Month: July 2020

Yesterday I ran at Sleepy Hollow State Park. It seems like at some point the DNR wanted state parks just outside of each metro area in Michigan. So for Lansing area people, Sleepy Hollow is our State Park. It also seems like at some point God decided to make the geology of west Michigan from Kzoo to GR and north as well as the east side surrounding the Detroit area very interesting with hills, glacial lakes and rivers flowing into the great lakes. He decided to make the middle of Michigan a flat boring swamp that got turned into farmland. So Sleepy Hollow, which surrounds the man-made Lake Ovid is not a great State Park but it’s the one we have. It’s really trying its best with out much help from the last Ice Age.

The best thing about the trail around the park is that it’s almost exactly a half marathon if you do the little Island loop, making it the longest single track in the area by far. The other thing that’s great is that since it’s not that great, no one is ever there. It’s not very hilly. It’s like a big Burchfield.

Historical Note: A decade ago I built a sail canoe out of a regular canoe (The Dawn Treader) and I sailed it across lake Ovid. My friend Clay sailed it about 100 yards into the lake, tipped it over and treaded 50 degree April water for about 15 minutes before a boat came through and towed him and the sail canoe to shore. He lost his shoes and I lost confidence in the sail canoe and deconstructed it with never realized plans to turn it into a rowing canoe. (It is currently just a regular canoe)

Yesterday’s run was uneventful and pretty quick considering I did 20 miles the day before as I gear up for Pictured Rocks. I saw turkeys, partridges, a toad and no humans on the 13 mile loop. The trail is mostly wooded but the clouds were so pretty that I took a picture of a part of the trail that is in a meadow. The humidity took a day off too which was a pleasant change!

This is the run that got me into ultra running. I don’t really care about races or distances. I have a dream of running this trail on a beautiful fall day. I’ve ran parts of it and it is always the most beautiful trail run I’ve ever done. It is a truly amazing place on the earth! This page will start as a planning page for me and my team (1 other person confirmed: thanks Patrick!). It will hopefully become a page joyfully and painfully detailing the completion of this dream.

Timing:

I’ll start in Grand Marais at sunrise or a little before. This will be in the first or second week of October with a 3 day weather window – waiting on Holt Schools to let us know when break is but it doesn’t totally matter. The earlier in October I run, the slower I can go. I have to beat the sunset (although I’ll bring a headlamp just in case).

Pacing:

8 hours: 11:19/mile (nope!)

9 hours: 12:44/mile (probably doable!)

10 hours: 14:09/mile (you never know!)

So even at a very slow pace of 14:09/mi I’ve got the daylight I need! I think keeping the pace below 12 will be a good goal. My 31 mile pace on the Poto (which is actually hillier – Poto – 31mi = 3,035 ft gain, Pictured Rocks Trail – 42mi =2,267 ft gain) was 12:02 elapsed so if I can keep that for the first 31 I should be good.

Aid:

Patrick, pacer extraordinaire, engineering marvel, and ultra-running comeback kid, will be helping along the way and running a portion with me. Ryan and Alexis are also joining to make sure I don’t start too fast and that I finish without falling off a cliff. Here’s the info all in one place for Patrick and the team to work their magic!

Trail Location	Overall Mileage	Mileage from Last	Mileage from parking to trail
Grand Sable Visitor Center (GSV)	0	0	0 (Note: Visitor Center Closed)
Log Slide	5.3	5.3	0.25
Hurricane River	8.7	3.4	0
12 Mile Beach	11.5	2.8	0
Beaver Creek	20.4	8.9	1.5
Chapel Beach	26	5.6	3
Mosquito Beach	30.4	4.4	2
Miner’s Castle	35.4	5	0
Sand Point	39.5	4.1	1
Munising Falls Visitor Center	42.4	2.9	0

The trickiest spots are in the middle. 12 Mile Beach is aptly named with at least an 8.9 mile section to Beaver Creek with quite the trek from the parking area. Then Chapel Beach and Mosquito Beach are as equally far from each other as they are from the parking area. Seems like Patrick joining me from 12 Mile Beach to Mosquito Beach or even Miner’s Castle might make the most sense but that’s a lot of miles. Alexis will start and go 5 or so. Ryan will finish the last 10? All of this is subject to argument and change!

