saw Bad Bunny twice! My
second picture from a distance was exceptionally creepy. In person, Bad Bunny is actually really cool. I said “Hi” as I ran by. I love it when costumes are out on courses, except
for nighttime. Had Bad Bunny taken place
at night the bunny would have freaked me out next to the bridge in the dark.
We saw an amazing red sunset on
our way to River Bends Park. I love
morning driving because of how beautiful the highways. We see all kinds of clouds and colors.
I saw some awesome pink Ainsley’s
Angels runners with bunny ears, we got to see two sandhill cranes protecting a
nest as we walked by. Bean loved collecting
sticks and playing catch with a random baseball we found in a field. The kids enjoyed the park next to the pavilion
while I ran.
Comments
Post a Comment