Super Bowl 5K (Lansing - 2023 - 5K)
I knew I wasn’t running on Saturday February 11th because of Luke’s first floor hockey game. At the time I didn’t consider a Sunday race. I did not think there would be a lot of races on Super Bowl Sunday. I knew of the Novi Super 5K Road Race.
I did not know there was another Super Bowl Race in Lansing. I felt like I needed to run after Winterlaufe. The hip pain I had during the last two miles in Frankenmuth last week worried me enough to take a six day break from running.
I got my x-ray results back and learned there was no stress fracture. I believe I had a minor Hip Bursitis flare up due to overuse of my muscles during my insane Winter Challenge the month of January.
Registration:
When I found the Lansing Super Bowl 5K online it had nine spots left for registration. I watched it drop from nine spots, to seven, to five over the course of 24 hours. Finally after much deliberation, I made the choice to register hours before registration closed.
There were four
spots left after I registered and the event was full before the registration
cut-off of 11:59pm. $30 for registering
at the very last hour wasn’t bad. I wish
I had planned my February better. The
Lansing Super Bowl 5K was $25 days before I registered. In addition, the race’s Facebook page had a
$3.00 off registration code at the time of the $25 price.
Course:
I read prior to the
race that the start and finish were out in front of The Capitol building and the
course was a loop around it. I checked
out the official course map and saw it was a 1.55 mile golf club shape that
circled The Capitol building and went down to the Michigan Hall of Justice and
back. It was a two-loop course with six
turns per loop.
The course took participants by the Michigan Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial and Michigan Department of Education, Treasury, Transportation, Financial Services and the Department Attorney General. It was a very scenic course.
The Capitol building could be seen from many different perspectives. There was only a half mile on each loop that The Capitol building was out of view.
I loved the view of The Capitol in the distance when we were at the Michigan Hall of Justice.
The course circled The Capitol building
clockwise. I have run around the Capitol
at the Silver Bells 5K and am used to running away from The Capitol building
towards the Michigan Hall of Justice. The
directional running change gave me great Capitol photography moments.
I do not run a lot of 5K courses with double loops, I’ve done it more during 10Ks. I tried to remember another time that I ran a 5K that had two 1.55 mile loops. I know I have done loop 10K’s, Chelsea Heart and Sole and Walleye Festival of Races. I’ve never done a half marathon loop course.
Running twice around the
same path can sometimes drag on for me.
At the Lansing Super Bowl 5K the course did not drag on. As an added bonus, I enjoyed not having to
take as many pictures on the second loop around the course.
There is a unique
area where the course splits and participants can go left or right around a
lower level courtyard with a huge piece of artwork. The majority of participants took a right at
that area, myself included. Going right
around the railing felt like it was shorter, even if it was an optical illusion.
Our exit from the courtyard between the state department buildings opened up to a bridge over Walnut Street. After veering right and circling down under the overpass we had just come from, we went underneath fellow runners.
I enjoyed the slow spiral downward feet away
from the towering Capitol. I got to see
Cheese Grater Head Man running up above me.
Him and his friend waved as they ran over us.
Overall, the course was very flat minus the one small incline over Walnut Street. There was a nice downhill on Capitol grounds that we never had to run back up.
The
entire 5K course was closed from traffic.
Participants could space out well on Downtown Lansing streets.
Swag:
The Lansing Super
Bowl 5K did not give away race shirts or finisher medals to its
participants. They ordered a set amount
of finisher pint glasses with their awesome Super Bowl Lansing skyline logo so
every registered participant would be guaranteed one. I think it is a smart idea for races that do
not have same day registration and a set number of participants, to order a set
number of swag. It ensures that everyone
who registers will receive finisher swag and helps the race stay within a
budget. The race knew exactly how many participants they would have by setting
a maximum limit on registration.
I really liked the pint glass. I thought the bubble letters of “Super Bowl 5K” with the Lansing skyline inside was a great race logo. I was frustrated when I got my bib and asked the packet pick-up staff if I could come back for my pint glass after the race. I was told that if I didn’t take my glass right then, there may not be one for me when I finished the race. Jason and the kids had dropped me off with all the road closures. Without them there to take things, I would have had to carry a pint glass with me on the course.
