Dearborn’s Martian Invasion of Races — which features a full marathon, 10K and 5K in addition to its half marathon — may not have the absolute oddest or strangest inspiration for a road race out there, but it’s certainly got one of the most “interesting” stories around its genesis of any race we’ve ever heard of.
Set to mark its 20th annual running this year, the race has already become one of the state’s most popular races, drawing nearly 4,000 runners and walkers to the full, half and kids’ marathons in each of the last few years — including more than 1,800 runners in the half marathon alone in the last couple of years.
The race gets its name — including a pair of races called the Meteor 10K and 5K — from observing the movements of the planets in the solar system. As the timing of planetary orbiting would have it, Earth passes Mars in its orbit around the sun within two hours of the official starting time for the race, in every other year.
