Michael, Author at Run Mi 5k

May 6, 2022September 3, 2023

Washtenaw

Washtenaw County Run, May 2022

So Thursday I completed both Lenawee and Monroe counties. Then went to a Hotel in Milan so I could complete one more county before heading home. After realizing how well those first two runs went, I decided while relaxing at the hotel that I would hit two counties today Washtenaw and Hillsdale

The area in Millan was residential, all but for Dexter St.; I loved that there were sidewalks everywhere, and I would not have to worry about cars.

I loved seeing the new growth on the trees at this point, the furthest west of the run.

It was drizzling, but it was a perfect temperature for a run. I wish every day running were like this.

Such a beautiful sping morning!

It was about 7 am, and the roads were bare. I probably only saw five moving cars on this run, except for Dexter Rd.

I loved how the sidewalk allowed for trees. There were several spots where the sidewalk permitted a tree, but the tree was gone.

The run went perfectly, and I had breakfast with a gentleman named “Fuzz.” Very interesting, and we had a friendly conversation. I was shocked when he talked about Williamsburg and the Sand Lakes Quiet area. It was apparent he knew about my home area. Later he asked if I freelanced; I think I should have cards to give out.

I had planned to stay in a hotel for the night to hit another run first thing in the morning before returning to work. I designed the route above the night before and followed it pretty closely. I didn’t run on Dexter Street as much because it was a bustling street. Other than that, it turned out to be the perfect path. Once this one is complete, I’ll be heading over to Hillsdale county to do the last county I have to do on the southern MI border.

Washtenaw County

Ann Arbor
Augusta
Barton Hills
Bridgewater
Chelsea
Dexter
Freedom
Lima
Lodi
Lyndon
Milan
Manchester
Northfield
Pittsfield
Salem
Saline
Scio
Sharon
Superior
Sylvan
Webster
York
Ypsilanti

Any place in Bold and Red are townships / towns / cities I’ve run a 5k for the county run (or the closest city to my county run)

Any place in Bold and Blue are townships / towns / cities I’ve run anytime in the past.

Any place in Bold and Green are townships / towns / cities I’ve done website / hosting / design work – best website builder for small business – WordPress design hosting and search engine optimization. I’m a small business website builder – contact me to get a website that works! If no Green color is on this page, please talk with me (Click Here). I’ll be encouraged to change one to Green!

May 5, 2022January 2, 2024

Monroe

Monroe County Run

After completing Lenawee County, I wanted to get Monroe done before dark. As I was driving over to Monroe, it started to rain.

It was so nice to see sidewalks on the side of the road. There were places on this run without sidewalks, and I wouldn’t say I like running on roads in towns.

Northwest corner of the run.

Across the road, it looked like a school.

In the distance, I could hear the sounds of baseball! I could barely see what was going on, but I loved hearing the sounds of bats, balls, and excited players!

Down the road was a very nice community!

Lots of businesses. Part of my run went through an industrial park.

Then wide open areas to the south looking east.

Again it was raining on this run.

…but not hard. It looked like a pleasant community.

Wabesh Rd was a bigger road, and it had train tracks running right alongside.

At the southernmost east side of the run was Asher Pass Very nice little area.

It was great seeing flowering trees.

Back on Allen Rd heading northwest, this was a busy street, and it was nice to have sidewalks again.

I think this was heading north on Anderson St.

Almost back to my car heading west on Canfield St.

Post 10K photo! Two counties (Lenawee and Monroe.) Time to eat and find my hotel. What’s funny is I had packed two pairs of running pants, but I didn’t pack my running shirts. I had to wear a dress shirt for these two runs. I went to the dollar store and bought two t-shirts for my next two runs.

What drew me to this place was a town with a hotel near the northernmost part of this county. I was super excited when I saw the lake because it looked like a 5k run around the lake. Once I double-checked, half the lake was in another county. So I had to change over to another route completely in Monroe County. Below is a photo of the lake to the north of my run. I couldn’t see it from the run, but I finally saw it on Wabash St after my run was complete.