In desperation to save my pint glass (my only race swag) I called Jason. He told me they were still where they had dropped me. Luke was amazing and ran out to meet me halfway to take the glass. Knowing there were enough pint glasses for every person signed up for the Super Bowl 5K, I couldn’t believe I was told I may not have one if I came back after the race.
When I finished running the packet pick-up table (manned by the same people) had a box of pint glasses underneath it. I felt like I didn’t need to call my family and that I was misinformed.
I should
have been able to come back for my pint glass afterwards. The pint glasses were the equivalent of
finisher medals for this race, which get handed out at finish lines.
At the end of the day,
I’m really glad I have a cool pint glass.
I poured chilled Tim Horton’s apple juice in it for Super Bowl Sunday. Rockin’ it non-alcohol style as usual.
Restrooms:
There were three over-sized Porta-Johns with a HUGE waiting line that cut through the starting corral before people started lining up. With how close it was to the start of the race there was no way every person waiting was going to make it into the bathroom.
The bathroom line ended up dispersing when the
race announcer called for people to start lining up. A bunch of participants must have started the
5K with slightly full bladders. I know
how it feels to start a half marathon with a very full bladder. It was a good choice to have more than one
Porta-A-John and extra large ones.
Food:
Post-race food included full bananas, three flavors of Chewy granola bars and small 8oz water bottles. It was not the best post-race food and pretty standard at that.
I was
glad to get something and I liked everything that was given out. I always hope to get something beyond the
basic water and banana. Granola bars are
pretty common posts-race food too.
Awards:
The packet pick-up
table became the awards table at the end of the 5K. There were no laptops setup to check
finishing times. Michigan Running
Foundation is great at sending results in text immediately. Participants got in line to receive a medal
from race volunteers. Age group medals
were standard round first, second and third place medals with black
lanyards. They were not custom designed. Race volunteers confirmed winners on their
cell phones.
Aide Stations:
There were no aide
stations on the Lansing Super Bowl 5K course.
I think this decision was made because the course was a 1.55 mile loop. An aide station would have been nice to have as
it would have been passed twice on the course.
Participants could have stopped and gotten emergency water when we
finished the first loop if absolutely necessary, but it would have been a lot
more difficult.
Timing:
I told my family I was looking forward to seeing Luke from Michigan Running Foundation at the Lansing Super Bowl 5K. I was so surprised when I saw both Luke and Chuck running timing for the race. If I have seen the two together, it has only been once or twice in all the time I’ve known them. It is rare they work together. Chuck should have been in Florida. He came up for a weekend to visit his family.
As always, I love running in races timed by the Michigan Running Foundation. Chuck came over as I was getting a video of the music at the finish line and asked for my bib number. He has never done that before. He then complimented by finish time and told me that nobody passed me on the second loop. I had no idea how he knew that. He showed me my stats on his phone. There were two splits listed with “lap one” and “lap two.” Both laps had the same place of, “120.”
It was so cool learning that if the numbers
stayed the same I hadn’t been passed. If
the second number had been lower by “three” it would have meant three people
passed me. It was an awesome statistic I
have not received before. It was only
possible to get due to the double 1.55 mile loop course.
City Notes:
The Capital City of Michigan was founded
by two brothers from Lansing, New York.
They founded the city while it was underwater from a flood, scamming a
lot of people back in their home state of New York by “forgetting” to mention
the flood. After massive frustration over
what city to pick for Michigan’s Capital, Lansing was chosen in 1847 with only
20 residents.
Lansing has a
Michigander version of the Hollywood “Walk
of Fame” on Washington Street. It was the first Walk of Fame to recognize
locals within a specific state only. The
Walk of Fame includes Gordie Howe, Rosa Parks and nightclub comedian Danny Thomas.
https://www.michigan.org/property/michigan-walk-fame
Lansing is home to a
huge pet attraction, as I like to call it.
It’s hard calling Preuss Pets a “Pet Store” as the outside alone is an
exciting site with an amazing mural and waterfall made by none other than, Rob Preuss.
The amazing store
was once a car dealership bought in 2005 by the Preuss Family. Renovations were immense, putting in a river
that runs through the store and converting a bus into a small animal enclosure
inside.
