The Marquette Trail 50 is a trail ultramarathon in Marquette, MI which is way up on Lake Superior. About 150 runners were registered I think. That's about midsize for an ultra. Jeff and I found it when we decided to look for something a bit further from home this year. We didn't really know what to expect other than it had some small (1400') peaks but assumed it would be a lot like the Ice Age Trail around home. But we were wrong. More on that later.
Jeff and I started the drive up on Thursday night, staying at his cabin in Lakewood, WI that night. We left Friday morning and got to Marquette, MI around Noon. After getting pretty lost on the dirt roads (the directions were hard to follow) we found the location of the start of the race. Now we knew where it was and thank goodness because it was difficult to find. The relay teams were checking in and getting ready to start. We walked around for a bit and then left to eat lunch. After that we checked in to our crappy but cheap hotel.
On the way to the hotel we had been talking about what we should go check out to pass the time Friday afternoon/evening before packet pickup which ended at 8pm. We thought downtown Marquette would be a good idea and had seen a sign for something called Pictured Rocks that we thought we'd check out as well. In downtown Marquette on the water there is a huge structure that looked cool but we had no idea what it was. Here's a couple pictures of it:
We later found out it's an ore dock. Unfortunately you couldn't walk inside the thing, only look at it from shore. They should really set up some kind of tour through it, I bet it would be pretty interesting.
Then we went to check out Pictured Rocks. We assumed it was just a few miles down from the sign we saw but in actuality it was about an hour and a half away. We're glad we didn't know that though because we wouldn't have driven that far had we known and it was worth the drive. It was a really neat place. Here are some pictures:
We left there after a couple hours and went to packet pickup which went smoothly. We were told to come a half hour early in the morning before race start to get our bibs. Normally you get those at packet pickup so we thought this was odd but having directed races ourselves we knew stuff like that happens sometimes. On the way back to the hotel we stopped to get some carbs to slam quick before bed. I ate a loaf of bread and a bag of chips. Jeff ate a granola bar.
Jeff's alarm went off at 4am - way too early when we didn't have to leave until 5:30. My alarm wasn't set to go off until 5:00 and that's when I got up. Grabbed my gear - hydration vest, water bottle, GU gels and GU chomps, bandanna, sunglasses, Garmin - and out the door. Got to the race start no problem, found a parking spot, got our bibs, and went back to the car to get a few more minutes of sleep while Jeff paced around the car like a maniac. He was pretty worried about the race because with being busy at work he hadn't had time to get as much training in as he'd planned. I hadn't gotten in the long runs either that I should have. We had already switched down from the 50 mile to the 50 K. I felt good about things though.
We walked from the car to the starting area to hear last minute instructions from the Race Director (a very nice and funny guy) and listen to the National Anthem. At 6:30 we were off!
The first couple miles were on a dirt then gravel then asphalt road until we got onto some trails to start the "small loop" which consisted of mostly single-track trails with small elevation changes. The "big loop" later would take us up and over the 4 peaks of the Huron mountain range. The "small loop" was very pretty especially when it took us near the river. Here are some pictures:
I started out slow and Jeff started out fast as is typical. I let him get out ahead of me. I felt ok through the 10 mile "small loop" but not great. Stomach was a bit off. Hit an aid station at about mile 5 where I filled my water bottle (I had started with it empty). I took an electrolyte/caffeine capsule at this point followed by a gel about 15 minutes later. My plan was to start with a couple gels before switching to about a chomp every 15 minutes. Gels and chomps are caffeinated and I also was going to take additional salt/caffeine capsules as needed. Since I started drinking several cups of coffee per day a few months ago I really need to take a lot of caffeine to feel it's effects, unfortunately.
Towards the end of the "small loop" there was a little climb over some rocks and there was some talk among the other racers that this must be the part they heard about where you needed your hands free for some climbing. It wasn't. It wasn't even close to what was coming later on in the "big loop". After that little rock climb there was a couple miles of extremely technical trail with constant rocks and roots. There was no way to get into any kind of rhythm and the going was really slow but it was also really fun. Came across the 2nd aid station around mile 10 back at the starting area. Soon the "small loop" ended and it was on to the "big loop".
I caught up with Jeff at this point but he got ahead of me again. I figured I might not see him for awhile so I put in my headphones and just tried to keep moving efficiently but quickly. This next part is kind of a blur but after 5 or 6 miles I got to the aid station at the base of Sugarloaf Mountain and caught up with Jeff again. Here are some pictures from that aid station:
There were stairs up to the top of Sugarloaf. The other peaks didn't have stairs. I'm not sure which I prefer - stairs or scrambling on hand and foot up to the top. The stairs really killed the quads but I tried to grab onto the railing and use my arms as much as possible. It was slow going as everyone was taking it easy. We paused for a bit at the top to take in the views. Sugarloaf is right on Lake Superior so it was really beautiful to look around up there. We went back the next day to take some pictures. I'll put those at the end of this post.
