When planning my trip to the U.P., I mulled over the idea of
setting up a trail running boot camp with Matt to jump back into trail
running. After some research, we decided
that Marquette would be the best place to do this. A getaway AND seeing some new places,
hopefully hilly and technical, because the trail running near my parents’ house
isn’t any of those things.
I emailed the race director of the Marquette Trail
50M/50K. Were there permanent markings
on the course? Would it be easy to find
and follow for a long run? The response
I received was surprising, the RD and his wife offered to not only point us to
the trails, but to accompany us on a run.
So at 2pm on a Monday afternoon, we found ourselves at the South
Marquette trails with Andrew and Stephanie.
Stephanie is an OB/GYN and was on-call all night long, so she stayed for
a few miles and then went home to their young kids. She gave Andrew a chance to go play with
us. We chatted about the local trail
community and the differences in where we live and Marquette. We also found that we have a few friends in
common despite never meeting or living in the same place. After a few loops around a very smooth
single-track trail, we emerged atop Mt. Marquette and took in the views of the
bay, town, and surrounding areas.
We covered about 11 miles that afternoon before we had to
return to our families. Emily was
waiting for us to pick her up from the mall and Andrew’s family had a busy
night of soccer games waiting. Matt and
I enjoyed learning more about the local area and were happy to see how rich the
outdoor community is here. It could be a
decent fit for us in the future.
3 comments:
What a cool race director and what a great run! I love the UP!
I used to run there all the time but it definitely was not smooth singletrack. I'm sure its nice but I liked it the way it was. Deserted, rough in spots.
I agree, it was really nice the race director and his wife ran with you. Always cool when someone who is into stuff you are, takes the time to extend a hand.
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