The inspiration
behind Preuss Pets in Old Town Lansing, started in a 300 square fish shop in Pennsylvania
with a young Rick Preuss in admiration of his family’s pet store. The Preuss family opened their first pet store
in Haslett in 1982 and moved their animals eight miles west to Lansing in 2006
by police escort.
Preuss Pets has an interior
size of 14,000 square feet, but it’s closer to 22,000 square feet when you take
account their storage and outdoor waterfall.
Preuss Pets is an
experience filled with people that are passionate about the lives of animals. They
love human beings as much as they love animals and it brings the Preuss family
and their employees immense joy to see the bonds made between the two.
Lansing is home to
the Michigan Flyer bus/motorcoach service from Lansing to Detroit stopping in
Ann Arbor and Brighton nine times a day, seven days a week. The fare one way to Metro Airport in Romulus
is $32. The motorcoaches are extremely
eco-friendly. A new fleet of
motorcoaches started running in 2012 that emit zero air pollution with a fuel efficiency
of 184 passengers per gallon. Michigan Flyer
began transporting passengers in 2006 and currently has a 98% on-time arrival
rate.
https://www.michiganflyer.com/AboutUs.aspx
Lansing has a Minor League Baseball team, “The Lugnets.” Their home stadium Jackson Field was built in 1996 and underwent an amazing development in 2018 that added 84 apartment units into the stadium called, “The Outfield.”
Residents can look out onto the baseball field from their living rooms. The stadium can seat 10,000 people and is one of most handicap assessable stadiums in the country. The team’s mascot is, “Big Lug.” They have their own team song that is played every game after the national anthem.
https://www.thestadiumdistrict.com/living
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lansing_Lugnuts#References
As I wrote about in
my Mason blog, Lansing is the only state capital in the country not located in
the county seat (Mason). Mason is 15
miles southeast of Lansing.
https://www.movoto.com/guide/lansing-mi/lansing-facts/
City Sign:
I could not find a
huge awesome city sign in Lansing as I was hoping. I envisioned a grass sign like Saginaw with
huge three-foot colorful letters. I do
like Lansing’s take on the standard “green city sign.” There is a picture of The Capitol building
inside and it says, “Michigan’s Capital City” underneath. Instead of “Lansing City Limit” it says, “Welcome
to Lansing.” I recently saw a mural with
“Lansing” written in it downtown. I
still believe there is a larger city sign somewhere in Lansing and every time I
run in the city I keep a lookout for an update.
Other Awesomeness:
Even though I did not receive a shirt from the Lansing Super Bowl 5K I did really like the Pint Glass. I was excited to come back home and stay in warmth and coziness for the rest of the evening.
I poured some Tim Horton’s
apple juice in my Pint Glass and watched the some of the Puppy Bowl with the boys
and Luke’s friend Taiyo. It was nice
having a Super Bowl glass for the game, a
trinket for working hard in the morning and taking it easy at night.
On the way out of Lansing we stopped at a Tim Horton’s on the outskirts of the city and managed to spend $50 buying breakfast for the five of us. We have spent the same amount at Applebee’s on numerous occasions. I was shocked at the bill, but we all got a nice late breakfast, snacks, and I managed to make a lunch out of what we got for me.
We had such bad luck with the Tim Horton’s after my Birmingham race. It left a really bad opinion of Tim Horton’s in our minds. We’ve needed to get it fixed. The new remastered apple juice bottles are really nice. Luke always likes getting their egg, bacon and cheese sandwich without the English muffin.
There was awesome start and finish line music that I got many videos of. I love good tunes at runs that are upbeat and make people want to dance. I've been to many runs that I want to steal playlists from.
Course Rating: 5 Stars
Post-Race Food Rating: 3
Stars
Swag Rating: 3.5 Stars
Awards Rating: 3.5 Stars
Race Execution: 4 Stars
Restroom Rating: 4 Stars
Aide Stations: 0 Stars
Timing Company: 5 Stars
Post-Race Activities: N/A
Super Bowl 5K Quote:
“I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I
fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000
times.”
-
Bruce Lee.
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