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Is there any place quite so wonderful as Mackinac Island? Well, the last open weekend, anyway, is fabulous. Not very many people at all, romantic weather, grandiose architecture, lack of mechanized sounds. And it's a Goldilocks-sized island: not too big that you wouldn't get to see parts of it ever, not too small that you can do everything in one day.
We went to participate in the Great Turtle Run -- a half marathon and 5.7 mile run/walk. We did the shorter one so we wouldn't be stressed out training. And, no I have no idea what the rationale is for the mileage. Not a 10 K, not a quarter marathon. Just how long the course they liked happened to be, I guess. Anyway, we both did quite respectably. Bill came in at considerably under an hour, and I at just barely over an hour.
Our hotel was a couple miles outside of town on a quiet side of the island, sheltered by lots of trees. We chose to walk in the rain, although the primary mode of transportation on the island is bicycle or horse-drawn taxi. Well, Bill and I decided to walk. Our travel companions took a taxi to the hotel after picking up our luggage at the ferry (which had stayed in town all day instead of being sent up to be at the hotel for when we checked in). It was an exercise in Make the Most of It to sit around the hotel room in towels while our clean clothes and lunch were who knows where. But it felt worth it for the feast that followed: wine, imported cheeses, crisp apples, salami, and kalamata olive bread followed by chocolate-hazelnut and gingersnap-lemon-cream-sandwich cookies. And after running hard and fasting all day, we felt justified!
