Michael, Author at Run Mi 5k

April 7, 2022September 3, 2023

Calhoun

Calhoun County Run

Woke up at 6:30 to get to this place at the crack of dawn was a light rain a the time.

Above was heading out of Kalamazoo toward Battle Creek. I was thinking of my cousins and aunt who live down here and was bummed that I couldn’t visit or eat dinner with them, but I was planning many miles for this short trip. 9.3 miles in 15 hours.

I was about in this location when those two photos above were taken.

Finally arrived right at the crack of dawn. I had hung my coat up in my car to dry out from my first run the day prior. I should have hung it inside out as it was still soaked from the sweat from the Allegan County run. It sucks putting on a wet coat when it’s cold out.

I felt a little sore but was surprised at how soon I felt great on this run.

Heading south

Sheffield road was a little rougher. Saw my first car here.

Then it turned into a dirt road. Very much in the country right outside of a big city.

Here I am on the third road heading north but looking west.

Looking east.

Here I am coming up to the North west corner of the run.

There were big fields all over on this run. I’m heading east back to my car.

Finally, I can see my car!

My car was an incredible sight after 9.3 miles of running and 1 mile of walking over the last 15 hours!!

I had difficulty finding this on my phone because the map looked so different, and the road names were too tiny to read. Cody helped me out, and I went to the exact place I wanted and ran exactly the route planned. Thanks, Cody!

Calhoun County

Albion
Athens
Battle Creek
Bedford
Burlington
Clarence
Clarendon
Convis
Eckford
Emmett
Fredonia
Homer
Lee
Leroy
Marengo
Marshall
Newton
Pennfield
Sheridan
Springfield
Tekonsha
Union City

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!

April 6, 2022September 3, 2023

Allegan

Allegan County Run

So I’m planning to do two runs today Allegan and Barry County. I left work at 2:30 pm and arrived here around 3:10 pm. But it was very bright, and I couldn’t see my phone. So I got mixed up as to where I was supposed to run. I should have done the block to the west (a 5k), but I did the block to the east for 4 miles. I ended up just walking that extra mile.

It was raining when I headed south. My nephew Cody told me I could stay the night at his apartment, so I planned to do three counties in these two days. Thanks, Cody James!

I found this tractor business where I parked my car. I don’t know why this shot of that business didn’t turn out. Here is what looks like a snowy shot, but it was a lovely day, as you can see in the following picture.

Here I’m heading north on the west side of the run. Wow, this is my first outdoor run since Christmas. I have been running in a gym for the past three months. It felt rough with my legs hitting something other than a treadmill. The start of this run didn’t go well because I was unsure of my map and couldn’t see my phone.

Here I am, about halfway through the west side of this run.

At the northwest corner of this run, I couldn’t decide which way to go, east or west. I chose wrong.

So I decided to head east—what a beautiful day. I started to notice that my jacket was soaked with sweat, and it was too warm out to be wearing a jacket on the run.

I’m not 100% sure, but I think I’m still heading west. Each one of these straights was a mile each.

I think this was at the north part of the run about halfway through. I think this was looking north.

Here is the same spot but looking south.

The road heading south was a dirt road. By this time, I was starting to feel comfortable running. I stopped a few times to take photos and check my map.

Around halfway down this road, I encountered two women walking in the opposite direction with two kids. Both were about 3 or 4 years old. I crossed to the other side of the road and smiled and waved to the kids. the first one smiled and waved back, the second one looked up at the mom as if to ask permission… the mom gave her the okay, and the little one also smiled and waved back—very cool part of this challenging run.

Looking at the field to the west.

Another.

Here the run is finished, and I’m heading west; my car is a mile away from this spot. I think I’ll walk this mile. Off to the next run in Barry county!

Above is the planned route that wouldn’t have me walking a mile at the end of the run. Next time, turn west, WEST!

Allegan County

Allegan
Casco
Cheshire
Clyde
Dorr
Douglas
Fennville
Fillmore
Ganges
Gun Plain
Heath
Holland
Hopkins
Laketown
Lee
Leighton
Manlius
Martin
Monterey
Otsego
Overisel
Plainwell
Salem
Saugatuck
South Haven
Trowbridge Valley
Watson
Wayland

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 6, 2022September 3, 2023

Barry

Barry County Run

Barry was the second county of the day. I had just completed Allegan County about 35 minutes before taking on this county. I had worn my jacket for the first run and regretted it halfway through that run. So I left it in the car for this run. Glad I did.

I think I was facing northwest for this picture on the top west side of the map. I believe there were cornfields all around here.

The first glimpse of Shelp Lake while heading south on Lindsey Rd.

Here is a little better look.

Farther down the road, you could see the lake over the curb.

Looking South at Pine Lake. I almost thought I would run around that lake until I looked at the map. That would have been a MUCH longer run.

Once I turned the corner, it was a dirt road heading southeast, but you could get a good look at the lake at this point.

Cool little bridge that went over the water.

What a fantastic view of the road; this was a great start to the run.

I met two dogs at the southernmost point of the run. The little one made it clear that I wasn’t welcome there. The large dog came close to me and just wanted me to pet him. He came right up to my hand and leaned into me. I wish I had petted him but was concerned that I might get bit if I did. Probably the best part of this run was meeting these two. However, I liked the big guy much better.

I think I bummed him out that I didn’t acknowledge him.

Pretty sure this is where I started heading east.

I was facing the east side of the road; there was some more water.

Here I was looking north at the southern side of lake Shelp.

I was back on the main road heading north.

I found this dirt road marked on my map, which made it clear that it went up the lake. A chain across the road was about 400 yards up this road marked “private property. I didn’t want to turn around, so I pretended that I didn’t see the sign. Sorry to whoever owns the land that I trespassed on.

More beautiful views of the lake looking West.

I think this photo was taken at the northernmost of the Lake off from Pine Lake Rd. I am almost done with my run. What a cool place to run!!

I left this place and headed to Kalamazoo (about 35 minutes away). I called my nephew Cody and made plans to meet him for dinner at a Mexican restaurant. It was SOO good. Then we went to his apartment; so lucky to have a place to stay. Thanks, Cody James!

Here is audio of him and I trying to figure out a Eric Church song… The recording is not good but it was so nice to get time to jam with him and visit.

The run was pretty darn close to exactly what I planned. I didn’t do the venture off W Pine lake Road like the plan, and I had to add a bit to the end of the run to make it a 5k. But a great second run.

Barry County

Barry County
Assyria
Baltimore
Barry
Carlton
Castleton
Freeport
Hastings
Hope
Irving
Johnstown
Maple Grove
Middleville
Nashville
Orangeville
Prairieville
Rutland
Thornapple
Woodland
Yankee Springs

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.

March 22, 2022September 23, 2022

RC Fitness

I started working out at RC fitness in Reed City to keep me up for the winter. I decided to run three days a week and rest for two days.
I started November 29th, 2021, and I had been sick for a spell for about a week. I tested for COVID but came back negative, but I was sick. As you can see, I was for sure slow. I got another case of sickness just after Christmas and was down for a couple more days. This winter, I had 40 5ks and will continue with five more for these next two weeks. I will probably even jump on my bike next week just for a change of pace. But I do plan to knock some counties down in April.

On March 21st, I had a better run at 11:03 pace. I had been slowly building back up with speed and can’t wait to get outside and knock a few more counties down. I loved getting this done after work on Mondays and before work on Wednesdays and Fridays.

I liked RC Fitness because it was clean, affordable, and they gave you an app to open the door 24/7 — I loved that. All the time I had worked out there, I was rarely alone — very cool people there but not overcrowded.

I hadn’t bench-pressed since high school but started at the end of February, but I had been doing Planks way before that and continued the whole winter. Once I’m running outside, I will stop my membership, but I will miss this place. I will most likely go back to calisthenics on my off days of running.

Here is the view from the machine I used for bench pressing, and the photo above is that machine.

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Thank you RC Fitness for a great winter!

Did my last fast Monday run and was super happy with my 10:41 pace. About a minute and 20 seconds faster pace per mile since I started working out there. A week later my Monday consisted of a bike ride of 7 miles. A nice change but there was still snow on the ground and super cold. Can’t wait to knock some more counties down!

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December 18, 2021September 3, 2023

Cheboygan

Cheboygan County Run

December 18th first thing in the morning. I planned to get to Cheboygan County at daylight so I could take pictures of my run. Was heading north to the cabin to have Christmas with my family.

I have not been in this area much before this time of year…. Usually December 18th there would be tons of snow on the ground. But it was odd to see all the picnic table all stacked away for the winter.

A look at the mighty Mac!

It was 28°, but honestly it felt SOO much colder with the wind coming off the water. At first I ran alongside the lake, but later cut through town and it was SO much warmer away from the water.

Amazing the the sidewalks were mostly clear of snow!

Another look back at the bridge!

Here are two pics of the water tower!

Amazing with nothing in the background.

A look at some of the businesses with a very empty street. In the summertime this place is packed!

Whole bunch of empty boat docks! Some bigger boats in the background.

Another look at empty businesses.

Such a cold run! This town looks so much different this time of year!

Decided to run in a residential area on the way back.

Very cool looking place you’d never guess where I am from the looks of this photo.

Back to the water. It was a very cold run and I was just getting over a cold. So this is one of my slowest MI runs for sure. I also stopped a lot to take photos that didn’t turn out. I had over a dozen blurry photos.

Was so happy to see the potential warmth of my car!

Loved seeing the snow moving across the mac!

About halfway over the bridge!

Post run pic, wow my eyes look messed up. I was very sick earlier this week. So happy to have this one complete.

9/3/21: Lisa and I went to Mackinaw City and hung out and ate dinner. I was in an undone County and didn’t knock it down… Uhhh!

12/18/21: Was heading up to the Cabin for a family Christmas Party. Decided to knock a couple counties down while at it!

Cheboygan County

Aloha
Beaugrand
Benton
Burt
Cheboygan
Ellis
Forest
Grant
Hebron
Inverness
Koehler
Mackinaw Mackinaw City
Mentor
Mullett
Munro
Nunda
Tuscarora
Walker
Waverly
Wilmot
Wolverine

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

Calhoun

Calhoun County

Allegan

Allegan County

Barry

Barry County

RC Fitness

Cheboygan

Cheboygan County

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