AuSable River Festival G.R.A. 5K (Grayling - 2021 - 5K)

  

  AuSable River Festival 5K Photos

194 Mile Drive

Registration:

The Grayling AuSable River Festival G.R.A 5K came about due to a huge goal of mine to get my first Upper Peninsula city in 2021.  It was time I get a city in the U.P, two years into the city challenge.  U.P. cities will be the hardest cities to run in based on distance, cost of hotels etc.  U.P races are some of my most anticipated races because of the scenery beyond the Mackinac Bridge.  When I found the “Seven Bridges Seven Brews 5K” in Sault Saint Marie I started looking for a run that I could do the same weekend. I was hoping for a second run to be on the way up north or within a close distance of Sault Saint Marie.  My original goal was to try and get two U.P cities in one trip.  When that wasn’t possible I found the Grayling AuSable River Festival 5K.  It had a morning start the same day of Seven Bridges and was directly on the way up to the Mackinac Bridge on I-75.  It wouldn’t be out of our way to stop in Grayling.  It would work out great to be able to take a long rest during a long drive.  Grayling was almost exactly halfway to Sault Saint Marie.   

 

Before racing in Grayling, I didn’t know a lot about the AuSable River Canoe Marathon.  I should have known more about it.  People come from all over the world to compete in it.  Canoe teams had already taken off on their 120-mile race to Oscoda 9:00pm the night before the run (Saturday July 24^th) .  The AuSable River Canoe Race makes the 5K I ran look like a walk around the block.  I want to be a spectator at the canoe marathon one year.  It draws such large crowds in Grayling and Oscoda.  The accomplishment of the athletes is absolutely amazing as well as Michigan having the toughest non-stop canoe race in North America.  The first AuSable Canoe Marathon took place in 1947. 

(https://grayling-mi.com/event/ausable-river-canoe-marathon-2/2021-07-24)

Registration for the AuSable River Festival 5K was done through RunSignUp.  Very to the point basic information was in the “description” section that was bolded by category such as, “location, distance, race start etc.” making it very easy to read.  There were no extra details about the festival or history of the race.  Information that stuck out to me included the following:

 

1.     T-shirts were being given out to only the first 150 registered participants.

 

2.    No walkers were allowed on the 10K course.

3.    All registered participants were entered in a raffle to win a pair of running shoes from Northbound Outfitters.   

Packet pick-up was inside the lodge at the Hanson Hills Recreation Area.  It was a large building that I had to navigate through.  The registration table was in the back of the building with windows overlooking the ski hill.  I got my shirt, bib and finisher medal when I checked in.  The women at registration were very busy but did tell me where the restrooms were before hurrying off to the next participant.  I liked being in a warm dry building.  It would have been a horrible day to use a Porta-John outside.  I stayed inside as long as I could before the raffle started outside.  I feel bad for the 16 participants that did not get race shirts.  Registration was an amazing $20!  I got so much for $20.00. At least participants that didn’t get a shirt did not pay a lot and still received a fantastic medal. 

Course:

Grayling had two course distances, a 5K and 10K that started five minutes apart.  When we left Hanson Hills 10Kers took a left on M-93 and 5Kers went right towards M-72.  10Kers completed a 5K southwest of the start followed by completing the 5K course I ran.  It jokingly felt like 5Kers got a head since the 10Kers would eventually travel down the same path as us.  At my 5K finish time none of the 10Kers passed me.  That would have been a 5:00 minute mile run if one of them had.  The fastest 10Kers were not far behind me.  10Kers got much closer to Lake Margrethe during their first 3.1 miles and deeper in Grayling nature. 

 

The course was wet and cold.  It was a steady moderate rain until we got to Old Lake Road and the core of the storm hit us.  It downpoured so hard I couldn’t take pictures and had to put my phone in my jacket pocket.  That’s the reason some of the course is missing from my album.  Going down M-93 on the median was a tad dangerous.  It’s a very fast road.  The wet conditions made the road slicker and gave less visibility for passing cars and trucks.  Luckily the trucks that passed me were very nice and moved over almost an entire lane.  Once we were off M-93 there was a wide sidewalk parallel to M-72 that took us by many Grayling businesses including Wimpy’s, an ice cream, hot dog and burger shop….with…

 

Broaster Chicken. ^_^

I had just made it to the 5K aide station when it started pouring.  I felt really bad for the volunteer even with her poncho and umbrella.  The poured water cups were overflowing in the rain and were hardly touched.  Old Lake Road reminded me of E. Houghton Lake Road that my family’s cottage is on.  I felt like I was running past cottages in the woods.  There were dense woods at times.  We passed a Sportsman Club with an SUV full of people sitting in the truck watching us.  As I approached the finish, I passed a police vehicle, EMS, numerous awesome dogs and my family staying dry and warm in our van.