After going back down the backside of Sugarloaf which was some stairs but more trail we ran along Lake Superior for a few miles. This was easy running and had I been feeling better I would have taken advantage of it but I was feeling pretty spent. Jeff got ahead of me again here. It seems the first 20 miles are always the toughest for me. The next aid station after the one at Sugarloaf was kind of far at about 7 miles away which ended up taking me an hour and a half. My water bottle ran out about half way there and I was extremely thirsty at this point. Luckily another runner gave me a drink which got me going again as I was starting to feel pretty bad. Here are some pictures around this time and you can tell neither Jeff or I are feeling real great here:
That last picture I posted because I think that guy is awesome.
Just before the aid station I caught up with Jeff and he was not doing good. He said he was done, he wanted to quit. I told him we just had to get to the aid station and get some water and food in us. We made it there and stopped for about 5 minutes drinking a lot and eating some. I drank water, HEED, cola, chocolate milk and ate some GU chomps and watermelon. After this we felt better but couldn't move very fast after all that hydration so we just plodded along. No one passed us so everyone else (at least behind us) must have been suffering as well.
Soon we got to Bareback Mountain which was right next to Harlow Lake, I believe. This was the first real extended scrambling over bare rock that we did. Now, instead of looking for the orange tape tied to a tree to find your way, you looked for the piles of rocks with some orange tape on it. This was pretty fun and I soon learned that when it doubt just keep moving up until you see the tape again because there was only one way passed the mountain and that was up and over. I got these pictures from another racer's Facebook page so I'm not certain these are from Bareback but they look like it:
I remember very little between Bareback and the next peak (Hogsback). I know Jeff and I stayed together until we got to the next aid station. I got a side ache after that (from drinking too much cola I think) so Jeff got ahead of me here. I didn't see him again until Hogsback. Hogsback was awesome. I'll never forget catching up with Jeff at this point because he was literally clinging to the side of the mountain and he was saying he wanted to quit. I told him he couldn't quit right there because he'd have to be air lifted out. After some prodding I got him going again. I loved Hogsback because my legs got a bit of a break while my other muscles did much of the work as I climbed up and then back down. Jeff hated it because he just wanted the race to be over. Below are some pictures from Hogsback. The first is the beginning of the ascent and it was steeper than that picture looks. The second picture kind of shows you how high it was and how steep it was at the top.
After descending it was just a few more miles to the finish. It was another long trek from the previous aid station to the finish and both Jeff and I ran out of water again a couple miles from the finish. We were really wishing we had brought our Camelbaks instead of relying on a single water bottle. Jeff was moving pretty slowly but I didn't want to go too long without water again so I went on ahead to get water at the finish and bring some back to him if necessary. He was not looking good and I was a little worried about him but I knew he's tough and should be ok. Both of us being stuck out there miles from the finish without water wouldn't be a good situation anyway. I ran what I could of these last couple miles but had to walk when I started to feel really out of it. Then I'd run again for a bit until I felt bad, I kept doing that. At this point I was needing water and calories but I couldn't take any GU without water so I just had to do the zombie shuffle to the finish. I did find some wild raspberries about a half mile from the finish which helped a lot - though mostly psychologically I'm sure.
I reached mile 31.0686 and the finish in 7 hours, 4 minutes, 31 seconds. Not as fast as I had hoped but I really had no idea what to expect. I ran from the finish line to the area where they had all the food setup for the finishers and drank the first thing I found. It was lemonade and it was delicious. I think I drank two bottles full then filled my bottle a third time and went back to the finish to look for Jeff. Just as I got there he appeared around the corner. I was really impressed to see that because he was looking really awful when I left him. He must have really rallied to almost keep up with me those last couple miles and finish just a few minutes behind. Here are the finish line photos:
Jeff finished in 7 hours 8 minutes. We finished 26th and 27th out of 84 (according to the prelminary results).
After Jeff crossed the finish line we drank some more but weren't feeling like eating at the post race celebration dinner so drove back to the hotel. As soon as we got the hotel Jeff puked. Other than my knee being sore I was feeling alright but Jeff was feeling awful. He laid down on his bed and napped for a couple hours while I showered, iced my knee and drank some recovery beers. He got a little better as the night wore on. Some time in the hot tub and pool helped. We ate at a really good BBQ place and then slept very well after that.
The next morning we went back to Sugarloaf Mountain to get some pictures. Here they are:
That's the infamous Hogsback behind me in this picture above.
It was an incredible race and trip. I'll never forget it. I really want to go back for the 50 miler but Jeff has retired again (for the 3rd time). We'll see how long that lasts.
Photo credits (other than myself or Jeff)
Staci K Photography http://stacikphotography.zenfolio.com/p670816663
Kevin Omilusik https://www.facebook.com/kevin.omilusik
Mike Barton https://www.facebook.com/MichaelWBarton
