MI – A Collection of Junk

The second annual (for me) Solstice Run in Northville Michigan has come and gone.
The Northville Solstice Run has several races, 5K, 10K, and new in 2010 a 10 Mile race. They all feature a starting lap around the Northville Downs horse race track. Giddy Up!

Photos were taken of the event by the faithful support team.

The official results for the race. Not what I would have hoped, or even expected, off from last year by several minutes. (2009 was 57:57)

You can see the full details on the running stats web page.(Index)

or this specific race.

There are trotters, pacers, thoroughbreds, quarter horses, plow horses and nags.
Guess it was the day for the plow horses….,

George

This weekend was the Dexter Michigan “Holiday Hustle” put on by Running Fit. (The local running supplies store here in Ann Arbor.) A nice brisk day of 28 degrees greeted the runners and kept everyone from getting overheated. Starting right in the center of downtown at the gazebo the couse then winds through some of the nearby housing additions and loops back on itself to the finish line. A few short but steep hills on the way, but they are short enough as to not present that much of a challenge.

This year the race had over 1200 entries, (and finishers) while last years results list only 658 finishers, so it is rapidly growing in popularity. I got out pretty strong and avoided the real crush of traffic and managed an 8 minute first mile. (Way to fast for me, but since it was only a 5K managed to hang on to the end anyway.) The overall time of 26:32 is a new PR by about 16 seconds over the 2009 spring race. May have to start doing a little more (some, any) speed training if I want to keep getting PR’s at this distance.

Lots of people dressed up for the event, including Santa’s, Mrs Santa’s, lots of reindeer and one very complete Christmas tree! The race did sort of go to the dogs, since there hey were more people running with their pets than any other race I remember. Maybe since it is shorter and also was very cool they thought the dogs could handle it better. The pets didn’t cause any problems that I saw anyway, unlike the runner who stopped short right at the starting line to retrieve a glove she dropped causing a lot of evasive maneuvering on the part of the people behind her trying to break out of the starting gate!

The usual photography team accompanied me to the race and took a lot of excellent photos before, during and after the race.

“The Holiday Hustle 5K 2009 Photo Album is complete!”

The official bib number.