This morning we participated in the Big House Big Heart Run. Yesterday we went to the Race Expo at Pioneer High School. The Big House Big Heart Run benefits ALS Research at UM Program for Neurology Research & Discovery, C.S.Mott Children’s Hospital, and the UM Cardiovascular Center. You can also fundraise through the race for many other local charities. There were lots of groups present including families and friends running in memory or support of a patient.
Crossing the finish line and
hitting the Go Blue Sign
The Race Expo was held in the gym at Pioneer High School. It was setup so that you had to go through a maze of tables to reach the tables in the back with the race numbers and the race shirts. Several of the tables had samples or giveaways. To leave you had to follow the same maze in reverse to exit the gym. It would have been nice to have an “escape route” to avoid the maze in one direction. They also had the little gym setup as a kids zone with two inflatables and coloring sheets. The one inflatable was an obstacle course and the younger kids seemed to be having some trouble with the steps. The coloring was not too popular, I only saw one of the the teen volunteers coloring. The Pioneer band was also there doing car washes for donations. They were pretty quick washing my husband’s car while my daughter played on the inflatable.
We were signed up for the 1 mile race. My husband and I thought about doing the 5k, but decided the logistics would be a little tight for meeting back up with our daughter and starting the 1 mile. My dad did the 5k and we were able to meet up with him, but he runs faster than I do. The one mile is nice since it starts on the concourse of the Stadium and runs 3/4 of the way around before exiting to the parking lot. You then re-enter the stadium through the tunnel and emerge onto the field and wrap around to finish on the 50 yard line. My daughter was very excited to get on the field. She walked or ran the whole race except crossing the finish line where she got picked up to hit the Go Blue sign.
On the field before the race starts
The weather was nice and warm for the race, almost too warm on the field. However, warm weather was definitely preferable to cold and wet. As the 1 mile started, some of the band was there (mostly percussion) to kick us off. There was also plenty of volunteers on the course – even two water breaks in the 1 mile. The lacrosse team was also there right before entering the stadium (or at least 10 guys in UM lacrosse gear). All the volunteers were so friendly and giving the kids running by high fives. We did a mix of walking and running. My daughter loved getting to run on the field and of course getting the snacks after the race.
My daughter only had two complaints about the race. This morning after i pulled out her Michigan t-shirt (in pink) and shorts, she started complaining that we had signed up for the race because she wanted to wear a fancy dress. Instead of listening to complaining, I let her wear a dress and all was great. At the end, she was wondering where her medal was. She has previously run the kids races at Walt Disney World that accompany their RunDisney events (including last weekend) and has gotten medals. I explained getting to go on the field was her reward and that the race was for fun and she was fine with it.
We will definitely be putting the race on our calendar for next fall. I had been running last fall and then stopped. After running part of the race today, I think I am going to get back into running. I had planned to start in September after my daughter left for school but it was such a wet month I didn’t have many opportunities. Next year, maybe I’ll be able to do the 5 or 10k with my dad.
