Tim Mullican's Staging Area

We were blessed again with great weather for the Palace City Kiwanis Half Marathon. There were 104 finishers of the half marathon this year with times ranging from 1:24 to 3:39. This year, they had to layout a new course due to road construction on the North side of Lake Mitchell. To modify the course, we ran a loop after crossing the West End bridge through a newer subdivision, then ran over a two mile stretch of gravel road back to 23rd Ave and then back to the start at the Corn Palace. The aid stations were well run with volunteers and we were directed by volunteers at all the major turns. There was even a live band about a half a mile from the start and finish. Swag included a bag of small items along with a long sleeve technical shirt and a nicely designed finisher’s medal with a Corn Palace design. All in all, this is a race that you will want to come back to again and again.

This year, the weather was about perfect for the 24 hour runners at the Blood Run. The race directors moved the timing and lap counting table to a more permanent location next to a shed, and the lap counters were flawless. The course was in good shape, and a very nice bridge was built over the creek after some major flooding from earlier in the year. You could still see some debris piled up in one corner of a fence outside of the course. It didn’t interfere with the course though. This year was kind of sad without Pearl, the tame deer that used to live on the farm. It died the previous fall from EHD disease that is fairly common in white-tailed deer in that area. There were still the other friendly animals, which included chickens, geese, pigs, donkeys, and T-bone, the miniature bull. I disposed of the watermelon rind that was left over after I ate a piece by throwing it over the fence to the chickens and the pigs. Swag included a well-designed short-sleeve cotton shirt and we were given the jar of marbles that they used to keep track of the number of laps that we ran.

Some may think that running all night and day around a 0.411 mile loop might be boring, but somehow, the race directors and volunteers make this an fun event. The weather was perfect for running this year, which made for several PRs for runners – from a 13-year-old finishing his first marathon to more experienced runners finishing 100 miles in under 24 hours. The race is self-supported to keep the entry fees extremely low, but with good planning, you get to eat and drink what you like and what has worked for you before.