Training:

I’d say I’m slightly de-trained from when I did my 31 miler in late May. I’ve got to get consistent miles, long runs and back to back long runs in. I have to keep dialing in eating, hydrating and equipment for the that distance. Since it is very remote, I especially want to crush this and not get crushed. Below is an ideal training plan – I need my long runs to mimic the trail run as much as possible so they will be slow loops on trails with the van as an aid station. I’ll certainly switch up dates of runs but shoot for close to this mileage as I work around the Quad and DWD.

Week	Day	Date	Miles	Notes
1	M	July 27	6
50m	T	July 28	6 x .5 – 7-9
	W	July 29	6
	Th	July 30	8
	F	July 31	Rest
	Sa	August 1	10	UP
	Su	August 2	10	UP
2	M	August 3	5	UP
60m	T	August 4	7 x .5	UP
	W	August 5	11
	Th	August 6	Rest or Makeup
	F	August 7	6
	Sa	August 8	Marathon
	Su	August 9	12
3	M	August 10	Rest
70m	T	August 11	6
	W	August 12	8 x .5
	Th	August 13	6
	F	August 14	12
	Sa	August 15	31
	Su	August 16	13
4	M	August 17	Rest
56m	T	August 18	8
	W	August 19	Pyramid 9
	Th	August 20	6
	F	August 21	7
	Sa	August 22	13
	Su	August 23	13
5	M	August 24	Rest	Recovery/Lake George
25m	T	August 25	6
	W	August 26	6
	Th	August 27	Rest
	F	August 28	3
	Sa	August 29	Lake George
	Su	August 30	6
6	M	August 31	Rest
60mi	T	September 1	8
	W	September 2	Pyramid 9
	Th	September 3	3
	F	September 4	7
	Sa	September 5	26
	Su	September 6	10
7	M	September 7	6
47 mi	T	September 8	6 x .5
	W	September 9	6
	Th	September 10	Rest
	F	September 11	7
	Sa	September 12	20
	Su	September 13	Rest
8	M	September 14	6
53 mi	T	September 15	6 x .5
	W	September 16	6
	Th	September 17	Rest
	F	September 18	7
	Sa	September 19	20
	Su	September 20	6
9	M	September 21	Rest	Recovery DWD
35 mi	T	September 22	6
	W	September 23	4 x .5
	Th	September 24	6
	F	September 25	Rest
	Sa	September 26	DWD 13
	Su	September 27	6
10	M	September 28	6	Taper
33 mi	T	September 29	4 x .5
	W	September 30	6
	Th	October 1	Rest
	F	October 2	8-10
	Sa	October 3	6
	Su	October 4	Run?	Repeat Taper Schedule Until Run
	M	October 5	Run?
	T	October 6	Run?
	W	October 7	Run?
	Th	October 8	Run?
	F	October 9	Run?
	Sa	October 10	Run?
	Su	October 11	Run?
	M	October 12	Run?

It’s getting real! Pat has provided a three tiered logistical breakdown based on which friends are able to join the run. (Thank you Pat!)

I ran a training trail marathon on Friday and followed it up with a half on Saturday and it felt pretty good. I’ll do another 50k early September followed by a half the next day. I keep trying to imagine what the day will be like – I can’t wait!

On July 3rd I went with 4 friends to bike the DTE Foundation Trail. It’s been a few years since I biked there and I kept hearing great things and comparisons to Copper Harbor. It exceeded my expectations! We had a blast covering over 20 miles of trails (I forgot to restart my watch so didn’t get the whole activity mapped). It’s less than an hour from my house and will definitely be a go to trail! I realized I need a larger front sprocket because there were about a dozen times I wanted more speed but I was topped out. It’s on order! Nothing more to report!

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My recent trip to Bellaire made me think that day trips to anywhere in the lower peninsula are doable and fun if you leave early enough and don’t care when you get home. My friendship with Patrick has been forged on the habit of saying yes to bad ideas; mostly mine. But this one was his. The plan was to leave early, run the Jordan River Pathway Loop (between Gaylord and Bellaire), drop kayaks, drive the van to the end of the river, bike back to the kayaks, kayak the river, load the kayaks, go get the bikes and then grab a beer from Short’s. If it sounds complicated, that’s because it was. I didn’t totally understand it until it was done. Luckily, Pat is an engineer and had it all worked out. The logistics part was flawless. The actual running, biking and kayaking was a series of brief horrors mixed with beauty that I’ve rarely experienced in the Lower Peninsula.

