Month: August 2021

Peaks and Valleys

I woke up at 3:32 am on purpose. I ate oatmeal with a touch of maple syrup from my own trees according to tradition. I pooped (twice). I headed out with Patrick Flahie to the Forestville Trailhead of the Noquemanon Trail Network north of Marquette, Michigan. There was an underwhelming pre-race meeting followed by an even less whelming national anthem. Headlamps on, running packs filled, Patrick said a spontaneous prayer, and we were off. At 5:32 am in the first wave after the elite runners, Patrick and I started running the Marquette Trail 50 Mile Ultramarathon and kept moving forward for almost 14 hours. In a race that ended up being 52 miles long and over 6,000 feet of elevation, crossing the “4 peaks of Marquette” twice, in 86 degree heat and humidity, we didn’t need an elevation chart to tell us that there were going to be as many valleys as there were peaks. As meaningful as the highs were during the race, the real question would be about the lows: would any of the valleys be too deep to pull out of and find our way back to the finish?

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

The Start

In many ways, the race didn’t start at 5:32 am. It started almost a year earlier with a race to refresh our web browsers on Black Friday 2020 so we could be among the lucky idiots who signed up for this race that sold out in 20 minutes. We originally signed up for the 50k, wisely hoping we’d be able to jump up to the 50 miler if our training went well and we stayed injury free. So much training! Patrick and I both ran well over 1,000 miles this year in order to even think about attempting 50 in one day. We did training runs together on Saturdays, dialed in hydration and nutrition as much as we could, did shorter races (a marathon and a 50k!) a couple of months before MQT, and wore through multiple pairs of shoes.

In the two months before our race, I had run a good 50k at the Two Hearted in June but my stomach didn’t have a good race. I ran the 10 mile 4 peaks route north of Marquette twice on vacation. Once, on a really hot and humid 4th of July and again with Ryan Ray on a cool day. (The only kind of day when you’re hangin’ with Ryan Ray is a cool day!) Those were extremely important runs when I look back on my training. I can’t imagine being surprised by those peaks on race day!

In the time leading up to the race, my confidence was waning and waxing from long run to long run depending on how I felt and I was frequently getting discouraged. But Pat and I had a miraculous double loop of the Poto where we both felt pretty good over 36 miles of hills. We upgraded to the 50 miler that day. Yet despite initial enthusiasm, I had to overcome a real confidence crisis about 4 weeks out. Pat, the Tuesday Running Club crew, and some prayer for perspective helped pull me out of the first valley I had to face before the race even began. My sense of dread was replaced by excitement and my nerves went away as I focused on how fun it would be to do my favorite thing in the whole world in my favorite place in the whole world with one of my favorite friends in the whole world for a whole day! (I know that’s a run on sentence but I feel like run on sentences are appropriate for this post!) 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Getting To God’s Country (The Last Good Place On Earth)

Pat drove us to Marquette with a replica of Maxwell’s Silver Hammer near his seat to beat me with if necessary. Instead of Beatles songs (Porkies Trip) we listened to some trivia and our own nervous predictions about the race. Pat took a shot in the dark and predicted a 13h 42m finish time. In one of the most disciplined moments of my life, we stopped at Tacopotatomus in Munising and I only ate half a fish taco because I feared a repeat of stomach issues from my last race. We got to our AirBnB which was a basement that smelled like a grandma’s basement because it was a grandma’s basement. The friendly owner’s name was Sue. We told her we were going to check out some breweries and she told us her son owned a brewery. Which brewery? BLACKROCKS! We were staying in the house that Mr. BLACKROCKS was raised in. This surely was a good omen (plus there was free beer in the fridge). We referred to the owner as Sue Blackrocks the rest of the trip. We stayed in Sue Blackrocks’s house! Notably, the basement also had an old organ that supplied our new trail names (a la Scott Jurek: “Webwalker”), Pat would be “The Programmer” and I would be “Phantom Fingers” come Saturday morning. The basement brought us both a surprisingly good night of sleep.

All Day Fun!

Our mantra for the race was All Day Fun with an emphasis on ALL DAY and FUN. We knew it would be a really long day and we knew we had to focus on keeping it fun even though the cut-offs meant we couldn’t mill around taking pictures every time we climbed a peak. To help with the fun, to take our minds off of the pain, and to make Patrick mad at me instead of the fact that we had made a bad choice in signing up for this race, I compiled a list of 21 hypothetical questions for conversation. Since it was a hot day we’ll call them “Hot Takes.” To give you an idea of the kinds of problems we solved for the world while we ran, the first question was simply, “Bike World?” How much better would the world be if we didn’t have engines and everyone had to just ride bikes? Predictably, Patrick did not agree even with the premise of the question. So, I followed up with question 1b, “Cloak World?” After getting through a couple of questions, seeing a frog in the dark, swatting at ground hornets – “bees!!” – and seeing a beautiful sunrise that would even make Bugsy Sailor weak in the knees, we made it back to the start after the first 11 mile south loop. We wondered if we had set out too quickly but the conga lines in the crowded trail kept us in check.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Getting Loopy

