Official Results
Saturday, August 22, 2009 was National Trail Running Day. It was also the day that I contested the 50km distance at the Marquette Trail 50 in Marquette, MI. This was the inaugural running of this event and was mostly held on the North Country Trail along the shores of Lake Superior and around Sugarloaf Mountain.
I was coming off of a hot 50km just two weeks earlier at Bartlett Park 50km in Memphis, TN where the temperatures soared well into the 90's. I was able to pull off the overall win and set the course record with a 4:07:10. Despite it being held in the same calendar month, the conditions for Marquette couldn't be more drastic. The temperatures at the start were in the upper 40's and would never make it above the low 50's, with wind gusts coming off of the big lake making it feel much cooler.
Although this was a new event, there was good competition at the top of the field, lead by 2007 International Association of Ultrarunners (IAU) Trail World Challenge Masters 50km Champion and former local resident, Jim Harrington. After Jim was Vince Rucci, the owner of Vertical Runner in Ohio and had recently finished 2nd overall at Mohican 50km. Then of course there was the unknown variable of runners that could might make a good debut at this distance.
The first mile of the race was a controlled start at a slow pace due to the darkness in Marquette at 6:30 am eastern time with no lights on the loop through town. I ran alongside Vince and the with the lead biker, who would stay with us for the first few miles. Jim made his way up toward us quickly and we ran down a gravel road together. After crossing the Dead River Bridge on CR550 at the two mile mark, we ran up into the woods and onto the trail. The pace for the next two miles was much faster than I wanted to run at the start of an endurance event as we clocked a 7:17 and a 7:29. Not quite yet warmed up, I struggled with this pace but knew that if I was going to have a chance at the win, I would have to hold on until the pace became more comfortable.
The 5th mile was much more technical and came at the right time. I was a much better technical trail runner than the others so when Vince and Jim slowed the pace down on the rocks, I was able to catch my breathe before we hit Forestville Rd. As we made the turn and ran downhill toward the gravel pit, another runner had caught up and pulled even. I didn't know or recognize him, but did notice that we wasn't carrying any water. Either way, he was very young but ran strong with us through the 6th mile at 6:57 pace.
Coming out of the gravel pit we started a mile long climb before re-entering the woods and starting the technical trail again. As we began the climb, I was able to hold the pace and pulled ahead. I wasn't making a push, but saw a small chance to take the lead and set the pace. Jim came with me, running just off my shoulder on the other side of the road and the young kid stayed with us. Vince fell off the pace and it would be the last time that we would see him.
As we entered the North Country Trail, we continued to climb until we hit the 8 mile mark in 1:02:45, having averaged 7:45 pace. I was leading the way, with Jim and the kid with me together in a pack. Starting with this section, the three of us started to talk a little more and the atmosphere seemed more like a fun training run with friends than a competitive race. The young kid introduced himself as Stuart Kramer, a recent Michigan Tech grad (my alma mader) from the spring, a collegiate athlete and also native of Marquette. I would later find out that Stuart was amongst the best runners on his team and tops amongst all Upper Peninsula collegiate runners. So even though we were running pretty hard, it was a great atmosphere to be in. Jim would let us know when to be careful on certain sections and I would tell them when to duck under low hanging limbs.
At 9.66 miles right on track, we hit Big Bay Road and ran down toward the first aid station. It was clear that this course was measured by GPS and that mine would track right on. This is different than other trail ultra marathons that usually end up measuring short by GPS, but are actually correct, assuming some loss of signal in heavily wooded areas. Race Director Joe Jameson might be the second coming of David Horton if this course would be measured in 'Horton Miles.' I would normally have taken in some fuel prior to this in an ultra, but the pace and course did not allow it until the smooth gravel road. I was able to get in a few PowerBar Gel Blasts just before we came into the aid station. After the Chattanooga Mountains Stage Race in June, I had grown to like HEED, especially the Subtle Strawberry flavor, so was happy to find out that this was the fluids offering. Jim refilled and I think that Stuart grabbed a bottle from his drop bag, as I would later notice that he was now carrying it with him.
The ascent up to the top of Sugarloaf Mountain was only 300' over less than 1/2 mile, but was up mostly using winding wooden stairs. I don't know how many stairs there were, but it seemed like a hundred or so. Jim, Stuart and I stayed together climbing up them, but as we reached the top, I was totally winded.
I would love to go back to the top of Sugarloaf with a camera as there were some pretty amazing views, but I didn't exactly stop to look around much.
Coming down the backside was technical downhill for the better part of a mile. The rocks were wet and loose, making the footing very uneven. While Jim was wearing a road shoe, I had on the inov-8 Roclite 295. The sticky nature of the tread on this shoe was perfect for this decent as I ran down without concern of slipping. Given the nature of the course with both technical sections and gravel roads, this was the perfect shoe for the day.
Eventually after some switchbacks, we were running along the Lake Superior shoreline. At times the tail had us in a few hundred feet from shore and at others were within a few feet of the banks. The northern winds were blowing pretty strong on this day and the waves were crashing in pretty violently. For awhile we actually felt some of the spray from the water. The views of the bay and of Little Presque Island were very breathtaking. Every time I am on the waters of Lake Superior it makes me homesick for its beauty and majesty.
We did come across a guy with his German Short hair dog, who was very rambunctious (the dog not the guy). He chased after us and actually brought us to a halt until the owner was able to corral him back. The dog took a liking to Jim, who was just behind us, but we stopped and waited for him to catch up. Our pace for the next few miles was right around 8 minute-miles and before we turned away from the water, we hit the half way mark at mile 16 in 2:12:18. for an 8:16 average pace.
