the bacon station, gummy bear forest, and pickle pit

By PaceKit Team · Updated April 2026

The Zeigler Kalamazoo Marathon has three aid stations that have become more famous than the race itself, and they tell you everything you need to know about what kind of event this is.

The Bacon Station. Somewhere on the marathon and half marathon course, volunteers hand out strips of cooked bacon to runners mid-race. Not energy gels. Not orange slices. Bacon. The race calls it "infamous" in its own marketing, which is the correct word. The Bacon Station has been a tradition since the Borgess days, and it's the single most-discussed feature of the race on social media. Runners either love it (the salt, the fat, the sheer absurdity of eating bacon at mile 15) or avoid it (the salt, the fat, the sheer absurdity of eating bacon at mile 15). Both reactions are valid. The Bacon Station doesn't care.

Gummy Bear Forest. An aid station where volunteers distribute gummy bears, positioned in a section of the course that's been themed around the concept. The 5K, 10K, and half marathon participants pass through it, and the visual of runners grabbing fistfuls of gummy bears from outstretched hands has become one of the race's signature images. Quick-digesting sugar in a festive package.

The Pickle Pit. Pickles. At an aid station. For runners. The electrolyte logic is sound (pickles are high in sodium, which helps with cramping), but the execution is pure Kalamazoo: why serve electrolyte tablets when you can serve actual pickles?

These aren't afterthoughts. They're the identity of the race. The Zeigler Kalamazoo Marathon has positioned itself as the marathon that's having fun, and the themed aid stations are the most visible expression of that philosophy. You can run a fast, serious, Boston-qualifying marathon here. You can also eat bacon and gummy bears while doing it. The two things are not mutually exclusive, and Kalamazoo is the proof.