3rd Annual 13.Wine, Michigan WineTrail Half Marathon-Aug 24, 2014

This was the 3^rd Annual Michigan Wine Trail Half Marathon, aka 13.Wine, held in Baroda, MI, population 869. (aka South West MI otherwise known as Lake Shores region). This is a capped race and this year there were 366 half marathon finishers and 78 5kers (The Galloping Grape 5k).

When I came across this race on the internet, of course the name itself had me intrigued. I’m on a trend of trying (and liking) small town races and this fit nicely into my summer schedule. It was an easy flight into Chicago, just an hour and half drive north, Exit #1 across the Michigan border. When I told everyone where I was going, of course no one had even heard of it, not even my friends from Michigan. Most didn’t even know that Michigan had a ‘Wine Country.’ As I did more research, I was pleasantly surprised. Not only was this Florida beach girl going to be close to the shore line and beaches of Lake Michigan, but I would get to run through the local vineyards and farm land. To add the cherry on top, they promised a 13.Wine logoed wine glass at the Finish Line! How could one pass this up?

COURSE

The course had constant rolling hills, and held up to its ‘challenging’ promise, with one minor killer hill (is there such a thing?) at M8. We basically ran in a square and passed by several wineries along the Michigan Wine Trail. The grapes were even large enough to even see their beauty from the road….as well as the corn fields, apple orchids, and pea crops, all ready to be harvested soon! We had a glimpse of a lake, and a couple ponds in peoples yards as well as some cool log cabins with beautiful flower filled yards. The course went in the perfect direction too, as our last couple miles, the hot sun was at our backs, not faces. The majority of the road was closed or partially closed. With only a rare passing car from a local resident.

PACKET PICK UP

There was not an Expo for this event, per se but they did create the 1^st Annual ‘Party at the Pavers’ which was a local music and wine/beer tasting event with a couple crafters and food vendors. It was nice to have a little celebration to kick off the weekend, however, it was a little disappointing as there was a $5 'suggested' donation at the door just to get our bib, and those ladies were hard sellers! I would have liked to have seen a little more running oriented options. For those of us out of town, I never saw any sort of running store to pick up anything you may have forgotten on your travels. 

WEATHER

The weather was actually almost perfect for a mid summer race! We received warnings of a heat advisory the day before from the race director, but I guess this IS Michigan and not Florida. Temps ended up being the lower 70s with partly cloudy sky. The best part? There was almost a consistent breeze! And a pretty good breeze, almost so much that it took a little effort at one stretch.

STARTING LINE

The starting line was in an open wet grassy field close to the parking lot. There were plenty of portal potties. They also gave an option to do same day bib pick up. There was a call over a microphone to line up, a few good advisement of the course, and then a 1,2,3 Go! Nice and simple. 

 

HYDRATION STATIONS

The water stations were manned by cheerleaders and Boy Scouts and were properly stocked with Gatorade first and water following. M8 had a fuel of some sort (not GU) which did a number on my stomach, as I am a regular of the GU brand. One of the last stations had wet towels which was perfect as it was starting to warm up.

CROWD SUPPORT

There were a couple of people at a couple of corners, but other than that, your motivation had to come from within. This was definitely a serenity run, as I tried to stay focused on the beauty of the fields and fields of farmland. There was however, a good 10 or so signs posted at the first/last mile or so with some clever/funny sayings. My favorite and most appropriate being 13.Whine crossed out and edited WINE! The second best sign being at the top of the biggest hill-‘stop complaining about this hill, its great for sledding!’

FINISH LINE

Before heading to the free flowing local wine and beer tent, there were ice cold popsicles to cool down with. As well as Oreos and Twizzlers for sugar, potato chips of sodium, banana for potassium were the other food items.

We received our 13.wine logo seamless wine glasses and the age group winners received a logoed wine decanter!

