Saturday December 7 2019
This was my last race before a break for Christmas – The Jingle Bell Run 10K for the Arthritis Foundation, in Detroit MI. I have nothing else scheduled until Massachusetts in February. This was a weekend we had scheduled quite some time ago, to get up to Ann Arbor, Michigan and stay with some friends who used to live in our building in Charlotte, but it was always going to combine well with a local state race, too!
We flew direct to Detroit on Friday night, met our friends and caught up over an Ann Arbor steak dinner. We then got to sleep, ready for an early start on Saturday morning. Saturday morning rolled round – quick breakfast – and off to Detroit. The race was held at the Corner Ball Park on Michigan Avenue.
This was a cold event. 20 degrees (-7)! The race sponsors talked for an uncomfortably long time at the start line and everyone was freezing! Eventually we got going – I started in a long sleeve top (my race shirt) and threw it away after about two miles. The route was out through town, which looked like you’d think Detroit would look, and then along the river walk, and back in.
I think the cold temperature helped regulate my core and I ran a good race, placing 4th overall in 38.53, 6.16 per mile! Nice course, gradual hill to start which in turn allowed for a good finish.
We spent some time exploring Detroit the rest of the day, explored Ann Arbor the next day (Sunday) then flew home.
The start line –
As a post script, my Christmas break ended up being not quite so much of a relaxing break as I thought… I did very little running the 10 days following this race, and then realised around Dec 18, that I was up to 934 miles for 2019. The end of the year is always busy around Christmas – going home to England, seeing family and friends, recovering from all the boozing… And now, almost subconsciously, I had decided to fit in running 70 miles in a little over a week, too! It was tough but fitting in runs ranging between 5 and 14 miles, in Wisbech, Ireland and back in Charlotte; I got up to over a thousand for the year on Dec 30, leaving me free to enjoy myself on New Year’s Eve.
Racing Americana 