The Run

We left at 5am and hit the trail right around 8am. The weather looked really scary the whole way up. Running in the rain is fine but running in lightning – not so much. Patrick avoided looking at the radar so he could maintain plausible deniability. When we arrived the storm split around us and we were good to go on a cooler (high of 80F), cloudy morning run.

The run started with a huge downhill that seemed to go on forever. The elevation chart shows it as a 5 minute, .5 mile downhill. And when we reached the bottom things continued to go downhill that weren’t based on elevation. We were immediately soaked by dew and raindrops on the overgrown trail making it an 18 mile run in wet shoes and socks. Not a big problem. I slipped on a wet log and flew like superman into the mud. From my neck to my ankles I was covered. At the river I took off my shirt and soaked it so I could use it to wipe sweat off of my face without mudding my face up. Also, not such a big deal. I rolled my ankle on a downhill but ran through it. No problem.

But there was a problem. The Covid virus is teaching our world that small things can be a really big deal. I feel like I’ve already learned that but I got another crash course on our crash course in the northern woods and the teachers we deer flies. Deer flies are the worst. I had a terrible deer fly run at Burchfield a few weeks ago but that was nothing compared to the onslaught of the hungry hoard of the Jordan River Pathway. I probably killed 100. They would land on my hat and shoulders by the dozens. I killed one with each eye lid and swallowed one. They inflicted their damage too. I had bites all over that swelled and itched. The ones on my head swelled up as if I had hit my head repeatedly. I had a nose bleed from the outside from two bites (a first!). Fortunately for Patrick the flies REALLY liked me more. He kept his distance and watched the horror as we went up and down the hills. “It never always gets worse” is something Patrick likes to say. It kept me going as the flies would only stick around for a couple of miles at a time and then I’d get a couple of relatively fly free miles before they’d come back with their hungry buddies for another fresh flesh party. I’ve never really known what to do with my arms while running. I look like a stocky T-rex. I was glad I could employ them as fly swatters as we ran. Our pace was quickened in the fly zones as we were more fleeing than running. If anyone had seen me running and flailing they would have thought I was absolutely crazy but there was no one else on the 18 mile trail. Despite checking trail updates we must have missed the fly memo.

We got back to our van over 18 miles and 3.5 hours later and despite the challenges it was an amazing run! Over half of it was North Country Trail and the river was absolutely beautiful. The color of the water is hard to describe; milky white and translucent blue. The mist was smoky. The ridges and hills occasionally opened up to glorious vistas. At one point on a bridge over the river, despite the swarm of flies, we stopped and I spontaneously prayed a prayer of praise because it was just so awe-inspiring. I also implored God to kill all deer flies even at the cost of ecological collapse and there were less flies from that point on. So if the environment takes a turn for the worst you know who started it.

The Bike

The 9 mile bike ride featured a welcome lack of excitement as we headed back to our kayaks for a river adventure.

The Kayak

The kayak was an unexpected return to peril. I’ve only taken my kayak on flat rivers, ponds and lakes so even the light rapids of the Jordan River offered a steep learning curve for me. I got pinned by a few trees but was able to dislodge without tipping. Some people we passed who had rented kayaks weren’t so lucky. Pat even managed to get a picture of me stuck in a tree because that’s what friends are for. The river was so beautiful; the water refreshingly cold. I learned that with a longer kayak I have to be aggressive in turns and trouble spots or the river will take the long side of my kayak where it wants to go (which is always in a tree). We saw kingfishers, a large water snake sunning and a family of mergansers walking on water and diving underneath. When we disembarked we had traveled over 36 miles by ped, peddle and paddle. We headed to Bellaire and made the most of Short’s takeout window since things are still weird from Covid. The drive home, like the entire day, was filled with great conversation from the mundane to the meaningful. Patrick gets a 9 out of 10 for adventure planning. The flies were out of his control but someone has to be blamed. In the end, the mantra proved true. It doesn’t always get better, but it never always gets worse!