Monroe County

Ash
Bedford
Berlin
Carleton
Dundee
Erie
Estral Beach
Exeter
Flat Rock
Frenchtown
Ida
La Salle
London
Luna Pier
Maybee
Milan
Monroe
Petersburg
Raisinville
South Rockwood
Summerfield
Whiteford

Any place in Bold and Red are townships / towns / cities I’ve run a 5k for the county run (or the closest city to my county run)

Any place in Bold and Blue are townships / towns / cities I’ve run anytime in the past.

May 5, 2022September 3, 2023

Lenawee

Lenawee County run

I planned this trip for three counties (which turned into four). I am heading south over the Zillwalkee Bridge to get to the southernmost counties.

I passed a huge flag and wanted to get a picture of it, but when I finally got my phone out and around, I had passed it. But this flag was flying too, so I took a photo of this one. You all know the “big” flag I’m referring to on 75.

Once I got closer to the southernmost counties, the traffic increased.

The church was the first thing I saw of interest in Macon.

Heading south

I ran across a home that had chickens. LOTS and LOTs of chickens. They were loud, and I wondered if they would attack me. When I took my phone out, they started going toward the other chickens. Probably the highlight of this run.

I ran across a home that had chickens. LOTS and LOTs of chickens. They were loud, and I wondered if they would attack me. When I took my phone out, they started going toward the other chickens.

The fields were super big on both sides of the road.

Have I told you yet that I love barns?

I was confused when I got to this corner; it didn’t look like my map. I started running west but realized that it would be A LOT longer to run in that direction, so I turned around and headed east.

New growth started in the fields.

A lot of big barns in these fields.

Have I told you that I like barns? What a cool area to run!

Heading toward Monroe to do another county run.

I decided to go down to the southernmost part of Michigan and finish a few counties off. I would hit Lenawee County, then go over to Monroe and finish up with Washtenaw the following day. As you can see, my planned route was Northeast of Macon. But the route I took was to the Southwest of Macon. I was in a hurry because I didn’t want to run out of daylight. It took me over three hours to get here, and the day was ending soon. I just started running without really figuring it out.

Lenawee County

Addison

Adrian

Blissfield

Britton

Cadmus

Cambridge

Cement City

Clayton

Clinton

Deerfield

Dover

Fairfield

Franklin

Hudson

Jasper

Macon

Madison

Medina

Morenci

Ogden

Onsted

Palmyra

Raisin

Ridgeway

Riga

Rollin

Ridgeway

Rome

Sand Creek

Seneca

Tecumseh

Wellsville

Woodstock

Any place in Bold and Red are townships / towns / cities I’ve run a 5k for the county run (or the closest city to my county run)

Any place in Bold and Blue are townships / towns / cities I’ve run anytime in the past.

April 25, 2022September 3, 2023

Shiawassee

Shiawassee County Run

The second run of Monday. My sister and I needed to pick up Someone from the Flint airport in about an hour, and I asked her if it would be cool to knock another county down. Thank you, Vicki!

After running South, I ran into this traffic light at Curunna Rd.

Just a very long straightaway heading south was this run. The right side of the road was Shiawassee, and the left side of the road was Genesee County. I ran on the right, not because it was the correct side of the road to run on, but because it was the correct county.

The name of the town I was going to run through was Lennon. A super small town that I had never been to in the past. It made me think of John Lennon.

I couldn’t see much into Shiawassee territory until I ran across this field. A huge field.

I loved seeing those tall towers down the railroad tracks in the town of Lennon. I thought it was cool also to see a drawing of Lennon.

The photo above was looking west down the other main road in Lennon.

The same street, but I dug to see the town sign. It was probably another mile down the road to encounter the 69 expressway to the airport. Shiawassee was the second run of today, and I was tired.

