Marji Gesick 2024 - aka Run Forest Run!

Marji Gesick 100 - #findyourlimitsanddestroythem

I signed up for the Marji Gesick 100 before it was announced the race would be a part of the NUE series. The challenge intrigued me and after the inclusion into the NUE was announced I contacted the Race Director (not sure if it was Todd or Danny that responded) to find out if the nature of the race was going to change and be a kinder and gentler Marji Gesick 100 (those who have raced Hampshire 100 know what I mean). They confirmed that it would not be changing … cool … I’m in. Before signing up, I asked my dad if he was interested in taking a trip with me while I head to Michigan to race the MG100. I don’t do many 1-on-1 activities with my father and I saw this as a neat opportunity. My father has been following my racing for a few years now and will attend the Mohican 100 because it is so close to home. I wasn’t sure if he would be up for the long drive and sitting around most of the day during the race. I was pleasantly surprise when he, without hesitation, said … Let’s do it!! That turned this trip into probably the best and most favorite trip I have ever taken with my father. So much fun and connecting happened during the trip and I thank the good Lord for that opportunity.

Additionally, this was my last big race of the 2017 season (yes I actually take time off to recover … sorta #notreally). The hype is real, no joke. What Todd and Danny say about the race, listen to them. While there is a sense of humor to the FaceBook posts and emails … in a sick sorta way, seriously … listen to them, do your homework, and train, train, train. Cuz even with all that … I still feel like I was hit by a train and thrown off the Macinac Bridge. Those words are not meant to scare anyone from ever doing this race, but rather to promote the idea that preparation is key!

Do Your Homework!
I do my homework, possibly more than most, but it’s how I prepare mentally to get my head wrapped around every major challenge. I dug into the blogs (awesome posts by Matt Acker, Steve Hamlin, and Carey Lowery), talked with people that have raced the event (HUGE thanks to Allen Wheeler and Jeff Rupnow of Evolution Training Cycles for tolerating my battery of questions!), created an image of the race map and laid out points of interest like major climbs and re-fueling locations, tracked down every single trail section in TrailForks.com to gain insight into the general trail rating (Pinenob is rated as a double black diamond … yup I believe that now), tested out my battery back-up system over the span of 10-days knowing that it would easily last 16-hours (praying that I would not need anywhere near that), watched youtube videos to get a “feel” of whatever trail sections folks had posted, and had my nutrition planned for every possible location that I could figure out knowing full well that if the Trail Angels were not there, then I would be ok. The bigger the challenge the more homework I do to prepare for the event. If I fail to complete the event, it is not due to a lack of preparation. I am a Software Engineer by trait … this is just how my mind works. I prefer to be organized, ready to go to battle, and let the chips fall as they may.

Hands down (prolly cuz everything hurts as I type) this was the most difficult, challenging, fun, and rewarding event I have ever done. I have only been racing MTB hundies for roughly six years and anyone that knows me understands that I love a good challenge. A few years ago when my coach told me that nobody had ever ridden his double century with 11k+ of elevation on a fixed gear bike my response was … Let’s Do This! Until September 23rd, 2017 that double century was my longest ride on a bike at 11-hours and 30-minutes.

Friday 9/22/2017 – Short Recon Ride
Met up with my bestest teammate and riding partner that I have had the pleasure of getting to know over the past 6+ years, David Jolin (this guy is a Rockstar!!) and a couple other SSers (Jeremy Waldrop and Joe ??) to do a pre-ride. I had laid out a few pre-ride options and pitched it out to a few folks to see if we could agree on a route. We ended up riding the loop starting at South Trail Pavilion; Burly, Gurly, Marquette Road climb, Scary, Blue Heron, and Easy Rider. To say that the terrain of these trails change from trail-to-trail is an understatement but in hindsight I think that is what I love most about riding in the UP. We hit great climbs, roots, rocks, berms …  you name it they had it and all in this short 10 mile loop. Scary was my biggest fear having read it was a black diamond and me knowing my limits when it comes to sketchy, rocky, rooty descents. Admittedly I even walked some rocky sections on Burly and Gurly on this pre-ride cuz I am still learning to break thru those fears. The rocks were a bit of a slip and slide on this day, not terrible, and the last thing I wanted to do was to wipe out before the race. That and frankly I can be a total chicken but I’m getting better. Maybe a rooster now. We got to Scary and I let the other guys go ahead of me as I wanted full view of the trail. I walked the initial drop-in as it was way over my head along with several of the steep descents. It was frustrating for sure, but I do my homework and knew full well there would be lots of trail sections where I needed to pick safety over speed. As Dave likes to say ... "Risk vs. Reward". Everything felt good on the pre-ride, the legs, the bike, so I was all stoked and ready to tow the line!