 

The 5K course was very flat.  It was one of the flattest courses I have run on.  Had it not been for the weather, it would have been an opportunity for a faster finishing time.  There were only three turns on the course, none which crossed main roads.  Directional signs on the course were done very well.  The course was very easy to follow and didn’t need hardly any volunteers.   I enjoyed the course a lot.  I felt like once I turned onto M-72 I was already heading back to the finish.  It made the miles go by faster. 

Swag:

I received a really nice bright neon green t-shirt with a huge print of the medal logo on it.  The logo was two shoes laying on one another with G.R.A, 5K-10K, Run-Walk and Grayling, MI on them.  Colors chosen were very bright and uplifting.  I was not expecting the finisher medals to be as big as they were.  They were amazing!  The lanyard was personalized with “FINISHER” in big letters.  Bibs had our race distances in big letters at the top.  Grayling’s medal was exceptionally awesome because it had  “Grayling, MI” on it.  I wish all medals had the city the run took place in on them.  About 30% of my finisher medals have city names on them.  Two pairs of shoes from Northbound Outfitters were raffled off to participants before the race.  There was one male and one female winner.

Food:

There was an amazing post-run food table under a canopy next to the start and finish arch.  They had opened a variety of Girl Scout cookie boxes, had full sized water bottles, cut watermelon slices, full bananas and red delicious apples.  I grabbed a Samoa Girl Scout cookie, slice of watermelon and a water bottle before I walked back to the car for warmth.  This was my first time getting a Girl Scout cookie after a run.  Samoa cookies are my absolute favorite.  I can take down a box in three days.

Awards:

Overall male and female for both race distances received plaques.  There were no age group awards at this race.  No official awards ceremony took place. 

City Notes:

Grayling is right off I-75 on the way to the Mackinac Bridge between Houghton Lake and Gaylord.  It’s in a unique spot just north of where 127 merges into 1-75 and M-72 intersects 1-75 going east to Curran, MI and west to Kalkaska, MI.  When I think of Grayling I think of snowmobilers, canoers, hunters, campers and a very large area of Michigan nature full of parks, trails and water.  Grayling is located in Crawford County which is 70% state/federal government land.  Grayling-mi.com sums Grayling up very well,

 

“The Grayling area is a sanctuary for those who seek the great outdoors. When you're here, you enter “River Time Zone”– where time has no meaning.”

The AuSable River that runs through Grayling has a nine mile stretch near Grayling that fishermen have named the “Holy Waters” because of the amount of trout found there.  Only catch and release fly fishing is allowed in the Holy Waters section of the AuSable River.  In addition to the fly-fishing wonderland in the AuSable, the Manistee River running northwest of Grayling is known for its small mouth bass.  In the entire state of Michigan the Manistee River is rated number three for small mouth bass fishing.  Fisherman can catch two-to-four-pound small mouth bass in the Manistee. 

(https://grayling-mi.com/rivers)

 

Nature aside, Grayling is home to Grayling Air Force Base, the largest National Air Force Base in the United States on 147,000 acres.  When there is no military training taking place the public has access to much of the military owned acres for recreational activities.  10,000 national guardsmen and women are trained at the Grayling Air Force base yearly from Michigan, Ohio, Illinois and Indiana.  Six hundread soldiers stay stated at the air force base as their permanent place of assignment.

(https://grayling-mi.com/attractions/historical-sites-2/camp-grayling-military-installation)

 

I loved the shops in downtown Grayling.  They had a lot of Michigan themed art I would love to buy someday, especially a beautiful Mackinac Bridge stained glass piece.  Tip’n the Mitten was my favorite store.  I got an amazing strawberry yogurt smoothie from Mio Michigan and the kids had fun playing awesome wooden games with Jason.  Graying had nice town murals, beautiful flowers, unique architecture and was a very colorful town.  I loved their canoe paddle crosswalks and their Rialto Theater.  We thought it was very fitting to order Luke food from the Grayling Restaurant.  I don’t think you can get more local than that.

 

I liked everything about Grayling.  The outside of town and downtown areas were both really nice.  Grayling radiates nature.  No matter where I was in Grayling I felt as though I was surrounded by wildlife in vast woodland Michigan forests.  Grayling is a wonderful destination or hometown for people who like to be active outdoors year-round.

City Sign:

I loved Grayling’s city sign!  It’s moved into first place for my favorite city sign of 136 cities.  It was nothing fancy with bricks and gold lettering, it was not exceptionally large, it could have used a few more flowers in the plot underneath it….

So why was it my favorite?

I loved the logs used to make the structure.  I loved the huge white letters chosen to stick out against the blue background.  I loved the forest painting with the snow and moon.  The second I saw it off M-72 in front of the Grayling Air Force Base I was in awe of the painting.  The painting is an accurate depiction of Graying.  It’s something you’d be more likely to see on someone’s wall than on a city sign.  I was an un-traditional more “rustic” city sign.  It had beauty to it.  I would love to see that same picture in real life on a winter night.  Evergreen trees make some of the best nature paintings and dark blues and greens are mystical and calming colors.  It reminded me of wolf art I had growing up.  Grayling’s city sign does more than tell a person where they are, it’s picture sparked a feeling for me that was more profound than a word. 

Other Awesomeness:

We went to downtown Grayling in the rain and saw they had a pancake breakfast going on.  The Grayling Youth and Booster club gave Luke extra bacon and sausage due to his gluten allergy and inability to eat the pancakes.  Luke also got a carry out of eggs and hash browns from the Grayling Restaurant across from the breakfast.  It was an amazing pancake breakfast.  We were dry under the huge tent they had.  It started pouring again while we ate.  It was nice to be protected while the second storm cell rolled through. 

 

I was able to get new dry knee-high socks with “Grayling” on them and a AuSable River Rock.  The socks saved me on the car ride.  My feet were so cold from being outside with soaked socks for over an hour.  I had to work on drying my shoes out for Sault Saint Marie in the van.  The dogs got Michigan shaped treats and the kids got candy.  The shops in Grayling kept us entertained and out of the rain. 

 

Days before the AuSable River Festival 5K I saw the forecast for a nasty thunderstorm system to hit northern Michigan in the morning.  Race staff were aware of it.  We had to leave Saturday morning and wait to hear if the run got cancelled as we were driving.  They were waiting to make the call in the morning.  In my Grayling album I have placed my radar screenshots in order showing how the storm progressed as we drove and by the time we got to the run.  It looked like the race was going to start before the line of storms reached Grayling, but by a very short window.  I imagine the decision to not cancel the race was made for that reason.  As I stood at the start line the skies were dark and the air was very humid.  I checked my radar and saw the approaching thunderstorm.  I felt bad for the 10Kers who had double the miles and were heading into the storm upon leaving Hanson Hills.  As a 5Ker, I was running away from the storm at first.  I give the 10Kers a lot of credit for the conditions they ran in.  It wasn’t ideal, but it did make for great stories and bonus points for weather perseverance.  There were a few roars of thunder on the course, but I did not see lightening.  I’m very glad the run was not cancelled.  The storm looked worse on radar than it was in person.  Lucky for all of us, it dissipated a lot as it came over Grayling.  I was absolutely soaked at the finish line.  We packed clothes to stay over night in the U.P.  The extra clothes were my life saver. 

 

We went to Sea Shell City after we left Grayling.  It was an hour drive up I-75 on our path to Sault Saint Marie.  I’ve always wanted to go there during my handful of trips to Mackinaw City and have never stopped.  Just touring the shop was a great experience for the kids.  The amount of sea shells they have is impressive, especially their star fish wall.  I loved their bathrooms.  They had bathrooms that made me feel like I was at home.  There were fuzzy rugs in each stall with matching lid covers.  I didn’t know Sea Shell City had so many other ocean related gifts.  It was a lot to look through.  Everything was quite expensive.  We decided to get the most unique sea like candy and a fun adult grab bag for Jason.  I would highly recommend the chocolate sea shells and gummy octopus but I would not recommend the grab bags.  It was hilarious to open but not worth the price.  You are paying more for the fun experience with a grab bag. 

Course Rating: 4.8 Stars

Post-Race Food Rating: 5 Stars

Swag Rating: 5 Stars

Awards Rating: 3.4 Stars

AuSable River Festival G.R.A 5K Quote:

“…And in that moment, like a swift intake of breath….the rain came.”  - Truman Capote.

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