May showers bring flooded race routes

In theory it is spring time, although you wouldn't have known it this past weekend. On Saturday a girlfriend and I ran the Heart of Michigan Governor's Cup 10K. Last year this race proceeded in a torrential downpour, and at the start of this year's race it appeared it would suffer the same fate.
Running the 2010 Heart of a Spartan Race - so rainy!
The race began at Dunham's Sporting Goods store in the Frandor shopping center and ended in front of the beautiful Michigan Capitol Building.  Runners met on the Lansing Community College campus and took buses over to the start.

While the rain poured before the race, runners were huddled under a tent and in doorways to stay dry.  The 5K started around its scheduled start time, but the 10K course had to be re-routed and started 20 minutes late.

I have been running on the Lansing River Trail for several years. Anyone who runs the trail regularly knows it floods regularly in the spring. This year we had an extremely rainy spring, and the race course had to be re-routed at the last minute. Unfortunately this mean the 10K started 20 minutes late. After standing in the cold and rain I was very frustrated.

Despite the frustration with the delayed start I really enjoyed the course overall. It ran up MIchigan Ave and through a neighborhood to the river trail. The race continued on the trail for several miles before coming out onto Ottawa Street and ending in front of the Capitol.

There were no mile markers along the course, and I assume this was because of the re-routing. I must say the course itself was much better than last year, but because of the late start and seeming lack of course organization I was dissatisfied with the race overall.

The silver lining is that I set my 10K PR, beating my previous PR by more than two minutes. But next spring I'll have to find another 10K, because I think I'll take a rain check on the Heart of Michigan race.

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