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Author: Michael

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Kalamazoo

Kalamazoo County

Kalamazoo County Run

County Complete
At the start of this run, I was shocked to see this view – there were houses and apartments all around. Kalamazoo is a superpopulated area. Shocking.
I was running east, and although this picture doesn't show it, I was surprised at how hilly (small hills) the area had.
I was running east, and although this picture doesn't show it, I was surprised at how hilly (small hills) the area had.
I ran by two large churches that were a block apart from one another.
Several homes had fantastic landscaping around this area. I loved this little scrub.
Also, I was impressed by the base of this tree. Pretty big boy!
I ran out of sidewalks at some points in this run. And although it looks quiet and empty in this picture, it was pretty frequent to see cars this early.
I was a little more than the halfway point. It was amazing that I felt great at this point.
Again, the sidewalks here are half the size of other cities.
Another excellent flower garden!
Back on the main road and heading back to Cody's apartment to get a shower before work.
This hill doesn't seem big. But, after running 9 miles in the last 24 hours, this was noticeable.
Here is a photo I took driving the night before heading towards Kalamazoo. But this photo reminds me of the trip home. There was an accident on the way back that had traffic at a standstill. But what a huge accomplishment these last two days were. Thank you SO much, Cody, for making this possible for me!
Great Design Plan to run the county for this website

The plan for this county was to run a 5k from my nephew Cody Jame’s Apartment after the two 5k’s the previous night. It was so great to see him again, and it was so cool to hear about his job and explain my new job to him; catch up. He makes me so proud, and his career is super impressive! Also good to see Rizzo, his dog!

Thank you so much Cody James! I will remember this weekend for the rest of my life.

Kalamazoo County

Alamo
Augusta
Brady
Charleston
Climax
Comstock
Cooper
Galesburg
Kalamazoo
Kalamazoo
Oshtemo
Parchment
Pavilion
Portage
Prairie Ronde
Richland
Ross
Texas
Vicksburg
Wakeshma

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!

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St. Joseph

St. Joesph County

St. Joseph County Run

County Complete
This first photo was one I took because I thought this might be like other lakes I've run around: no view except for the back of homes. So glad I was wrong.
Here is a photo not far from the first home on Fishers Lake.
Here is a view down the road—what a great little place. I was shocked at the quality of homes/landscaping around this little lake.
This photo looks like a much later shot, but it looks dark because I loved the view. Although the view in this picture looks cool, too, it's not quite what I saw that night.
A second shot towards the sun, the view was amazing.
The road opened up a little bit, and there were nice homes on both sides of the road.
Here is another shot with the sun that looks nothing like what I remember but still very cool.
Here is a little over the halfway point; I was heading back. It was getting late, and I was worried about having to get another run-in.
Here is a photo with more of the views I remember this night. It was a very cool little neighborhood.
There was one point on the run where the other side of the road opened up to a HUGE yard. Wow, what a cool house with property!
Running back looked very much like running out. I hate out and backs for runs.
This was the home stretch, and I was trying to hurry to get this run done to get to the start of the next run before sundown. It was about 7:20 pm.
Here was my last view of the lake before I turned the corner.
Once I turned the corner, I could see where I gassed up, and my run was mostly complete!
Great Design Plan to run the county for this website

I am driving downstate to knock this and two other counties off the map! Traffic was heavy on the way down through Grand Rapids. I was going through about 5:30 pm.

So the plan for this County didn’t work out. I was trying to get to this County after work on Tuesday. St Joseph is south of Kalamazoo County, and I figured it would take about 2 hours to get there from work. It took a little more than that. When I got into this County, I realized that I was running on empty. So I looked for a gas station on my phone, and the closest one was 9 miles south! UHHHHG! When I arrived at the gas station, I looked at a map of the area and decided to just run right there, halfway around Fishers Lake.

St. Joseph County

Burr Oak
Centreville
Colon
Constantine
Constantine
Fabius
Fawn River
Florence
Flowerfield
Leonidas
Lockport
Mendon
Mottville
Nottawa
Park
Sherman
Sturgis
Three Rivers
White Pigeon
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!
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Branch

