The Great Turtle Trail Run

I could hardly believe it when I was planning this trip, and as always, I looked for a race AND FOUND ONE!  In fact, it was the closing weekend for Mackinac Island, and I guess the tradition holds that the third and final race of the island is held.  As it turns out, Mackinac Island is in the shape of a turtle (I wondered why it was a turtle race, but the medal illuminated the reason why).  We had stayed overnight in the Bicycle Street Inn, and we had hoped that they would allow us to come back after the race and take showers, but with the big storm system from the previous week, the race trail had to be reconstructed, and the race actually began even later than the 11:30 start time.  We wondered why they start so late, but when we saw numerous runners coming off the ferry in the morning to run the race, we understood why.  Yes, it's expensive to stay on the island, but I have never found a hotel in nearby Mackinac City that is much cheaper.  Oh well.  But the hotel wouldn't budge.  We had to check out at 11:00, or be charged $50/hour for each hour after 11:00 we stayed.  Ugh.

So the plan was for me to shower before the race and just be a bit sweaty the rest of the day.  I mean, I regularly walk six miles, and it was a cool, Fall day, so I should be fine.  After a half marathon though, John would need a shower.  If nothing else, he would be chilled.  The school offered use of its showers for $8.00, but it was a good 2-mile walk to the school--not something John would really want to do after running a half-marathon.  Double ugh.

So we had breakfast and packed our stuff and walked to the starting line. First though, I had postcards to mail!   I try and send postcards to the kids every time I travel, and this trip was no different. However, with it being closing weekend, I wasn't sure these postcards would actually be sent before everything closed down, so if they aren't delivered this week, the kids can watch for them starting next April ;-)

Starting Line pictures are always so much
better than finish line ones ;-)

I started first, and I was officially registered for the walk.  Yes, I had to sign an agreement that at no time would both of my feet be off of the ground, and if I was reported by three different people as running, I would be disqualified from the race.  This all seems good in theory, but there are a couple of situations that make walking extremely difficult.

1.  Being lumped in with all the other walkers, the courtesy of running races is lost.  People have no problem walking four abreast on a skinny paved road with no shoulder.  So if any of us wanted to pass anyone else, we had to hop out onto the bushy shoulder and attempt to out walk the people.  It's harder than it seems.

2.  Mackinac Island has a steep elevation in the middle.   It's great walking up it, but coming down?  It's near impossible to not run, and in all honesty, it's killer on knees to hold oneself back.

So after this, I decided that next year, I'll enter the run so that I have the freedom to run or walk when I want.  However, it was so nice for once in my life to not be the last person to finish (no joke, I am always in the last ten finishers of any race I compete in).   As a walker, I booked it, being the one doing the passing instead of being passed constantly.  If I'd gone a bit faster (maybe gotten around those groups easier, and been being pulled by Cherry...or walking with the boys), I would have placed for my age group.




Too, I'm used to nice flat roads whereas the Mackinac roads are canted.  I had a terrible shin splint before I even started.  But no worries.  It was the most amazing weather, and I was just so happy to be reminded of my real life once again.

And I just love that island.  I did a 6 mile loop around half of it, and it's so lovely.  We passed the stately homes as well as walked through the woods.  And the views!  Holy smokes, they're so beautiful. It was a wonderful day to close-out Fall.



In the end, John finished his 13 miles.  What a champ!  He is dealing with three injuries at the moment, and he's definitely not his fastest.  But still, he finished in under 2 hours which is amazing!

  

John went into the hotel bathroom and washed off as best he could, I bought a piece of fudge and a cup of hot apple cider, and we hopped on the ferry.  There wasn't room in the covered part of the boat, so we owned the whole experience of riding on the top.  At least it was sunny!



And keeping with the theme of our trip, we caught sight of our ninth and final lighthouse, the Round Lighthouse in Mackinac Bay.  It's a little tiny thing <3. We then got back in our car, and started the drive back to Traverse City.   Remember?  We had to get my purse! ;-)

W drove straight to Sleder's, and holy smokes, it was PACKED!  I usually refuse to eat anywhere but the main room, but we took the table they had available, back in the "new" addition (with its 80s decor).  There was a kid hockey team, having their final dinner of the season (parents included), so it was loud and crazy.  At one point, a kid knocked his glass off the table and it broke right next to John who then proceeded to help clean it up.  We were just so relieved to have found my purse and to be eating a buffalo burger that the kids didn't bother us at all, but....

...when we went to pay, the waitress told us that one of the parents had paid for our meal because we had been so patient with all of the noise and chaos!  Yes!  Yet another reason I love the good people of the state of Michigan!

It should have been an easy three hour drive back down to Ann Arbor, but that storm system was coming up from Louisiana, and while we listened to the Michigan/Notre Dame game on the radio, and heard the announcers talking about the horrible rain in Ann Arbor, we hit the storm north of Lansing.  Pelting rain.  I couldn't even imagine those poor football players!  But John pressed through and got us home safely.

I hate to admit it, but one of the reasons I had planned this trip when I had was because I was trying to avoid Stake Conference.  While we missed the Saturday evening session, we could've attended the Sunday morning session but chose instead to attend the Northville ward.   This past year has been a test in survival on so many levels, and this was a moment where I chose to do what was best for us.  Yep, 30 years and we're still working on it all.