There was no real plan for this one. My sister and I needed to pickup Matt from the Flint Airport and had some time to kill. I asked if she would be okay just waiting for me to finish this county and she agreed. Thank you so much Vicki!

Shiawassee County

Antrim
Bancroft
Bennington
Burns
Byron
Caledonia
Corunna
Durand
Fairfield
Hazelton
Laingsburg
Lennon
Middlebury
Morrice
New Haven
New Lothrop
Ovid
Owosso
Perry
Rush
Sciota
Shiawassee
Venice
Vernon
Woodhull

Any place in Bold and Red are townships / towns / cities I’ve run a 5k for the county run (or the closest city to my county run)

Any place in Bold and Blue are townships / towns / cities I’ve run anytime in the past.

April 25, 2022September 3, 2023

Genesee

Genesee County Run

Here is the worst Strava entry ever. I was in a town I didn’t know well and accidentally hit the stop run button on Strava. Once you restart the run, you can’t see where your car is. I had to stop a restart the run three times until I got back to the car. Then I did some math and realized I needed .3 miles more.

Vicki (my sister) drove me to this location to start the run.

I was looking back toward the car and a stadium in the background.

Wait, this was supposed to be a city, not country!

Saw about ten squirrels in this little area on both sides of the path. They were for sure the highlight of my run.

This big guy stared me down.

Here is a video of two of them on the same tree.

Picture of those two squirrels!

I was shocked by such a pleasant pathway through this part of town.

I followed a garbage truck for a little while.

What a great day running by the football field.

And a school…

…and apartments.

Here is a goofy picture of me, but the name of the street is Lisa’s maiden name.

Running down Collingwood Drive.

The drive lead to this path.

Here was a cool sign that read Davison.

When I got back to the car, I asked Vicki to add the three numbers from the first three entries. She said it was like 2.78 miles. I told her I would have to finish up the 5k. SO I ran .4 miles more. I then asked her to add it up again, and she said, “Oh, now you’re at 3 miles!” (knowing that I just wanted her to say 3.1) Then she laughed and said 3.24 miles. Sometimes sisters are mean.

My plan for this county was to visit my Uncle Mark and my Aunt Judy and then run a couple of counties around the area.

Since my cousin Paul’s passing (Paul was my age), I also talked with their son Patrick. Patrick was about nine years younger than us. So for almost two years, we got to know each other through phone calls and texts. It turned out we had a lot in common. We spoke of weight control, diabetes, and business ideas. He started a McCatty restoration business, and I was talking with him about social media advertising. I’ve had experience with media advertising, but not as focused on geo-type advertising. I designed this logo for him and was answering questions he had about websites, advertising, and such.

We were planning on working together to help get some more business for him. Unfortunately, we lost him due to an infection. I was so bummed but so glad I had gotten to know him over the past couple of years. This trip down to Genesee county was for his funeral – he was only 41 years old. I have recently lost my cousin Tim, Paul, and now Patrick. Those two previous losses made me not only contact Pat but also helped me focus on running. My three cousins were much too young to be lost. So sorry Pat, that we didn’t have the opportunity to do more together.

Genesee County

Argentine
Atlas
Burton
Clayton
Clio
Davison
Fenton
Flint
Flushing
Flushing
Forest
Gaines
Genesee
Goodrich
Grand Blanc
Lennon
Linden
Montrose
Mount Morris
Mundy
Otisville
Otter Lake
Richfield
Swartz Creek
Thetford
Vienna

Any place in Bold and Red are townships / towns / cities I’ve run a 5k for the county run (or the closest city to my county run)

Any place in Bold and Blue are townships / towns / cities I’ve run anytime in the past.

Author: Michael

Washtenaw

Washtenaw County

Monroe

Monroe County

Lenawee

Lenawee County

Shiawassee

Shiawassee County

Genesee

Genesee County

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