New Years Eve Family Fun Run 2017 Photos 31 Mile Drive The Belle Isle New Year's Family Fun Run had stunning water views of Detroit and Canada with beautiful fountains!  I used my winter spikes for the first time in the snow and ice.  There was a lot of ice and it was much colder on the island of Belle Isle.  I saw running friends. Belle Isle has amazing post-race food. The hot chocolate and pie slice were wonderful. We came home with so many apples!  They gave us three bags when they saw our kids.  They had great seating and space in the Belle Isle Casino.  The inside was really comfortable and warm with great views of the course.  I liked the historic staircases indoors.  I love the history of The Belle Isle New Year’s Family Fun being the longest run held in the state of Michigan. The late afternoon start time helps with the day being New Years Eve. I hear they give the same medal out every year in different colors.  Belle Isl...

  Playmakers Holiday Classic 2017 Photos 73 Mile Drive Playmaker's Holiday Classic on Christmas Eve was dogs, dogs and more dogs with great holiday themes and a scenic river route!  I'll never forget the site of all the people standing in Rynearson Stadium. They had MSU cookies. I saw fireman Santa and an took a picture with an amazing decked out lady! We hung out with Sparty!  The course ran alongside the beautiful Red Cedar River.  The entire course was on Michigan State University’s campus.  There were no official medals or shirts.  They gave out a really nice medal MSU ornament with Christmas colored MSU athletic socks.  I put a lanyard on the ornament and hung it on my medal rack.  It looks like a normal medal on the wall.   East Lansing Page

   Pancake Run 2017 Photos 3.1 Mile Drive The pancake run was not an officially timed run.  We left from the store as a group ran along Ford Road and immediately turned onto Morrison Boulevard which we took to Flodin Park.  We took the Fellows Creek Nature Trail in Flodin Park to Cherry Hill Road where we turned around for the 5K without having to cross the fancy crosswalk at Cherry Hill.  It was a scenic course.  I had never run on Canton’s new trail system.  We were very close to Jason’s house on Fair Oaks.  A part of the trail runs through their backyard.   When we got back to the store we took an awesome festive group photo.  I won a Hydro flask from my holiday costume!  I’ve always wanted a Hydro Flask since learning about them while working at Cabela’s.  I bought clearance shoe spikes for winter. The hot pancake and sausage breakfast they had waiting for us was delicious.  The store workers were a lively fun bun...

   Holiday Hustle 2017 Photos 28 Mile Drive The Holiday Hustle was at 4:30pm which was a big change from morning running.  They recommended wearing reflective lights.  I put glow wear on since it was my first event in the dark.  I combined my elf costume from the Santa Hat Hustle in Royal Oak and my old high school homemade elf costume for this run.  I got to meet a great couple dressed as Buddy the Elf and Jovie.  They have a few really cool vender tents in the park that we stopped at after the run.  I got kennel corn and Aleah bought me a 5K keychain gift.  They gave out awesome beanies and had great medals.  If you got all three medals for their Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas run they connected magnetically.  This was my first time not getting a race shirt.  I brought home other trinkets in place of the running shirt.   Dexter Page

   Santa Hat Hustle 2017 Photos 27 Mile Drive The Santa Hat Hustle was a whole bunch of elf costume and Woodward Avenue fun! I met some awesome Christmas themed race mascots!  I signed all three kids up for their kids dash.  Santa was out to start the kids race.  Luke finished, Ryan and Will got overwhelmed.  We have a video from it.  My run took off down towards 696 before weaving in and out of subdivisions.   The post-race food was in the awesome Hop Cat Bar.  There were racing coupons for drinks.  We ate a great lunch there and then walked around Royal Oak.  The anime shop with huge food plush was fantastic. I took a picture with Santa! Royal Oak Page

   Detroit Turkey Trot 2017 Photos 27 Mile Drive The Detroit Turkey Trot was my first run with more than 10,000 participants!  It was my first costume win!  I didn't expect my Harley Quinn costume to win with so many people in costumes.  I decided to make Turkey Quinn the night before the run.  I think she contributed a lot to the win. The judges inquired specifically about her in their questions.  It took a lot of time to make her.  Jason took on the designing and I was in charge of paint.  I didn't make it back to my car in time to put my huge mallet away after the my visit with the judging panel and had to run all three miles with it.  It was hard.  I kept passing it between hands for breaks. I won $100 in Carhartt gift cards for the costume win. I bought a shirt, purple purse and Jason got a really nice toolbelt. I loved this run.  The Turkey Trot is officially a huge highlight of my running.  I love making costumes....