Branch County

Branch County Run 

County Complete
Here I parked my car at 7:54 pm, and the sun was going down. So glad I was able to fit this run in!
Here I am heading east towards the lake. My car is at the end of this road in the opposite direction.
Once I arrived at the lake, it was a great view and the perfect running temperature.
The sky looked very much like the sky during the last run. This photo is more like what I saw with the sun in the background of the run in St. Joseph.
Here is another shot of the lake, but the white thing you see in the middle of the picture is what I think is a water slide that goes all the way from the top of the hill into the lake. The grandkids must love this place!
Here was the first spot I could see both lakes.
I noticed a few dogs barking at me during this run. I tried taking a photo of him, but it turned out blurry.
Another shot of that amazing sky!
Here's another view of that second lake.
Such an early part of this run, and the sky is getting dark.
Houses are spaced out pretty far apart on this lake. Look at the size of that yard.
I'm back on the main road.
I think this was a photo looking down what might be a boat launch. At the end of this road, the people came up to the spot that I took this photograph from and just sat there for like 4 minutes. I'm not sure why.
What beautiful swamp land between the road and the lake! WOW!
There was also a whole field that had just got plowed. I don't know why they would do this in August, but it looked extremely fresh.
Somewhere around here was my turn around for heading back. Again it's getting late.
Here was a huge field with something planted, but I'm not sure what it was.
I loved some of the trees along the side of the road.
Here is the last stretch of this run. I think you can see my car at the top of the hill on the left.
Once I got back towards the car the sun had set.
Great Design Plan to run the county for this website

The plan for this run was much better than the first. I did exactly what was planned on these maps. I figured out the halfway point heading south was at 1.73 miles, and I was amazed when I arrived back at my car at exactly 3.10 miles. When I jumped in my car, I looked up how long it would take me to get to my nephew Cody’s apartment in Kalamazoo, and it said 45 minutes. The time estimate was disappointing in many ways: I was super tired because I was up since 5 am, I’ve worked a full day, I’ve driven for more than 4 hours that day, I so wanted time to visit with my nephew. And there were only a couple of hours before I would need to go to bed. When I arrived at Cody’s home, he had made a chicken and rice dish that was amazing! We had a great visit, and we probably stayed up past 11:30 pm.

Branch County

Algansee
Batavia
Bethel
Bronson
Butler
California
Coldwater
Gilead
Girard
Kinderhook
Matteson
Noble
Ovid
Quincy
Sherwood
Union
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!
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Sanilac

Sanilac County

Sanilac County Run

County Complete
I decided to park on the dirt road next to S. Ubly Rd. The only paved road on this run. The road to the left is Soule Rd. I parked my car then walked a little north of my run to add the .1 to the beginning of the run.
It was tough getting started here after running 6.2 miles the day before. I am very disappointed in the times that I am getting, but it was pretty hot today. So yes, bummed at my speed, but hats off to me for distance.
The same road a little farther down and loved the sky featuring the sun. Today will be a morning to remember for a while. Feeling a little better as I loosened up.
All the fields around here were growing corn and all kinds of vegetables. We stopped at a veggie stand on the way home and picked up some great fruit and veg. I love this picture.
I was heading down the .5 mile section of the road—all with the same scene: farmlands.
I love neighborhoods like this, where your neighbors are a half-mile away from your house.
There is beauty in a field with a lonely red barn at the side of it.
Here is a very cool shot of the plants with purple flowers on top. I heard a deer or other large animal running away from the sounds of my footsteps right around here.
Here is a shot of the second-mile-long road, about halfway to the paved road. I was thinking to myself how hard this run was after all the miles yesterday. But then I started thinking that this is probably the last time I run this county in my life. I decided I would enjoy the rest of the run. I guess I was having negative thoughts because I was heading up a very long, slightly uphill stretch.
Here is a shot from the camera held up as high as I could reach. I love it when photos that I don't know what the camera is seeing turn out like this.
Finally, I'm back on the main road to finish my long weekend of three 5k's in 3 counties (Tuscola, Huron, and Sanilac). So great to be able to share this weekend with my wife and two grandkids!
Here I am over the hill and heading back to the car! Such a great day, and so glad I can say that I've run this county!
Back in Huron County and heading home. We looked up some stats on ALL the windmills in these counties. (see Huron County post for the stats) But it was around this area when Lisa and I talked about how many turbines we've seen. I explained to her that I saw just as many in Sanilac county on my trip this morning. No shots of what I saw (because I was driving). Very cool trip!
Great Design Plan to run the county for this website

Most roads are 1-Mile by 1-mile square. But a few are .5 miles x 1 mile. I love it when I find these, as I only have to add a tenth of a mile to complete a 5K. Add a little to the start or end and make wide corners, and you’re good. Sanilac was an easy county to do because I was able to run this when I woke up and get a shower before check out. The start of a perfect day.

