Marquette Trail 50 Race Report: August 19th, 2023

The Marquette Trail 50 is one of the the Michigan ultra classics. It's one of those events most ultrarunners in the state have heard of. It's known for being a challenge with quite a bit of technical terrain. Though the raw elevation gain numbers aren't impressive, the elevation is hard-won with steep climbs that culminate in crawling and even some light bouldering. The course is one of the most scenic in the Midwest. There are 8 scenic summits, and sections along Lake Superior, the Dead River, and even Forestville Dam Falls. The race maintains relatively small numbers: 300 entries for the 50K and 150 for the 50 mile. The tight caps and the popularity of the race force a bit of a competitive registration. Registration opens on Black Friday and typically sells out within days. However, the organizers clearly relay that there are no deferrals and no entry transfers. Keep that in mind in November when signing up for an August event. 

The stairs up Sugarloaf Mountain on the counterclockwise loop, photo by Danielle Musto

Race website: https://www.marquettetrail50.com/

Registration: UltraSignup

Location:  ★★★★☆

You guys know I love the UP. It is one of my favorite parts of this country. Marquette is a fun town: big enough to not feel like you're trapped hours away from civilization, yet surrounded by huge rugged trail systems. The Norquemanon Trail Network is a system of over 80 miles of non-motorized single track stretching through the central UP. The race hub is centered in the Forestville Campground, which is only about 3 miles outside of the true "city". This is a tiny 18 site rustic campground with one pump for potable water and two pit toilets. Now, I love my rustic campgrounds. Not having shower access after a 50 mile race is a bit of a bummer. Additionally, there is not nearly enough parking available to support the number of racers and spectators. People who did not camp at the race start had to park up to 0.75 miles away from the race site, with cars lining the seasonal roads. This led to some dicey passing and a late race start. I'm glad the start was delayed to accomodate those participants still searching for parking. Even so, it was a bit frustrating to be standing at the start line with no idea how long the delay would last.  

Organization: ★★★★☆

The race is completely volunteer-organized. Usually, I take that to mean: "keep your expectations low and be nice because no one is getting a paycheck." I was pleasantly suprised. If the race organizers weren't so clear about the volunteer-run effort, I would not have known the difference. There was adequate pre-race information available on the website and in emails. The uncommon issues were addressed. It was made clear from the time of registration that transfers and deferrals were not permitted. The website was very clear about the risk of bee stings on the course. The limited parking and camping situation was disclosed. The race was generally well marked. The summits were difficult to follow on the counterclockwise direction as you had to actually start the descent to see the flags, and there were many different ways to descend. This lead to some confusion. The rest of the course was easy to follow.

Course:★★★★☆

From the race website: "The Marquette Trail 50 consists of 50-kilometer and 50-mile distances.
The course is mostly single-track, climbing the four peaks: Sugarloaf, Top-of-the-World, Bareback, and Hogback. All the peaks have views of Lake Superior, and portions of the course skirt its shoreline. Much of the trail consists of moderate to difficult terrain with some very significant climbs and technical areas.

According to Ultrarunning Magazine, the course is rated 3 out of 5 for terrain (“hilly”) and 4 out of 5 for Surface (“Trail with substantial rocks, roots and/or ruts.”)"