Crap – that afternoon some nasty storms rolled through Marquette for roughly 3-4 hours. Initial thought was … dang those poor runners! Second thought was that tomorrow would be a complete mess. While the awesome sandy soil of Michigan soaks up the rain extremely well (learned that from LumberJack 100), the rocks and roots would still be wet. Crap. I started to get bummed and nervous and let these thing get into my head which is never a good thing and in the end … I would race no matter what and just do the best that I can given the circumstances handed to me and all the other racers. The ONE bright light that my teammate mentioned to me come morning time is that the wind was churning fairly well all night long and that may actually provide the means to dry out those rocks and roots along the trails. I would take any piece of positive news I could get my hands on. Regardless, the day is gonna be Epic regardless of the weather.
Saturday 9/23/2017 – Where the rubber meets the trail!

Race Highlights

• Half mile (or was that a mile?) lemans’s start … cuz why not? I love to trail run so ... no big deal.
• Riding over railroad ties? ... no big deal cuz my coach has me training on railroad ballast.
• Flatted on Pinenob – this trail chewed up and spit out tires, bikes, riders ... you get the idea. I got passed by LOTS of riders as I took time to fix the Orange Sealant (keyword .. SEALANT!!) spewing out of a side puncture; got to say hello to Peyton Randolf, Carey Lowery, Josh Kunz, Kenny Kocarek, and David Jolin ... each one of them asking if I was ok and for me to grumble back ... #sigh yup. Fortunately the mini-pump purchase from Lakeshore Bike Shop saved the day. While I had CO2 cartridges I felt that the mini-pump was the way to do. Messed up a brand new Maxxis Ikon 2.2 ... so doeth sucketh.
• Made it through the rest of Pinenob w/o issue but I did ride a bit uneasy the rest of the race knowing I was running a tube on the rear wheel.
• Started to make my way thru the folks that passed me as I was cursing at the Orange Sealant fiasco and caught back up to Kenny somewhere on the Lowe's climb and I was able to provide some water for the him as I met my dad in the Lowe’s parking lot for re-fueling
• Caught back up with Josh Kunz along one of the very few paved road sections at one of the many Trail Angel aid stations and Josh mentioned Dave was just up ahead. That stoked my engine a bit more as I really enjoy riding with Dave!
• Caught back up with Dave, cannot recall exactly where, but road with Dave for a bit, before South Trail Pavilion.
• I cann't recall exactly how or where but at some point I passed Carey, possibly at the South Trail Pavilion stop, because she caught me and passed me somewhere along Burly/Gurly. Cary blew past me on one of the rocky sections that I was walking – she was so solid and strong through the rocky drops!! Total pro!! Got to ride with Carey a bit and then she let me pass thru.
• After the gnarly Marquette Road climb we hit Scary (remember that trail that I walked quite a bit on my pre-ride?). Other than the initial gnarly (at least to me) drop-in to Scary I cleaned the rest of the trail – complete 180 from the pre-ride and total confidence booster for the day. Totally stoked me for the day and gave me the much needed confidence to ride stuff that I normally would walk the rest of the day (but there was still areas that I walked ... I'm no superman for sure).
• There were some girls offering Pickle Hand-ups by the ski lodge when finishing up the South trail Pavilion loop and heading towards Negaunee and the Wurst Aid Station. Love me some pickles so that was just a little bit of awesomeness right there. Pickle Hand-ups for the win!!
• I "think" we road Downdogger trail and man was that a friggin blast!! With some local trails in Ohio now offering big berms and lots of jumps and doubles, I was stoked to hit Downdogger and have the confidence to rail those twists and turns. 
• Wurst Aid Station – total rock stars!! Filled up on water, grabbed a couple shots of coke, and headed for Jackson Park. Brat? Ummm ... no way man. Grilled cheese? Sounds awesome ... but ... no way. If I don't train with it I won't take it in during a race unless I am in serious jeopardy.
• Met dad at Jackson Park, re-fueled, sorta got messed up on out how to properly exist Jackson Park for the first trail loop so lost a few minutes there but dad came running after me and pointed me in the right direction. 
