There are few things more frustrating than spending all year training, sticking to your plan, and when it comes to race day, the weather turns on you, and the race is cancelled.

That’s how things went for Dustin and me during our attempt to complete the Millennium Meadows Marathon in Grand Rapids. We survived the morning storm and had been in the rain for nearly 16 miles. We were drenched and tired. But we had a plan. We figured out what we would be doing in 2 miles at our aid station stop, and we were going to finish the last 2 laps.

And then we got the announcement. The race was cancelled. We finished our lap, coming in at 18 miles. We were 8 miles short of Dustin’s first marathon.

The Course

The Millennium Meadows Marathon course consists of 6 loops of 4.05 miles at Secchia Meadows Park in Grand Rapids. This is a 100% paved course that is wide enough for easy passing. There are few hills (one in particular gave us some trouble) but overall the course is flat and smooth.

We took advantage of the early start and began at 5 a.m. There were several of us starting earlier. I really enjoyed us having this option. If you choose to do the early start, a couple of things to keep in mind. In the first hour, the aid stations aren’t set up yet, and the pathway is not lit. You’ll definetly want to bring a headlamp.

One of my favorite parts of this course was that it was heavily shaded. This would be amazing on a hot August day or on a rainy day that didn’t have torrential downpours like we experienced. Still, the tree coverage did help at least a little bit.

There were two aid stations on the course that supplied “the basics”. I used the stations only to refill my flasks to mix my Gnarly fuel in. I did not pay attention to see what else they had.

The first aid station of the loop is also the perfect location for us to meet our crew. On a normal day, they would have set up chairs and watched us complete loops. However, with the heavy (and I mean heavy) rainfall, they opted to hang out somewhere that didn’t involve them getting as drenched as we were.

Overall

Even though we still received our finisher’s medal, we both feel a little disappointed that the race was cancelled right as the rain had stopped and the sun came out. That also means that next year, we will be trying again to complete a marathon. It is likely that we will be tackling Millennium Meadows once again. For more information, visit Millennium Meadows Marathon.