Mid-Michigan Running Group

While I was in Michigan, I needed a long Saturday run to keep my training on track for the Salt Lake City Marathon. I did a google search for running groups and came across the Mid-Michigan Running Group. They have their own event page and were doing a 15 mile run the Saturday we would be in town. The run started only 5 miles from our hotel and less than 2 from my wife's Grandmother's house.

Mid-Michigan Running Group
This group has figured out the secret to any runner's heart–food. All their runs meet or end at a local food place. The run on Saturday met at Bake N Cakes–A local cake shop that is the pride and joy of those in the area. On Sunday's after a long run, they meet at a local cafe. On Tuesdays they meet at a cupcake shop, on Wednesday's they meet at a local tavern and Thursdays are at pie shop. When I spoke with one of the group members she said they get better attendance when they meet at food places. These are my kind of runners.

There were two different meeting times for the Saturday run. Those who wanted to do 15 met at 8:00 am and those who only wanted 10 met at 9:00 am. When I arrived at the start at 8:00 am they had just started running and I had to do a little catch up. Only a handful of people joined the 8:00 group so I had the opportunity to visit with most of them. As we were running, I asked them where the best local places to eat were. I knew I was in good company when they all just started asking me about food preferences. The list got narrowed down to one or two places that got the consensus vote on favorite.

At 9:00 we looped back to the start and met up with a few more people running in the group. During the next ten miles, we looped around the MSU campus and I was told about some of the goals each runner had. Some members were training for a half and others a full and a few had done multiple marathons. I even discovered that one of the members had moved from Colorado recently and he favorite race is the Top of Utah Marathon which I have run twice. AMAZING!

We finished our run, I shook hands and wished them all well. They extended to me the invitation to join them again any time and that there were doing a recovery run the next day at a local cafe. I smiled and wished them well.

Fork in the Road Restaurant
This little place was among the top of local places that were close to where we were staying. We almost missed it. We arrived at the right time because the wait time got longer and longer as we waited. The menu is very simple. It's updated regularly and printed on a chalkboard. You order your food, then find a place to sit and then you have a waiter come over. Since we were new, we asked about their specials and then ordered. We decided on dessert which was intriguingly called a "Backward Rootbeer Float". My wife had the fried chicken which was fabulous and made me very envious. Whereas I ordered the meatloaf sandwich which was ok, but not like the chicken.

But the hit of the night was the Backward Rootbeer Float. It consisted of Sasparilla Ice Cream in Vanilla Creme Soda. The taste was amazing. I'm used to the flavor of vanilla followed by the flavor of rootbeer when having a traditional rootbeer float. With it reversed, my mind and tongue didn't quite know what to do. I kept expecting the vanilla first and when I got the rootbeer it was almost a shock.

The Fork in the Road restaurant was a hit.

Thank you to the Mid-Michigan Running Group for accommodating me.