catch up
over the weekend, we headed to the detroit area to celebrate both my dad’s and stepmom’s birthdays. we made it just over the michigan border on friday night and stayed in sawyer, mi. i woke up saturday morning and headed out to the hotel parking lot as it began to rain. my route initially rolled through the main street of sawyer which consists of three churches, a restaurant and a few small stores. passing by the restaurant, a waitress was walking outside and commented to me that i was getting my exercise and shower at the same time to which i laughed and she said "Welcome to Sawyer."
my route rolled through a country road and the rain turned from a sprinkle to a downpour. along the way, deerflies were swarming my head and taking turns biting me. i ran on an overpass of I-94 then turned north and west into Warren Dunes State Park. i made my way down the road towards the beach area, which technically didn’t open for another half hour. as i approached the beach, i got to see the sand dunes and noticed that you could hangglide off them if you had a permit. i kept running through the beach area out to the furthest beach house as my GPS rolled 3.5 miles and i did a 180 to head back along my original route.
by this point i was pretty much soaked and was swinging my arms to either swat or shoo the deerflies. if anyone had seen me, they’d have thought i was a complete nut. regardless, i headed back to the hotel at a quickened pace and as i entered the parking lot the rain slowed to a mist. i ended up with 7 miles in a bit over 57 minutes.
after packing up the car we finished driving to the detroit area. i skipped running on sunday and slept in. we were all pretty tired from the trip as well as partying the night before.
monday morning my dad picked me up from the hotel and we parked at a trailhead for the Clinton River Trail. we did a 6 mile run round trip run consisting of a 3 mile out and a 3 mile back effort. honestly, it was a bit muggy for both of our tastes. i guess there will be a half marathon whose route will be running along the section of trail we ran on. we both think that the event will have some issues if it attracts a high number of entrants as the trails both narrow and rather uneven. i guess we’ll have to wait until the fall to find out if we’re right or not. after a shower we said our goodbyes and we drove back home.
today i rolled myself out of bed and was honestly lagging in the enthusiasm department. i geared up and headed out with temps in the upper 50’s. my route took me down comanche then onto the glacial drumlin. as i was nearing town on my return route, i said hello to my friend chris as he rode by on his bike heading out of town. i ended up with 7 miles in a few ticks north of 59 minutes and hit the shower.