We ditched our headlamps, filled our running packs with water, gu and newtons and headed out for the first of 2 big 20 mile loops over the 4 peaks. The first loop went counter-clockwise beginning with climbing hundreds of stairs up and down Sugarloaf Mountain. Then we ran a beautiful stretch next to Lake Superior near Little Presque Isle. We ran almost all of this at a pretty good clip. I thought that running this section would “make” our race (although a small part of me feared it would break our race). “Go hard and fade” was my motto when I first started long distance running but I’ve become a better runner (according to Pat) and learned to pace myself. However, with the cutoff lurking, the heat rising and the hills looming I felt like I needed to revive my old habit a little bit so we could bank some time. It probably added to the factors that would later cause both of us to hit a wall but it also worked to help store up the precious minutes we needed to finish the first loop with enough time to feel pretty confident that we’d make it out for the second loop and be able to finish. After Sugarloaf I commented that my quads were already burning which elicited an appropriate “uh oh” from Pat. He hit a wall from miles 18-20 and really thought about not finishing but perked up with some hydration. My stomach rebelled from miles 20-30 but recovered pretty well although not well enough to be able to try bacon at any of the aid stations (alas!). Bareback Mountain, Top of the World, and an insanely hard hands and feet struggle-scramble up and down Hogback Mountain brought the first loop to completion. 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

One Mo’ ‘Gain

Have you ever gotten a few things at Taco Bell and thought about going back through the drive through for a repeat? That’s called a one mo’ ‘gain. And that was the task ahead of us minus the taco part. The first struggle was just leaving the aid station. 50k runners were in fact eating tacos and listening to live music. We were frantically stuffing our vests with hydration and nutrition and digging deep for a 20 mile clockwise one mo’ ‘gain. One of the most difficult things about this race is that if you “just” complete the 50k (31 miles) but you signed up for the 50 miler you get a DNF (did not finish). The cut-off time for completing the 50k is 12 hours. That’s by no means an easy 50k because of the hills, but the generous time cap means you could almost walk the whole thing. 

The 50 miler, on the other hand, has an aggressive 15 hour cut-off and there are cut-offs at checkpoints along the way to keep runners from being out there after dark. Thankfully, we were well ahead of the cut off and the DNF policy actually helped us to not quit even though we were exhausted and it was only getting hotter and we couldn’t have any tacos.

So we set out and then something explosive happened. I ripped a huge, cheek-flapping fart about a thousand feet past the aid station at a point when Pat was next to me so he wouldn’t get blasted. But, with Pat next to me I failed to look behind me and as I ripped the fart I heard a “whoa!” Poor Brian from Minneapolis had snuck up on us like an ultra ninja and paid the price for his silent strides. He would later question the wisdom of trusting a fart to just be a fart that late in a race. He finished 4 spots behind Pat and will probably never forget the time he got butt blasted after running 31 miles.

Cool Aid

One of the spiritual/life takeaways that I got from this run came around miles 24 and 37 in the form of an aid station. There were 6 aid stations along the course and they all had water and Heed (so gross) and lots of food I couldn’t eat and people who were there to help the runners. But there was something different about this one aid station. The people were so cheerful, so eager to help. They didn’t just stand there with water and wait, they started unzipping my pack and filling me up. They put an ice cold towel around my neck (was that an option anywhere else?). They were so positive and it was contagious. I really felt cared about and encouraged by these strangers. I gave one of the helpers a hug at the finish! I think a lot of times we want to help others but we don’t know what to do. Maybe the biggest thing is to just do something and to do it with a huge smile. The way we help might matter just as much as giving help in the first place. (1 Peter 5:1-5)

• 

• 

• 

Breaking Up The Band (Maxwell’s Silver Hammer)

Around mile 38 I had a little bit of pep in my step. My slow jog was a little faster than Pat’s and I’d run up, walk a bit, and then he’d catch me. I just thought he was in a little bit of a valley but it turns out he was digging deep just to keep going. He felt like if he kept up with me he would DNF at the next aid station so he ordered me to go ahead without him and assured me he’d finish. I argued with him a little bit and then I headed off, literally with a tear in my eye because I imagined us doing this thing together all the way. I hoped for the rest of the race that he’d catch up with me after getting a ninth or tenth wind and we could finish together and I prayed for him when I was lucid.

Now separated, we trudged back over and down each of the peaks and then conquered the last 4 miles (which weren’t even over any of the official peaks but were so tough). I have never been happier to be done with something than I was at that finish line (even though the band and the tacos were gone). I sat down in a folding metal chair and waited for Pat. I only had to wait 8 minutes for him to triumphantly finish the one mo’ ‘gain! We tried to drink a beer (a Blackrocks 51K with the K turned into an M by duct tape and a sharpie) but our stomachs hurt too much so we took a sip and poured it out for our homies who DNF’d. We finished the Marquette Trail 50 Mile Ultramarathon!!!

The Results

Here’s the crazy thing. We actually did more than just finish the race. We did remarkably well.