RESULT

I knew going into this race, I wasn’t going to PR with the hills, so I didn’t really have much of a plan, other than just getting out there and run listening to my body. I left the pace alert behind and with that said, I never found my rhythm. I had bad cramps from about M8-11 and the final stretch I was simply hot and exhausted. I still managed to run around a normal time for me, so I'm not too disappointed.

SHIRT

The shirt is basic tech shirt. It has a small simple logo on the front and the usual huge ugly sponsor names splattered all over the back. The only thing that makes the sponsors different on this one, is they are the wineries we ran by. So that is cool. Women came in a nveck and mens crew.  

MEDAL

The medal is a cool stained glass, shaped in a wine glass and it even says Michigan on it. I believe this is my first of 41 half marathons were it has the state name.

TRAVEL

For anyone thinking of traveling to Michigan for this race….there aren’t many hotels to chose from and those that are in the near vicinity are quite pricey for summertime. It is best to split, or even look into renting a condo/house near the lake. There are several airports to chose from, all within a reasonable driving time. Just remember, if you fly into Chicago, it is CST, and Michigan is EST. That was the most stressful part of my trip…making sure I made it in time for my flight! There is plenty to do in the surrounding lake shore towns, so make sure to plan this as a long weekend!

SUGGESTED IMPROVEMENTS

Parking-There seemed to have been some confusion on race day with parking. Despite the detailed map on the website and in the email communication from the director, there still ended up being a random ‘empty field’ with a handmade ‘parking’ sign in the same vicinity, just a mile or so further down the road. When I pulled into it, I found it very strange there was not a single race volunteer around to ask the direction to start and there were multiple cars that kept driving by. As I started walking, someone was coming back and advised there was a whole other lot at start, aka where we should have been parked! Not knowing the area, and if anyone was going to be towed, we moved our cars, but a whole lot full stayed. I can only assume the signs were left over from the day before Party on the Pavers event.

Photos-there was not a single photographer on course or even at the Finish Line. That’s just always disappointing not to have action shots from something monumental. There are too many amateur photogs out there….I think that with just a little inquiry out to the public, someone would volunteer their time and post photos on Facebook at minimum. I did see some random photos posted on the Midwest Race FB site, but it seems it was someone running the race theirself and capturing friends or those around them only.

Start/Finish-I’m not sure that it rained, but there was a mud pit, or two, or three, which meant we had to be overly cautious starting so we didn’t twist an ankle, and there was no way to kick it up a notch to sprint across the Finish line at the end. I’m not quite sure why we didn’t start on the empty road to begin with. I am sure it has something to do with closure of the street with the city, but it still would have been nice not to be on a bumpy muddy field….also getting your shoes wet as you wait to start.

Roads- The roads were consistently warped. I’ve heard this is of the norm for snow states though?? There was also a loose gravel section we ran on for a bit. Yes, I know this is overly picky of me, but some people may just want to know.

Fuel-They promised some sort of fuel on course, so of course frugal me did not bring any. Unfortunately it was ‘after’ the major hill on the course. It would have been nice to have the bit of energy ‘before’ the hill so it could have been attacked better.

FINAL THOUGHTS

This was my first time to Michigan and I would surely come back to explore some more! I tried to make my way up the coast, and actually hit up 8 lake shore towns all the way to Ludington! I would have liked to have made it to Traverse City or even Mackinaw, but time did not permit. All of what I did see was Gorgeous though and the beaches got nicer the further north I went. This could be a nice girls weekend get away, as there are tons of wineries to explore! Or make it a family weekend and spend some time on the beaches!

 

I would highly recommend this race. It is in its early years and already well organized! I can only imagine how well oiled of an event this will become over the years! And with the scenery, challenge of a course, and distinctive perks, this race definitely stands out from many!

 

 

State #18

Half Marathon #41

13.1-2:28

I am running the 50 states and a half marathon a month in support of the 26.2 with Donna, a national marathon who donates 100% proceeds to breast cancer research and care! Please consider a donation today! Www.donate.breastcancermarathon.com/2015-marathon/melissajohnson