DOWAGIAC SHAMROCK TURKEY TROT (Dowagiac - 2021 - 10K)
Dowagiac Shamrock Turkey Trot 2021 Photos
157 Mile Drive
Registration:
There was an abundance of
information regarding the Shamrock Turkey Trot on RunSignUp. The run had been postponed from November to March. I was not registered for the original date in
November. I found the run after its
postponement. Registration was $25 and included a shirt. The kid’s race I registered Luke for was
free. On RunSignUp the race director
said he would be setting up the course the Saturday before the run and that
anyone was welcome to “preview” it before the actual race. I’ve never had a race director offer a course
to participants prior to a race. It was
a great thing to let participants do, especially with it being a trail run. It’s easier to mark trail courses and leave
the markers and signs up overnight.
Course:
The course started in the back of Dowagiac Middle School down a
long stretch of grass field into the woods!
We were in the woods a short distance before we turned back towards the
school and came out near the side of the building. We crossed Riverside Drive by the only
Dowagiac police car needed on the course and went back into the woods! The course was extremely well marked. I made a collage of all their arrow signs. I got a lot of amazing sunlight views through
the trees. Miles were marked with bright
pink laminated paper signs on trees. We came back out of the woods again and
ran down a grass stretch along Riverside Drive past one of the Dowagiac water
towers. Right next to the water tower
was an amazing aide station with all kinds of treats! They had mini powdered donuts, chocolate chip
cookies, trail mix poured into small cups and one of my grandma’s favorite
cookies, the almond windmill cookie! I
have never gotten an almond windmill cookie at a run. The Dowagiac aide station was amazing!
After leaving the aide station it was back on trails parallel to
Riverside again. We made a right down
dirt roads where we passed a few buildings and a lumber yard before entering
the woods again. The elevation changes
were much greater in the second area of wooded trails. We ran past a change in tree scenery when a
path of pine trees appeared. It was
after the pine trees that we got amazing water views of the very large Dowagiac
Creek in Rudolph Wildlife Preserve. We
took a very short loop into Riverside Cemetery before going back down Riverside
Drive along Rotary Park, back past the amazing water tower aide station to
finish at the middle school. There was
still a lot of course to cover when we crossed Riverside Drive and got onto
middle school grounds. We had to run
around the west side of the school and make a turn towards the parking lot to
the finish line. There were many groups
of people cheering us on along that part of the course.
The course changed a lot.
The trails were sometimes very wide and other times very narrow. Running alongside Riverside Drive on the
trails was one of the narrower paths on the course. I liked the unique trail being so close to
the road. I have never run next to a
road on a wooded path for that long of a distance. The trees were thick on one
side and very thin on the other. You
could see through the less dense trees but still felt a tad hidden. I liked the constant change in running
scenery. It was a very engaging and
mentally stimulating course for a longer distance. There were many turns, all incredibly well
marked. There are nine miles of trail in
Dowagiac.
Swag:
I got a long sleeve black shirt
with a bright orange and yellow logo on it.
I liked the logo a lot. It had a
turkey with multiple runners in different running positions. Event staff seemed to be really excited with
how the shirt turned out too. I liked
their wording, “53rd Pure Michigan Turkey Trot.” I can’t believe it was the 53rd
year of this event! It’s one of the
oldest runs in the state. I had no idea
when I registered. I am afraid after
many washes the logo and lettering may start to come off so I try not to wear
Dowagiac’s shirt too often even though I really like it and the technical
fabric feels nice.
Food:
I got amazing aide station food
(mini donuts, trail mix and assorted cookies) which I held onto and treated as
post-run food. This run did not have
post-race food. The water tower aide
station was close enough to the finish area participants could grab food and
water on their way out if needed.
Awards:
Age group awards were given in
five-year increments to the top three finishers. Dowagiac did their awards a little
differently by giving second and third place age group winners finisher medals
and first place age group finishers awesome wood burned diamond shaped plagues
with the race logo on them. I would have
loved a wood burned plaque but it wasn’t my day to get a PR on a 10K. There was no formal awards ceremony. We got in a long line and got our awards from
race staff at a table. They checked us
off one by one. The line moved
quickly.
City Notes:
Dowagiac has a bunch of great
shops downtown, an awesome water tower, Amtrak train station and was very dog
friendly. We stopped at the main larger
water tower in Rotary Park first. It
wasn’t far from the one I ran past on the course. We tried taking still shots jumping in front
of the water tower and found out Jason has a natural skill for it. We drove through Riverside Cemetery next to
Rotary Park and saw some awesome graves including a huge granite square
tombstone. There was a large Amtrak
train station downtown where I saw a huge “Welcome to Dowagiac” sign on the
other side of the train tracks. If you
are unsure of how to pronounce Dowagiac there are plenty of signs to help
throughout town. There is also a canoe
tour business on M-51 that as a pronunciation sign.
We went into Bow Wow Bakery and
Bath with the dogs. They had a German
Shepard in the bath station getting washed and were the most friendly people. We bought a leash and harness with a
chew-proof lifetime guarantee. It was a
very comfy store with chairs to sit in and all kinds of fun animal
decorations. Olympia was an awesome
bookstore in town that also let dogs come in.
It had an old one-of-a-kind stained-glass sign outside with a neat green
staircase to the right as you walk into the store. There were little cubicle like areas made
with bookcases separating different genres.
I hope book stores like Olympia stay in business. It turns out the owner of Olympia is the son
of the race director. The whole family
is very involved in their hometown. It
was a nice day to walk around Dowagiac and see all the shops and architecture
of the buildings. While I ran the kids
played at Rotary Park and found the Dowagiac Skateboard Park.
City Sign:
I didn’t find a traditional city sign in Dowagiac but I did find an amazing water tower, huge mural and building sign that I put together in a great collage for the Dowagiac city sign. I like finding city welcome murals. The pictures involved me jumping in front of a water tower, crossing a double lane railroad and posing in front of a closed train ticket station.
Luke ran in the kids fun run
which started at the same location as the 5K and 10K in the back of the middle
school. The fun run course was an “L”
shape that stayed on school grounds. It
was an all grass course. Kids ran down
to the storage shed and turned left down the same 5K/10K finish line path along
the tennis courts. The distance was
about a quarter mile or as long as most standard track loops. Luke came in first place among half a dozen
kids!! It was amazing! He got a ribbon and candy and was very
excited. I am going to get him a special
award made. It was awesome seeing him
run down a grass straight away so fast.
I saw a young girl in a gray
long-sleeve shirt that had started really strong and had come to a walk. She looked like she was about to cry. I asked her if she was okay and she answered,
“yes” in a very soft cracking voice. I
hope she was really okay. She never
caught back up to me and I do not recall seeing her after the race. I’ve seen runners fall, stop to stretch and
stop to bend over looking as if they are going to throw up at runs. I also personally know what it’s like to be
injured on a course.
The race director did an
interview posted on YouTube that had an awesome aerial video from a prior
Dowagiac Turkey Trot. This is an event
that has been going on for 53 years in Dowagiac! The city comes together year after year and
puts on a great community event.
On the way back from Dowagiac we
stopped in Marshall where we found a home that we put an offer on and are
hoping to close on in the next couple weeks.
We stopped at Marshall’s local “Speedy Chick” because it claimed to be
the “Best chicken in town.: They had
amazing food that reminded us of Lee’s Chicken in our hometown.
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