Sanilac County

Brown City
Applegate
Argyle
Austin
Bridgehampton
Buel
Carsonville
Croswell
Custer
Deckerville
Delaware
Elk
Elmer
Evergreen
Flynn
Forester
Forestville
Fremont
Greenleaf
Lamotte
Lexington
Maple Valley
Marion
Marlette
Melvin
Minden
Minden City
Moore
Peck
Port
Sandusky
Speaker
Washington
Watertown
Wheatland
Worth
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!
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Tuscola

Tuscola County

Tuscola County Run.

County Complete
Everybody in the car was tired at this point in the trip. But I took this photo before my first run this weekend.
The farm fields were excellent and HUGE here! I thought I had found a park at the end of this run (on the water at Lake Huron/Saginaw Bay). So Lisa and the kids went off to my finish area to explore.
This road was maybe near a mile long before the turn. I was SUPER hot on this run.
Looking back to the East at the start of my run, I saw this grain silo group I zoomed in so I could get a great shot.
The look of this field with all the yellow was overwhelming! Plus, look at that beautiful sky! A good day to be alive!
Another look at a vast field; there was NOTHING but farmland all around.
It was SUPER HOT!
Here was a look at one of the few places where you saw trees. It was primarily farmlands as far as you could see in all directions!
Another field that goes on what seemed like forever!
I think I'm heading back North in this picture. The bay is to the left (west).
Here I'm looking west at a huge sprinkler system.
Here I crossed a little creek with tons of fish. It looked like about 15 fish in this small area and two large, what I think were bass, maybe around 13 inches.
Here is a better look at that creek, and it headed west towards the Saginaw Bay.
Another shot was looking South. This was toward the end of my run. Lisa and the kids were disappointed because there was nothing but private houses/property at the end of this run. Which meant they had to drive around for the entire time I was running. Lisa was not happy with me.
Yeah, I look uncomfortable and like I'm suffering. Also, I'm in desperate need of a shave. So glad to be done with this run, I sweated up a storm.
Great Design Plan to run the county for this website

No real plan, but Lisa and I decided to take the kids on a little trip. We were thinking about going to the U.P. but we couldn’t find any hotels that were available. We decided to run down to the thumb and knock a couple counties off with the grand kids. So glad we did. The photo above the Grayling photos were the day prior, but The pictures of the military tanks and plane were taken today in Grayling.

Below is what I came up with as a plan for this run.

Tuscola County Run

Akron
Almer
Arbela
Caro
Cass City
Columbia
Dayton
Denmark
Elkland
Ellington
Elmwood
Fairgrove
Fremont
Gagetown
Gilford
Indianfields
Juniata
Kingston
Koylton
Mayville
Millington
Novesta
Reese
Tuscola
Unionville
Vassar
Watertown
Wells
Wisner
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!

I'd like to hear from you!

Contact

If you have information to share with me about a county, please do so on that page’s comment section. I’d like others to hear what you have in mind about a particular county. If you have a question for me, if you want to go for a run with me, if you have a project you need help with, I’d love to hear from you. Thanks so much!

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Eaton, Jackson & Livingston Counties
Eaton, Jackson & Livingston CountiesMay 17-18, 2024
Memorial Weekend and I decided to knock a few counties in the U.P. off the list. Schoolcraft was also planned but Friday I had an appointment that ran late and I had to drop a run So I did Delta County, Dickinson County, and Menominee County!
Delta, Dickinson & Menominee Counties
Delta, Dickinson & Menominee CountiesMay 24-25, 2024
Ran my final lower peninsula county! Had a graduation party in Davison so I decided to drive to Macomb to get this final one complete. Now to the UP! Macomb County.
Macomb County
MacombJun 15, 2024
My wettest run of the challenge. I'm heading up to the U.P. to knock five counties off my list: Schoolcraft County is the first, followed by Gogebic, Ontonagon, Houghton, and Iron.
Schoolcraft
SchoolcraftJuly 3, 2024
This Fourth of July weekend, I ran 5 counties in 5 days. Schoolcraft County already listed, then Gogebic County, Ontonagon County, Houghton County, & Iron County
4 U.P. Counties Ontonagon, Houghton, Gogebic and Iron
Ontonagon, Houghton, Gogebic & IronJuly 4-7, 2024
These three counties were planned for Memorial weekend, but paused because of car issues. Finally done. Alger County, Baraga County, & Marquette County
Alger, Baraga, & Marquette Counties
Alger, Baraga, & Marquette CountiesSept 19-20, 2024

McCatty websites

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If you have some ideas about a county please share them on that counties comments section. I would like others to see what makes the county great.  If you would like to contact me privately you can do so here:                                   thanks. m