I loved this course. It can be broken down into 4 loops for the 50 mile. Loop 1 is a wide, non-technical mile through the cross country ski area at the NTN trailhead. This is the "rollout loop" to try to help spread out the pack before plunging into dark, technical singletrack. Loop 2 is a rocky, rooty, but generally flat 10 mile loop that heads southeast from the start and turns back around the Forestville dam. The course follows the North Country Trail back up to the campground, and this is a generally uphill trek through some gnarly ankle turners. It's technical enough to force you to focus completely on where your feet land. Loops 3 and 4 are a 20 mile loop that runs northwest from the start. They are actually the same loop, but run in opposite directions. Loop 3 is counterclockwise, and Loop 4 is clockwise. This makes it feel like two very different loops. This is where the climbing comes in. Loop 3 starts you out easy with a nice sendy descent before the first rocky bunny hill. Then, you get slapped in the face by 304 wooden stairs and some rocky climbing to summit Sugarloaf Mountain. Once you pick your way down the rocky descent, you're blessed with 6 runnable miles along the Lake Superior shoreline. Following that, you hit a small techy, rooty descent before climbing Bareback Mountain. You get an aid station at Harlow Lake to think about your life choices before the real gut kick: Top of the World, followed by the steepest, tallest and most technical climb: Hogback Mountain. It's not that technical for a true climb, but for a runner at mile 28, it takes all the brains and bravery you can spare. Both climbing and descending close to the summit consists of some bouldering. After waddling back through the start/finish at NTN, you head out clockwise. This means you're coming head-on at everyone coming in from Lap 3. Additionally, the fun sendy downhills from Lap 3 are now climbs. The technical climbs are now technical downhills. This ups that challenge level and cuts the speed. I was more than a little nervous slipping and sliding down Hogback with a row of runners climbing right towards me! It's easy to get lonely and in your head during a long race. Having to pass runners actually gave me a ton of energy. Just having someone to smile at was so much fun. All the cheers and status updates on my placement gave me energy when I was starting to feel the heat and effort. 

The con of this course: So. Many. Ground bees. I haven't been stung by a bee since I was 10 so I don't know if I'm allergic. Having someone out on the trail in anaphylactic shock would sure put a damper on the event though. 

There was quite a bit of non-race traffic on the trail later in the day. Most of the issues were from tipsy beach-goers on the Superior stretch. Not a huge deal, but something to be aware of. 

The trail of headlights through the singletrack start
Photo by Floline Media

Food: N/A

I really can't tell you what was at the aid stations. I never approached the aid station tables since I was using a liquid-only nutrition. Post-race food was provided by On the Border, which is a burrito joint in the UP. Burritos and tortilla chips were a real winner at the finish line!

The march up Hogback Mountain -- photo by Jeff Wolf Photography

To summarize: Marquette Trail 50 is a true Michigan classic, and you should definitely check it out. DON'T RUN IT IF YOU ARE ALLERGIC TO BEES!

My race: 

I was a little bit nervous coming into this. I knew I was on good form, my training runs have felt strong. However, I was scheduled to work swing shift the Wednesday and Thursday before race day and knew that would mess with my sleep and travel plans. I tried to trade out of the shift, but no luck. I chose to take it as a practice in focusing on the things I can control 

Race day started early at 3:30 am. Breakfast was the standard bagel and peanut butter, bottle of water, bottle of pedialyte sport, and a sugar-free monster. I started sipping on infinite go-far an hour before the race start.

Early morning start

The pre-race meeting was scheduled for 5:15, and that start was 5:30. Since there were parking issues, the pre-race meeting started closer to 5:30 and the start was delayed. I was so glad I camped at the race site so I had a stress free morning. I felt confident and calm at the start. The 50K and 50mile runners all started together. There were four waves, the first of which was the elite wave for any 50K or 50 mile runners who were vying for age-group or OA wins. The waves were self-seeded.

At the start, four men took off fast and six girls pretty much stuck together behind them. I was about #5 in the lineup around the 1 mile XC rollout loop. I shifted back to #8 coming into the single track. I didn't want to have to watch course markers in the dark. Instead, I wanted to follow the person in front of me focus on watching where I was putting my feet.  I felt sure-footed in the techy sections. Although Bandera and World's End really humbled me with the techy stuff, I feel like it's finally starting to click. 

I "sat in" and took the first 5 miles easy peasy. This is where a few more guys passed me. On some less technical descents I went around the pair I was running with. I started to cruise. I ran through the six mile aid station with one guy. He stopped to pee at mile 8 so I soloed in to the NTN trailhead aid station at mile 11, picking off several folks in the rocky NCT section. Bobby handed me a handheld with 1 scoop infinite and a fresh pack with 1 liter of water plus some snacks. It was pretty light out so I left my headlamp at that time.

I was just slowly picking off the men that had passed me and was comfortable heading through the first 4 miles of the big loop, most of which was downhill. There was a little rocky climb and then I was at the next aid station. I grabbed another handheld with 1 scoop of infinite. At that point, there were 3 women ahead of  me on course -- a 50 miler and two 50K women. The 50 mile woman had just reached the aid station when I arrived. I left the aid station just before her. I was immediately caught behind some guys who were having a harder time on the stairs up Sugarloaf. She caught up to me and we ran together across and down Sugarloaf. We chatted and ran the next 3-4 miles together. I pulled away on a flat section on the shoreline. The shoreline was my favorite section on the first big loop and my least favorite on the second. This was the longest section between aid stations: 7 miles. 

I rolled into the Harlow lake bridge aid station feeling a bit nauseous, but took on a new 1 L pack and handheld with 1 scoop go far in 14 oz water. I had only drank about 300 mL of water out of the pack. It was only 3.5 miles to the next Harlow Lake aid station but this section was a bit tougher/slower with the Bareback Mountain climb. I took on another handheld of infinite and was not enjoying it at that point. Despite the sour stomach, my legs still felt great. I could see the 2nd place 50K woman (Kate) ahead of me. She stayed in my sightline, but I was confident she was a 50K so didn't put in a dig to try to catch her. Instead, I kept my focus on trying to keep our distance even to prevent myself from overthinking the last bit of the course.

Sugarloaf Summit, photo by Floline Media

Hogback was next. It was technical with some scramble climbing to summit, then verrryyyy careful descending. This was followed by a nice little jog into forestville again.  I could see Kate this whole time. My lower intestinal tract was starting to bubble a bit. I had to hit the porta potty right before the finish line/start of the second big loop. Because the second big loop goes out clockwise instead of counterclockwise, I could see exactly how many 50 milers were ahead of me. Three men. One had just over 20 minutes on me, one had about 10 and one had 5. 

I had a fairly quick transition at this station. I changed my socks, got a new handheld with 1 scoop go far, and got a new hydration pack with 1.5 liters water. I was starting to feel the heat so grabbed some ice and shoved it into my sports bra and hat. I headed back out for the counter clockwise loop and saw I really only had about 5-7 minutes on the woman in second (Miranda). 

The second loop is harder, because all the techy climbs were now techy descents, and Hogback was the scariest of them all. Each aid station through here was a very fast transition. I did not sit down again, and took 1 handheld with a scoop of go far in it at each of the 3 aid stations. I didn't love the lakeshore section this time around, I felt like I was crawling through molasses and was happy when there was a climb so I had an excuse to walk. 

I did not look at pace or heart rate at all until 4 miles to go. I ran by feel and had my watch set so I could only view the course map. At 4 to go, I looked down and saw that I was at 8:35. I knew that the last 4 were generally uphill but only about 1 mile was techy. I knew I was on pace for CR (course record). That's when I missed a turn! Luckily I realized my error quickly and it only added a minute at most.

Photo by Danielle Musto

When I crossed the finish line, the race director was right there with the OA women's prize: An orange mud hydration vest! I can't wait to give it a try. She verified my course record and congratulated the effort. I had bettered the women's course record by 4 minutes. Queen City Running Club generously put up a cash prize for this as well. After handshakes and photos, I was only too happy to lay down for a few minutes before digging into the post-race burrito feast. 

The vibes were pretty chill, and I really enjoyed this race. This was a great experience and I loved getting to spend some time in the UP. While I like to experience different courses given my limited capacity for racing, this is a race I could absolutely see myself returning to. 

Photo by Floline Media

Nutrition: 

I took in a bottle of infinite (1 scoop of fruit punch "go far" in a 14 oz handheld) at eight of the nine aid stations. With this being a hot and relatively fast race, I didn't take in solid food. I tried a couple of pringles but was immediately regretful. Infinite tends to keep you well hydrated, and plenty of water took care of the rest. 

Gear: 

I ran the small loop with my front-loading double 20oz Nathan (pinnacle) pack. The two large loops I used my 2L back loaded Nathan (Vapor) hydration packs. At each of the aid stations, I received a 14 oz Nathan handheld for my infinite. 

I ran the entire race in the Hoka Speedgoats, and was very grateful for the little bit of extra protection afforded by those soles and toe guards during the rocky sections!

Photo by Floline Media

Recognition:

My husband Bobby Munro is the MVP who makes this all possible. He is my superstar crew, my  encouragement, my chauffeur, and my best friend. My mom once again saved my stomach by cooking up some of the best pasta salad for me to have for my pre-race meal. My coach, Erin Young, believes in me more than I believe in myself and reminds me to run bravely. My physical therapist, Dr. Joe Hsainko at Onward Grand Rapids, keeps my body strong and stable. 

I am a proud member of Team Athletic Mentors, and Ambassador for the Iceman Cometh Challenge. I don't have nutrition or gear sponsors and do not receive kickbacks for gear/nutrition, I'm just sharing what works for me!

Race Report: Marji Gesick 50 Mile; Sept 17, 2022

The Marji Gesick was definitely the highlight of my 2022 season, and quite honestly, this race will be hard to top. An event that started as a very indirect mountain bike 100 mile race from Forestville to Marquette, Marji is "The toughest race you've never heard of" per their website. If you want to get an idea of the culture surrounding the race, just hop over to their website: marjigesick.com. Warnings immediately jump off the page: "Self-supported ethos." "You're on your own -- in an emergency call 911." "This course is designed to break you." "Blame Danny and Todd." "80% of folks will never see the finish line." The race is one of those events that your crazy endurance mountain bike friend probably did once, but with relatively few slots between the 50 and 100 mile bike and run events, it's tough to register and lives on shrouded in mystery for most of the Marji-curious. 

I was scrolling through facebook last October and saw the alert that registration would be opening, and 666 slots would be up for grabs. On a whim, I hopped over the ultrasignup and entered my credit card number. I was in for the 50! I had read exactly 0 race reports. 

The race report search came in January. I train in the west side of Michigan on trails the likes of Merrell, Cannonsburg, Luton, and occasionally Saugatuck Dunes or Yankee Springs. I quickly realized that Marquette trails were going to be a challenge. Not only is there much more elevation gain and loss, but the trails are quite rocky and technical. What I somehow missed in the excitement of trying to figure out how to optimize my training, was that the 50 wasn't 50 miles. 

During Ode to the Hoff, I overheard some of the guys talking about running Marji the year prior. As I started to ask them their experience, one mentioned that the 50 was 63 miles. Naturally, I assumed he missed a turn and added some distance. I was very wrong. 

My race stats: Finish time: 14:01:15. Distance: 64.1 miles. Elevation gain: 8,205 ft. Average heart rate: 151 bpm.

Let's look at the breakdown:

Race website: https://marjigesick.com/

Registration: Ultra Signup

Location:  ★★★★★
Marquette (or Forestville for the 100) to Ishpeming, Upper Peninsula of Michigan
I'm incredibly biased when it comes to the UP. I am absolutely in awe of the rugged beauty of the trails here. I loved starting in downtown Marquette. We camped just a few miles from the start line at the Marquette tourist park, and were absolutely thrilled to find a youth mountain bike skills park attached to the campground itself. Shakeout runs were so convenient along the north country trail. Packet pickup at Blackrocks Brewery Friday night afforded an opportunity to experience downtown Marquette. The finish in Ishpeming was so much fun. It felt like the entire downtown stayed open late to see us finish. Although the race is point-to-point, which can be tough logistically, the driving distance between Marquette and Ishpeming is really only about 15 miles/20 minutes. 