We headed inland and made our way to the second aid station. I was running low on fluids, so when we hit Aid #2 on Harlow Lake Road at 17.6 miles, it was a welcome site. I filled my bottle, and kept moving. Jim and Stuart spent a little more time there, which helped me out as I was able to slow the pace a little until they caught up. The next section was a 2.9 mile loop to the next aid station and was mostly technical before hitting an old rail road grade. I was still leading the way, followed by Stuart and then Jim, who had fallen behind somewhat. I mentioned to Stuart that Jim was a National Class ultramarathoner; he said that didn't know the details, but had heard that he was very good. Before we hit the aid station, I took some more gel blasts and also took my second dose of S! Caps. With the cooler temperatures I was only sweating mildly, but wanted to prevent cramping, so I took the electrolytes regularly.
We hit the next aid station at 20.5 miles and then headed out on the 'Top of the World' loop. The road leading back up to the trail was fairly muddy, so I slowed just a little. Seizing the opportunity, Stuart pulled ahead and Jim followed along. I figured that it would be OK for someone else to set the pace for awhile and drag me along, but as we turned back into the woods, I had the tremendous urge to purge some fluids from my bladder. My stomach was fine, but sloshing a little with HEED and I needed to go. I stopped for just a few seconds to go, and as I finished up and started running again, Stuart and Jim were gone; no where in sight. They continued to strong push they used to climb the hill to put some distance between us and I would never see them again.
I didn't let the fact that i was now running in 3rd place bother me though and I still ran strong, despite the steady climb up 250' to the 'Top of the World', a climb that never seemed to end. I was happy that it was an old Jeep road, so the footing was good, it was just tough as it came at about the 3 hour mark. At the top, I saw Dan Deland, whom I had met at the 2007 Grand Island Trail Marathon in Munising. Dan bested Jim by just a few seconds that day for the overall win. He said that I was looking good and I laughed a little! The backside was pretty fast as it dropped back down quickly to just shy of mile 24 where we hit the aid station at the Crossroads again. I was slightly confused as I saw a sign in the woods at one point that read 'MTR 20 Miles' yet my GPS read 19 miles, so I assumed that I was tracking about a mile behind the distance. When leaving this aid station, I asked about the distance and the volunteer said that it was '23ish'. It took me a while to get over the fact that the sign was just misplaced and my GPS was actually right on track.
The next two and a half miles continued to climb up an old two track road. My pace varied from the low 8's when I felt strong to the high 9's when I would struggle. My marathon split was 3:46:49, for an average pace of 8:39. So I had fallen off by 23 seconds in the last 10 miles, but the climbs were much harder more sustained than earlier. The course headed back onto the NCT for another 1.4 miles and had some steep, yet short climbs up some rock bluffs and over some very technical terrain that slowed the pace down. I got to the last aid station at mile 27 feeling pretty good, but was still surprised that it was another 5 miles to go to the finish. This would be the longest 50km race I had ever run! Leaving this aid station, I look one misstep on the trails and rolled my ankle over and the bone hit the ground. Of course my instant reaction was that it was the end of the world and of the race. I took a few gingerly steps and started to run on it again. I had confidence in the strength of my ankle and nearby ligaments that I had built up after years of trail running, and just fought through whatever pain I had.
The last 4 miles of the course were on the same section of technical trail that we used on the way out. It looked totally different from this direction, especially never having run it before. I had readjusted my goal to come in under 4:45, which meant that I needed to run 9 minute-miles coming into the finish, based on my GPS reading. I was excited to just be done.
Just before coming back through the last clearing, I could hear this very loud noise. Being close to an air force base and having recently read about the helicopter crash on the PCT 50 course in Southern California, I thought it might be a helicopter. After I got my head straight and remembered that the base had closed a dozen years ago, I started to wonder if if was a logging truck or other timber cutter. When coming out into the clearing, I realized that it was a train and the course went right over the tracks! I was freaking out, not knowing how far behind me the next person was and I could ill afford to stop for any length of time. I couldn't see either end of the train, but as I approached the tracks, the end was coming around the bend. As I got to them, the last car went through and I never broke stride. It was amazing luck!
I ran quickly toward the finish, finally popping out of the woods onto the Dead River Bridge crossing, and was within 1/8 mile of the finish. I saw my Mom on the east bank and then my Dad too. I had been pushing for the last two miles at a mid 7 pace, and made one final push for the end.
Smiling at my Dad as I passed by, I ran toward a few cheering, yet very cold, fans and stopped my watch at 4:39:35, finishing in 3rd place overall.
Running in this amazing weather was so much easier, despite the more difficult course, than two weeks prior in Memphis. It didn't even really feel like I had just run at race pace for nearly five hours. I talked to the Joe, the Race Director, and commended him on putting together such a great event. I told him that it was very marked and there was never a doubt as to where we should run or turn and I was never worried about being lost. He mentioned that Stuart pulled away from Jim and finished around 4:15, with Jim about 12 minutes behind him at 4:27. I was another 12 minutes behind Jim.
We headed down toward the river to take some pictures before attempting to ice in the river.
I spent some time trying to ice down in the stream, but the water in the Dead River was too cold and I couldn't bear to stand in the water at all, so we packed up and headed back for the hotel.
For 3rd place I was awarded come coveted UP Blackberry Jam.
After running two ultra marathons in the span of 15 days, I am looking forward to a small break and vacation in Upper Michigan with my parents and Laura later this week. I will continue my running streak that began in December 2008 with a few easy miles today, but will not start training hard again for another week when the focus shifts to my next race.
I am very happy with the results from this race and my effort and that I got to finish with my parents at the end. I put on a good show and gave it everything I had.