• Honestly do not recall a whole lot about this loop, other than recall seeing roughly one million signs for Malton?? Hey I finished Malton ... nope .. still on it ... hey I finis ... nope ... still on #rinserepeat I do recall Humpty Dumpy ... (if that was this section). I remember reading about it and watching some videos and I was really looking forward to this particular trail. It is NOT disappoint. What a blast! My favorite part (at least I  think this was a part of Humpty Dumpty) was riding down the two sets of stairs. That was just sick! IT comes up quick and I thought I would walk those but I just road'em down and boy was fun!! I want to know what those used to be for? Was there a house at some point? Regardless, just more awesomeness that these trails dished out all day long.
• Hooked up with Peyton near the end of this loop and entered Jackson Park with Peyton. 
• Have to say that riding with Peyton was just so fun! This guy knows how to ride SS and has fun doing it. It's funny how ya got to drive 10+ hours for a race to ride with someone that lives in the same state as I do.
• Peyton and I road the final trail loop, grabbing the third and fourth tokens, stopped to put on our lights cuz the darkness was a comin. I put on my head lamp (had a bar mounted light as well) and then a few miles later I pulled off the headlamp. Darn thing kept sliding down my face blocking my view so I just gave up on it. Perhaps it was fate, because further down the trail we saw quite a few riders w/o lights. One such female rider had lights but the batteries died. I gave up my headlamp, which was just siting in my jersey pocket, to her cuz I wasn't using it and she was definitely feeling uneasy about not having a working light. She kindly offered to meet me at the finish line and give it back to me, but honestly I could care less about the light and just wanted to help out a fellow MTBer. It cost me a whopping $16 ... no big deal.
• Got some water from “Two Dudes and Their Truck” aid station (not sure what else to call'em) – Trail Angels are awesome!! 
• me> How much more we got?
• them> 10 of the longest miles of your life
• me> #colorfulmetaphors #craptastic
• them> You've got some techy trails, then some double track, then Suicide Hill, then The Three Sisters, and then the home stretch
• me> Is there where I start to cry? #anythingwithsuicideinthenameisgonnahurt
• Yup, they nailed what lay ahead of us for the final 10-miles. Flipped on the lights and got after it. Have to say that I have never ridden trail at night due to my fear of plastering myself into a tree. Fear conquered! That was just so much fun and while I hope to never be out i the dark again for a race I will definitely be doing some night rides this fall!!
• Important Message - what the what?!?! I first had it in my head that the message wold say something like "you're almost there and it is all downhill from here". Then realizing that was just me being delirious the message would likely not be anything like that. In fact as Peyton and I started to scale, what I had hoped to be, the final gnarly HAB we both noticed a red arrow to our left pointing down a hill ... my next though? These @&!%#^ are gonna get us to the top and send us right back down. #nailedit  The riders already at the top with their bike likes facing towards us was the dead giveaway.
• Peyton and I crossed the finish line in 13:02 and change. Met up with my dad, who was to my pleasant surprise still smiling, and teammate Dave Jolin. Picked up that finished token and all was right with the world.

With all that said ... how did I do? Well ... heck man ... I survived and I finished and that was the first goal. No buckle for me but even with 13-hours of racing I ended up lucky 13th in Open Men's category and 14th overall out of 280 100-mile racers.

I love the suffering, I love the experience of me against the course, I love the mental and physical battles of all that tow-the-line go through, I love the post-event stories, I love the friendships it creates thru the thick and thin, and I love the fact that anyone can step into this ring and go to battle against the toughest men and women willing to take on the challenge.

Of course I would be no where near prepared without the hands-down best team and sponsors EVER!! Thanks to Rescue Racing for picking me up as a fellow MTB racer and the incredible sponsors that support the Paws'N Bones Mission!

#infinitnutrition #maxxistires #oec #sostikrd #truckerco #endlessbikeco #realitybikes #builttolastwheels #kask #giordana #christopherbeancoffee  #statefarmgraysontudor 

For the pups of #charlessmithgallhumansociety

#thankstoddanddanny #doneanddusted