Emily's: Ludington Lakestride Half Marathon 2013

Yesterday I ran the Ludington Lakestride Half Marathon. We drove up to Ludington Friday evening. My parents came too! We picked up the race packet, went out to dinner and ice cream and headed to the hotel for some swimming. We stayed at the Best Western (which I wouldn't stay at again...).

The race was Saturday morning at 8:00. We woke up and had the hotel breakfast and headed to the starting line.

The race was a beautiful and unique course. It started with about 4 miles in town and headed up the road through some wooded streets. The next two miles was a trail run. It was very wooded with dirt/sand narrow paths. There were many small hills, and two huuuuge hills (literally straight up). When we got out of the woods, we went down a sand dune (for real) and then followed the coast on the paved road for the next few miles. The race ended coming back through the wooded streets in town. The finish line was on the beach. I grabbed some Power Aid and an apple, then we walked down to the water to soak our feet (it was freezing!).

Again, the race course was very cool - but tough. Being 4 months pregnant, the trail run was a little hard for me. I went pretty slow because there were so many sticks and roots. I also didn't feel comfortable running down the hills and dunes, so I took it easy on those parts.

There were water and Power Aid stations every mile and other volunteers and police in between. It was well organized, but pretty small. There were less than 500 runners in the half marathon, about 500 runners in the 5k and about 200 runners in the 10k.

Brad, Sam and my parents watched us take off at the starting line. Then, Brad went to check out of the hotel, while my parents and Sam went for coffee. Then, they played at the beach until I finished.

We went out to lunch and walked around downtown Ludington a bit before heading home.

A few photos: