It’s been a while since my last race. Between a few nagging injuries and Chris’s travel schedule for the documentary he’s been working on, it’s been hard to schedule an out of town race. I finally had an open weekend when Chris was going to be in Albuquerque, so I started researching races. This one passed the test – a state I haven’t been to, easy to fly to (1.5 hours outside Chicago) and good finisher’s medal.

Packet pickup was at a winery. I think that’s a first for me, although appropriate since the race is dubbed 13.wine and runs throughout wine country in Michigan. Unfortunately, the weather report for race morning wasn’t looking great.

I stayed in a town right on Lake Michigan. Being from Cape Cod, I’ve spent lots of time on ocean beaches, but this was my first beach experience on a large lake. The beach was beautiful. I had dinner at a brewery and then watched the sun set at the beach.

Luckily, the rain held off on race morning. This was my kind of race – not too big, parking close by, well organized. The course was beautiful. We ran past vineyards and farms. It was a challenging course though with lots of rolling hills. There were certainly times when I thought that the entire course was uphill. And, it turns out that it’s humid in August in Michigan! Luckily it started to lightly rain at about mile 11 which felt wonderful. The finisher’s medals were very cool and unique. The after race included a wine tent which I didn’t partake in – for some reason, wine is not appealing at all to me post race.

Another great weekend checking out a part of the country that I might never had made it to. That is what has been the best part of this adventure – the opportunity to travel to places I might never have explored. I haven’t been disappointed yet!

17 down, 33 to go