 Kona Chocolate Run 2017 Photos .8 Mile Walk The 2017 Kona Chocolate Run was chilly!  Mother Nature dusted us with snow at the start.  It was a really cool light snow!  I walked to the start again just like I had at the Wicked Halloween Run.  I loved the hot chocolate in the warm tent.  Before I left for the run I made a thermostat of hot chocolate for a course marshal at the corner of our street.  She looked like she was freezing.  I saw Andrea and her family again.  They run the entire Kona series.  They got their series medals at the end of the run.  Since I just started running I did not do the Kona Shamrock Run back in March that would have completed the series.  The crown design of the series medal was cool.  I liked that the chocolate run had the same course as The Wicked Halloween run, mainly because I think it’s awesome running by our house.  It’s a fun course with the start in front of The Box Bar, a water s...

A2 Turkey Trot 2017 Photos 27 Mile Drive The A2 Turkey Trot had the most amazing post-race hot dogs!  It was my first turkey run and my first course at the beautiful Hudson Mills Metropark.  I saw Jake, Andrea and my 5K grandma. I ran a Mackinac Bridge qualifying time! A lot of people were wearing turkey hats.  I couldn’t decide the night before if I should wear a pre-cooked or cooked turkey hat.  I got a great free massage after the run and the kids were given ice cream by a worker at the Mill.  We grabbed lunch with Andrea’s family afterwards in downtown Dexter before heading home. Dexter Page

   Hot Cocoa Classic & Marshmallow Mile 2017 Photos 31 Mile Drive The 2017 Hot Cocoa Classic was my first run up Mount Brighton!  Jon, Dani and Matthias came to the run with us.  They really surprised me waking up early to come out.  They happened to be in Michigan visiting from Hawaii the weekend of the Hot Cocoa Classic.  Jon took awesome photography with his new camera.  I am really thankful for the pictures.  It was a hard but awesome course.  I ran the mile run first followed by the 5K.  The mile run was straight up Mount Brighton, down and around.  It had the steepest incline.  The view from the top was amazing.  The 5K went up Mount Brighton three quarters of the way to the top around the back which was a much more gradual climb.  We finished the last mile of the 5K course in the golf course.  It was warm inside the ski lounge.  They had tons of seating and an amazing hot cocoa bar with all kinds ...

  Wicked Halloween Run 2017 Photos .8 Mile Walk The 2017 Wicked Halloween Run was my second run and my first hometown run. I was able to walk to the start from our home in the morning.  I dressed up in my Halloween costume of Harley Quinn.  It’s a costume I’ve been putting a lot of time into for the past month.  I haven’t gotten so involved in a Halloween costume for years.  I’ve always like Harley Quinn and her colors.  It wasn’t just a one store and done costume.  I saw Andrea and her family.  There were so many runners dressed in costumes when I got to downtown.  I tried to take as many pictures as I could.  I loved the Katy Perry left sharks and The Pope.  It was hard running in a full costume.  I ran past our home on the course. That was my favorite part.  This was my first costume run and first run with friends. I went to breakfast with Andrea's family at Bode’s after the run.  It was great. I met her grandma th...

   The Zombie Dash 2017 Photos 142 Mile Drive First 5K!! First zombie run!! I found the Zombie Dash when we were living in Grand Rapids in 2016. I stumbled upon a bunch of zombies downtown one night and asked what was going on. I told Jason that next year I was going to run that race and I registered for it a month later. I walked a lot but still managed a fairly decent first 5K time with no running history (No cross country or track in high school)  It was not as scary as I thought it would be, but some zombies did make me jump in the dark. I was hooked after The Zombie Dash.  I knew I wanted to come back next year, but I also wanted to keep running 5Ks.  It was a mental and physical boost.  Grand Rapids Page