Organization: ★★★★☆
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LHU_tuXrbQ

The race is organized by 906 adventure team. Their philosphy: " 906 Adventure Team is a 501c3 Non-Profit based in Marquette, Michigan. Since 2014 we have been creating outdoor adventure experiences for youth through Adventure Bike Club and events like Polar Roll, The Crusher, and Marji Gesick. Our take on life is pretty simple - it’s an adventure. In life (and adventure) stuff doesn't always go to plan. Things go wrong. Bad things happen to good people and you don’t overcome it by complaining or pointing fingers. The truth is adversity brings out the best of us - by taking us down unknown paths to find it. 
906 Adventure Team uses revenue from the events to support trail organizations and create more youth Adventure Teams. The Marji Gesick will donate $27,000 to local trails this year, bringing total trail donations since 2015 to $216,000." 

Please watch the above video for an idea of what is going through the race organizer's minds in the creation of this event. Overall the race can feel rather disorganized (see notes regarding course below). However, I honestly think it's all part of the ethos. My one complaint is the timing of the race starts. The 100 mile run starts Friday at noon in Forestville. Saturday morning the 50 mile runners start at 7 am in Marquette. At 7:30 am, 100 mile cyclists and duathletes start in Forestville. Then, the 50 mile bikes start at 8:00 in Marquette. This is problematic because then the bikes are catching almost all of the 50 mile runners while we are still on singletrack. Giving another hour or so would allow the majority of the runners to hit rail trail before the cyclists catch up, making passing much easier. Of course, the daylight is limited even in the summer in the UP, so my thought for a happy medium would be to get the runners out at 6 am. 

Parking in downtown Marquette does look like it could be limited, but being in the first crew to shuffle through the start line, we had no issues getting our monster of a van situated. 

Course: ★★★★★
This is such a subjective scale. This course is five stars for achieving its goal: to break you, mentally and physically. First of all, the "50 mile" is actually 63+ miles depending on the year (I missed a turn and added about 0.5 mile) and the "100 mile" is really around 112. The course is well marked, but you have been warned time and again not to depend on course markings. GPS is required. However, the GPS file was not made available until WEDNESDAY before the race! Then, there was an issue with that file so I wasn't able to download the true GPS file until Friday morning. The race cue sheet indicated 8 miles between downtown Ishpeming and Jackson Mine park round 2, where you would get to see your crew again -- but in reality it was more like 13 miles. The GPS file indicated that the course would be 60 miles with 4000 ft of elevation -- and you see my stats above. All of this could add up to make a 1 star course, but, given the race ethos, this course is exactly what it should be. 

The course itself is also absolutely terrible in the best way possible. We started at the docks in downtown Marquette. It was still dark at 7 am. The initial 2 miles is pavement and sidewalk heading south before the course jogs west towards Marquette Mountain. The first climb is about 3 miles in, still on the road. Then there is a fairly staightforward trail section before you hit the rail trail for the fastest 6 miles of the race. However, that's about the last fast section as the course then meanders for 40 miles through RAMBA mountain bike trails. The trail is rocky and technical, with loose downhills and steep climbs. There aren't really words for the level of torment that last 8 miles of RAMBA is. The best I can provide is this video from Bike Life with Rob: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJ5lwKVCoa4

Food: N/A
I can't technically grade the food, as the race is very clear about not organizing aid stations. However, "trail angels" are out en mass to support the race. All race support is neutral, meaning that while you may have crew supporting you, they must also offer the same assitance to all competitors. At every road crossing, both major and seasonal, there was at least someone there who would offer water or snacks. Jackson Mine park was essentially a city of support tents with plenty of food to go around. Since all food is offered on a volunteer basis, I did not want to depend on it and stuck to the food I had stocked in the van. 

The afterparty goes on all night in downtown Ishpeming, and there are multiple food trucks and a beer garden available for competitors and support crew. Important note is that these are at an additional cost, so don't forget your credit card. 

