My friend Amy and I enjoyed running the Holiday Hustle Half Marathon in Dexter, MI enough last year to keep the December 7 race on our radars for this year. I usually hesitate to sign up for winter races in advance because I worry that it could be snowy or icy come race day. I ended up committing to this one in advance though when I was lucky enough to win an entry in a Running Fit / Absopure Water contest on Instagram. Many thanks to my Ann Arbor running friend Lisa who made me aware of the contest!

Winning the contest gave me extra motivation to show up on race day despite having been sick all week. I ended up with a cold or sinus thing right after Thanksgiving and I felt especially miserable for several days. I stayed home from work one day and missed a couple of big mid-week runs. When I did attempt a run last Wednesday it probably wasn’t smart since I had a cough coming from deep inside my chest. My cough wasn’t quite as bad by Friday and I felt like I should try a run on the treadmill to see if I should attempt this race the next day. I had moments of coughing but decided I had improved enough. I would have felt guilty about winning the race entry only to let it go to waste!

One nice thing about this race is the 11:00 start. My drive to Dexter takes at least an hour and 15 minutes and I was able to leave after 8:30. That still gave me plenty of time to pick up my bib, eat a pre-race Picky Bar, do a short warm up run, and use the bathroom. We could add extra items like a hat or shirt to our race entries but I already had a nice hat from last year and I’ve been collecting SO many race shirts that I decided I could pass this time around.

Last year was the first time I ran this race and fortunately I parked in an area that took me past Monument Park where I saw a big batch of porta potties. 1-mile and 5K races start and finish around the park later in the afternoon while the half marathon takes place several blocks away at Erratic Ale. That means most of the runners don’t venture over to the park and there’s no line to use the bathrooms. After collecting my bib outside the brewery I headed to the park and I was excited to see that it was so festive. I had heard something on the radio about lighting 85 Christmas trees in the park the night before the race yet I hadn’t imagined exactly what I would find there. Various groups and companies had decorated their own trees with unique themes.

After doing a .9-mile warm up jog through town (I had to balance out the 13.1 miles to get an even number!) I took more time to walk around the park. I thought it was fun that Jet’s Pizza had a tree that was decorated with pizza ornaments. A painting company had decorated a tree with paint brushes. I was especially partial to Dexter Community Aqua Club’s tree that was decorated with goggles and a swim cap. There were so many fun themes!

It was a cool morning around 30° so I shed some layers at the car and headed to the start 10-15 minutes before 11:00. Thanks to her nice Epic Races hoodie, I managed to spot my friend Angela and chatted with her for a few minutes before I went to the corral.

I lined up behind the 1:45 pace group which meant I was in the second wave. Waves were staggered every 30 seconds because the race is run on a path that could get way too congested if everyone took off at once.

As it was, it took more than half a mile before I could work my way around people to run the pace I wanted to run. That was a good thing though because it kept me from starting too fast. Last year I got swept up in the fast start with others around me and probably went faster than I should have. Between being sick and knowing that I had a long run of 20+ miles the next day, I knew I better keep myself under control and not “race” this one.

Last year I realized that several boardwalks along the course could be dicey in certain weather conditions. I was wary about some spots that were slightly slick last year so that was a concern of mine coming into the race this year since we had gotten some snow a few days earlier. Fortunately everything had melted and our route was dry.

Aside from a few boardwalk areas, we ran the paved B2B trail out to Hudson Mills Metropark where we ran a loop then headed back the same way we had come. The path wasn’t exclusively used by people racing – others were out walking, running, and riding bikes. Witnessing a crash up in front of me reminded me that everyone should really be aware that we were sharing the path. As a bike was coming toward us, I saw a runner suddenly cut out right in front of him and they collided. The two guys hugged it out so they must have been okay but it was still a scary moment.

Aside from that, it was a pretty nice run. It was fun to see people dressed in a variety of festive outfits. Apparently a fuzzy Rudolph costume was a bit too warm for one runner who paused to pull the top half down after a few miles.

It was the third time I had run this route and I knew there were some rolling hills but I didn’t really think about how challenging it was. There aren’t any major climbs so it’s kind of deceiving. Last year I thought I had started the race too fast and suffered for it in the second half. This year I realized maybe that wasn’t the case and it was just because the course is frickin’ hard! I slowed down during the second half this time around as well. When I slowed down by 15-20 seconds for a mile here and there, some people I had passed earlier caught back up. I had to remind myself that I was lucky I was even healthy enough to pull this off. I shouldn’t be “racing” anyway or it might mess up the long run I needed to do the next day. I tried to keep things in perspective and just do what felt manageable enough. I didn’t push to my max but it felt like a comfortably hard enough effort. I worried about coughing my way through the race and I did at moments but it was fairly minimal. It was only during the last mile when I tried to pick up the pace that I thought I might need to back off a little. Breathing harder didn’t work so well with my pre-existing issues! Still, I finished strong which pulled me in just under 1:46 with a time of 1:45:55.

As I suspected, the coughing really came on as soon as I stopped running. It was mostly a dry cough where I just couldn’t catch my breath and it went on for several minutes. Eventually I recovered enough to take advantage of the post-race fun.

The soft pretzel from Ratterman Bread was pretty great. I enjoyed that before realizing I better go back to my car ASAP to add layers of warm clothes.

I went back to the finishing area and was excited to find a s’more station! I had to be extra careful when toasting the marshmallow because the smoke from the fire pit was not good for my cough.

I checked my results and saw that I had put in a good enough effort to earn second place in my age group! While I was waiting to collect the award I talked to another woman who said she’d actually finished ahead of me in the age group but her bib hadn’t tracked her time. How incredibly frustrating! Technically I was probably third in my age group. Awards were given to those in the top three so I would have earned the cute ornament either way.

Amy and I tracked each other down and met up to go inside Erratic Ale. Free beer tickets came with our race bibs and I shared mine with Amy. Going inside really helped because my fingers had started to freeze even with gloves and mittens. We had each signed up for a BBQ meal so we collected our food at the Sunset Ridge BBQ truck outside and brought it back inside to enjoy at the bar.

Most of the time Amy and I just catch each other while out running and chat for a mile or so before parting ways. It was nice to sit and actually hang out for longer. Although this was just the second year we’ve done this, it feels like a good tradition to continue. A fun day of racing, getting into the holiday spirit, and one of the main motivators for me – good food afterward.

Even though I didn’t go all-out, I probably still ran this one a little faster than I should have because I struggled through the last few miles of my 24-mile run the next day. Still, I got it done and running a half marathon one day followed by a run that was two miles short of a marathon the next day left me feeling pretty good about my preparation for the Dopey Challenge at Disney World next month. It’s always possible that I’ll jump into another race before the end of the year, but this was the last one I had planned. If it was indeed my last race of the year, it was a pretty solid way to finish.

– Janet

Follow my running adventures on Instagram @janetboltz