Do the “Easy” Charlevoix Marathon

The Charlevoix Marathon will potentially go down as my best race ever. For anyone considering it, I am here to tell you that you will love it. As much as you can love running 26.2 miles of course. I say easy because it’s flat; obviously no marathon is actually easy. But I highly recommend this race.

If you read my other blog about Kyle and I’s New River Marathon fiasco, then you know how much we struggled with it. Sometimes, though, marathons make you think crazy things, like “let’s do another one.” We had some reasoning: We were already in marathon shape, and we wanted to see what we were capable of in a less hilly race. We also like to see new places.

My family has a cottage on the Lake in Grand Haven, Michigan. Our summer vacation to the cottage happened to be the same weekend as the Charlevoix Marathon, a 3 hour drive from Grand Haven. The elevation map looked like a straight line compared to our previous one, so we signed up for the June 24th race in 2017. Lucky for us, I have no misfortunes to report.

The Details

The Charlevoix Marathon is located in Northern Michigan and has been named one of the best “small town marathons.” I would definitely vouch for this. The marathon happens in June. The weather is usually perfect, and the course is flat. Early registration is $95. Start time is at 6am on race day morning, and you have to finish by 1pm. Check out their page here.

Getting There

You can fly into Pellstom Airport, rent a car, and drive 45 minutes to Charlevoix. Or you can fly into a bigger airport like Grand Rapids and drive a few hours. Or drive the whole way from wherever you live. Because it’s a small town in upper Michigan, there aren’t many train or creative options other than flying or driving.

The Expo

We arrived at the Expo in the adorable town of Charlevoix, Michigan. Parking was easy. People were nice. Free running gel and fruit snacks. The opportunity to walk around the town’s cute shops. Furthermore, they offer a pasta dinner (they ask for donations) at a church only a block away where we met some awesome fellow runners.

Where to Stay

We figured we would try our luck with camping again (maybe we’ve started our own marathon tradition?) and had booked a campsite at Fisherman’s Island State Park. Tip: Book somewhere in advance; many hotels, airbnbs, etc. were full 2 months before race day. There are many options in the small town. Perks to Fisherman’s Island: It was cheap, available, and only 10 minutes from the starting line. It was also right on Lake Michigan which meant catching a gorgeous sunset on Marathon Eve. I highly recommend it.

Race Morning

Our alarm went off at 4:40am, and you could feel the excitement in our small tent. We deflated our air mattresses, dressed quickly (if you run races and haven’t learned to set out your clothes the night before, please learn this from me right now), and took down our tent. We found a parking spot by 5:40 and finished getting ready in the jeep. Sorry about spitting toothpaste in the grass, Charlevoix. The town has free public parking lots and meters that don’t ticket until noon.

Then it was a line-free visit to the porta-potty and a short walk to the starting line where there was SO much great energy. Runners were ready. The speaker was funny and got everyone pumped. Music played. The singer had laryngitis, so a runner sang the star-spangled banner. There were about 1800 runners (including the 5k and half-marathon). I’ve run huge races and small races, and this race felt like the perfect amount of participants.

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Running the Charlevoix Marathon

The actual race, course, and weather were perfect. Temperature in the 60s, sunny. Some of the route is on a boardwalk, and there are plenty of views of Lake Michigan. It was flat, and the “hills” were laughable compared to what we’d been through before. It’s an out and back course, so you get to smile at and cheer on the other runners, and I’m pretty sure I read a study one time that said you run better while smiling.

That study must be true because I’m claiming this as my best race ever. I’ve done 10 half marathons and now 3 full marathons. I felt incredible. We ran fast (I am not a fast runner) for the first 15 miles, we slowed down a bit (my brain was questioning whether I could keep this up for another 11 miles), Kyle gave me a literal push on mile 23 to keep going, and we finished in under 4 hours!

I read a marathon book by Hal Higdon one time, and I remember him saying that running a marathon puts you in a very small group of the population (google tells me only 0.5% of the US population has run one). But being able to start your race time with “3” puts you in an elite group of athletes. Ha, me? An elite athlete? Nope, but I sure felt like a badass on this day.

I also almost cried at the finish line (it’s emotional, y’all), received an awesome medal, and got to eat pizza and fudge. If you’re considering doing a marathon and have no idea which one to do, get yourself up to Charlevoix and run this race.

Running while Traveling is awesome, so I highly recommend this as a destination race.

Happy at the Finish Line

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