My race:

The morning of Marji Gesick was perfect: 63 degrees with the sun not yet up. It had rained for the past 2 days, and while the mud we were likely to encounter was on everyone's minds, it was a clear morning. The race started at the docks in downtown Marquette. It was a very quiet start, just a quick pre-race briefing before the horn sounded and we were off. No unicorns or LeBike starts, they save that nonsense for Forestville!

The first two miles of the race were paved. I quickly settled into a pack of about 8 folks and we chatted as we loosened up.  At the first climb, I reminded myself to powehike ever climb in the first half and then think about running more uphills if I had it in me during RAMBA. I felt like I was taking the pace pretty chill through the pavement and first chunks of singletrack, then finally pushed the pace a bit on the rail trail from miles 14-19. I knew this was likely to be the most runable section and wanted to capitalize on that. Plus, the sun was getting more intense and I was anxious to get back into the shaded singletrack.

After Jackson Mine Park, it was time to start the roughly 45 miles of looping through RAMBA. My pace was held back quite a bit in RAMBA by the cyclists actually. They would pass me on flats and descents, but then would have to unclip and hike-a-bike on ascents and technical terrain. Initially I could feel myself stressing about lost time. I made the mindful choice to use this time to stop and eat. Throughout the day, the same group of cyclists and me were leapfrogging and the banter with those people kept my spirits high. I honestly think that having that time and comiseration with those cyclists was a big part of me having such a good day!  I was priveledged to have runner company for the first 11 miles, then miles 20-26 but after that it was just me and my new cycling friends.  In the first 20 miles of RAMBA, I took care not to overrun the downhills and my IT bands thanked me later. However, miles 30-45 were so incredibly hot and supringly unsheltered by forest. This became a race of attrition. Having some cyclists around encouraged me to stay upbeat.

I was able to see my support crew of my husband and dogs six times during the race. He tracked my location throughout the day and at each meeting point, he would have a camp chair ready for me and all of my snacks spread out so I could decide what I needed. My training partner Desi was very upset that dogs are not allowed in the race, and she attempted to sneak her way into the event anyway!

One of the fun little quirks of Marji is that you have to collect tokens at undisclosed checkpoints on the route. I was in the dark for about two hours through the roughest portion of RAMBA. I was falling at least once every 2 miles. And, instead of being upset about falling, my biggest worry was that I was going to lose one of those frickin tokens and be turned around at the finish line to go collect another. I'm not really much of a finish line crier, but when I finally made that left hand turn into Ishpeming and started down the chute, I just started to sob. That's the power of da Marji.

Gear:
I wore road shoes for the whole thing. (Hoka Cliftons, wore two seperate pairs). I brought trekking poles but did not use them and left them in the van. 

Nutrition:
I stuck to mostly savory stuff: goldfish about an hour in. After the first bit, they were hard to get down but forced me to drink water which wasn't a bad thing at all. I was really feeling Pringles, and ate a few rice cakes along the way too. Good and Plenty's were the sweet of choice. Some oreos felt good towards the end. I ate about 3 larabars and 2 kind bars spread throughout the day as well. I prepackaged everything into small portions in plastic baggies which were stashed in my hydration pack. I had a little tummy trouble around 2-4 pm just as it was pretty hot, but I took a couple short walk breaks and it chilled out. I shockingly experienced no vomiting throughout the day! Drank water in the hydration pack and had a handheld with liquid IV electrolytes -- drank 4 of these throughout the day. This wasn't enough hydration as I only urinated 3 times during the day, but it was enough that I didn't end up with the crippling headache I've suffered after many events. 

    

At the end of the day, I finished 2nd overall in the 50 mile race behind Alisan Barrett. It was so incredible to have two women atop that podium! The Marji broke me physically and mentally, but rebuilt me to be so much stronger. While I won't return for 2023, I know Marji hasn't seen the last of me yet! 

Remember that I am recapping my experiences. Any inaccuracies regarding the course are likely secondary to me blocking out the trauma I endured in RAMBA!