• Joel: 13h 39m 58s
• Pat: 13h 47m 29s (remember Pat’s prediction of 13:42 – Almost a perfect split of our times!)
• At one point 168 people were signed up for this race. At the gun there were over 130 people signed up. Only 96 people started. Only 34 people finished. 34 out of 96! We were among the 35% who finished. Amazing! [My Race Result]
• The average DNF rate of the race has been 40% over the past few years. This year’s 65% was a record. Was it the heat and humidity?
• Comparing our Ultrasignup profiles to those who finished ahead of us makes our finish seem even more improbable. The other finishers have first places, top 5’s and many more ultras on their resumes. We were the only finishers posting our first ultras on Ultrasignup.
• Our 50k split would have placed us 29th out of 235 starters in that race. Wow!
• The overall winner by over an hour was an amazing woman named Michelle Magagna. She ran past us on her way out for the second loop (around mile 35 for her) and looked like she hadn’t broken a sweat as she smiled, cheered us on, and floated by for a women’s course record on a record hot day.

There are, of course, other results that are harder to quantify. The medals were amazing. They are replicas of old miner’s tags that would be placed on a peg so it could easily be known who was down in the mine. It’s beautiful but it’s also a reminder of how much time I had to spend out on the trails training for this race. The race itself was terribly difficult and also so beautiful and fun but the training was also difficult and at times beautiful and fun. My initial feeling after the race was no more! Meaning no more races bigger than 50 miles (the temptation is to get the 100k and then the 100 miler). It’s hard to imagine doing those races and even harder to imagine all the training – although it’s really not that many more actual miles, it’s just always being in training mode. But, maybe like a mother recovering from the pangs of childbirth and holding her baby, the memory of pain is gradually being washed over by the more lingering memories of fun, beauty and accomplishment. Who knows what the future holds? I’m going to back off on my training for the fall (30-35 miles a week) and add in a little strength work. I’d still like to do a couple of long(ish) adventure runs to complete 100 miles in a year on the North Country Trail and get a patch. The things I’d do for a sticker or a patch! 

Pat and I are also watching the people who ran this race and are also signed up for what we believe to be an even more grueling 50 miler in the UP called Marji Gesick that takes place next month. Maybe that’s worth a shot next year? 

So for the fall, my running tag won’t get quite as much use as it has over the last two years and I welcome the break. Overall, I have the same thought about ultra races after this one as I had after the Two Hearted 50k in June: Adventure runs without the pressure of cut-off times like what Pat and I did in the Porkies are much more fun but I’m not going to rule out more races in the future because apparently we are actually pretty good at ultrarunning and I didn’t get to have any bacon at the aid stations!

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

A “Chill” Day In The UP

The next day we wisely planned to stay in Marquette instead of driving home. It was a chill day and a not so chill day. It was literally more chill because the heat and humidity broke and it would have been so perfect a day earlier for the race. It was not so chill because I can’t be trusted to not do cool stuff in the UP even if my legs don’t work. We hobbled around Marquette for good coffee and good beer and we went to Little Presque Isle which required a refreshing walk to an island in Lake Superior and some not so refreshing rock and hill climbing on dead legs. In my opinion, it was a fitting way to end a weekend full of unwise but rewarding accomplishments!

21 Questions – You Know You Want ‘Em!

We only got through 5-6 on the trail but finished them all on the ride home. They made for some really interesting discussions but only because our brains were fried from the run.

• Bike world?!
  • 1b – Cloak World!
  • 1c – Sword World!
  • 1d – Olympics instead of war 

• Are we alone in the universe – why no contact – what happens if there is contact?

• What will cause the end of the world? When?

• Most important event in history? Most important discovery? Most overrated event/discovery?

• How long will we be able to extend human life? In our lifetimes?

• What is the ideal government system? Examples? What’s the worst system?

• If there is no flight what’s the most defensible place on earth?

• Is an ocean world possible? Where the most sentient beings live in the sea – could technology be developed? (Mon Calamari)

• Is interstellar space travel possible? 99.99999 of light speed – acceleration takes decades as does deceleration

• What’s more important – language or mathematics?

• Will we ever be a one language world again? What language?

• What’s the last place on earth that will go from 3rd world to first? What’s keeping this from happening?

• If you could have been born in another country?

• How amazing is existence?

• What conspiracy theories are you close to buying?

• Do you think you’ve already had your best day/year ever? Your best meal ever?

• If moving to Mars and living in amazing buildings was safe and free would you do it?

• Would you live on a boat? What waters/port would you call home? RV?

• If you could switch careers right now and make what you currently make with no new training but you are just as good at the new job what would you do?

• What structure will last the longest if all people died? Michigan and world

• If you could play an instrument what would you play – would you want to be in a band?

I see that we missed questions 1c and 1d that were follow ups to Bike World and Cloak World. I guess that means we’ll have to do another ultra to figure out if the world would be a better place if we all used swords instead of guns and what would happen if we settled international disputes every four years at the olympics!