Stony Creek Back to the Beach Half Marathon

This past weekend, May 18, I ran my 9th ever half marathon. I was nervous because with all the rain we had lately, and much of the course being on trails or dirt roads, they made it sound like a death trap on their Facebook page. I have run trails before but didn't know exactly how much trail would be included. Also I'm not really a trail runner but do enjoy it. I was not that familiar with the area. Even though I went to that park once in my lifetime, it was years ago.

I stayed with my best friend on Saturday evening. We went to California Pizza Kitchen for dinner. We each had a glass of wine, chips w/ spinach artichoke dip, and split barbecue chicken pizza. I usually do pasta before a run but a lot of people like pizza too so I figured what the heck!

I had a horrible night sleep but did manage to grab a 4-5 hour night sleep. It was not a very good night, nervous about the race and I could hear everything in my friend's house.  UGH. I finally did get some sleep but not w/o the help of melatonin and my noise machine on my phone to drown out the noises. Her and her husband were mainly just talking but I could also hear doors shut and every time they walked to the other end of the room.

Anyways I got up at 5:45 ready to run. They wanted us parked by 7am when it started at 8am which was fine with me because my friend had to go to work.

I got there and picked up my race packet. Which included a t-shirt, pint glass and my race number. It was freezing, in the low 40s but sunny. I started with arm warmers but took them off about halfway through.

The race started and I was under the impression I wouldn't do great because I just ran another half 2 weeks before and intended on taking it easy. But I always have to compete with myself in a race. Always.

I don't remember the exact layout of the course. But mile 1-2 was pretty much all either grass or trail. It was a pleasant surprise from what I expected! Very pretty and fun.. I think mile 3 was on either paved trails, sidewalks or paved roads. Miles 4-6 were all dirt road/potholes. Mile 6 also offered beer and jello shots! I had me some beer. yum carbs LOL. Then from miles 6-9 were all trails. Mile 8 had a HUGE hill to climb so that was fun. Throughout the course they had plenty of water, GU, and wet cloths to cool down with! Miles 9-11 were on paved trails. The last mile was on trails again!

Overall I would do this course again! It was a long drive home though, about 1.5 hours from Shelby Township to Home in Milan. But oh so worth it. They have an actual beach and lake to look at. They also had a playground, would have loved my son to check that out! So much fun!

Total time: 2:01:03
Pace: 9:14