Signed up for the 50 miler but down graded to the 50K for 2 reasons; I wasn't trained and the 50 miler does the large lop twice so since I had already seen it why go again.

My brother and sister went with me along with a great niece and the sister's boyfriend.  The BF had a pop up tent so we made reservations at Tourist Park to camp.  Got to town, set up camp, packet pick up, dinner and some beers.  My brother asked me if I ate something special before hand, "No, just drink less".  So 3 beers later off to bed I go.

Woke up at 4 am and saw a few other folks in the campground moving around so I asked some folks if I could get a ride to the race.  First guy had no run and the second group said sure.  This allowed my bro to go back to sleep.  We had planned on meeting at Sugarloaf Mt around 9 am.

This here is scapster who I ran into in the am.  We hung a bit before the race but she made it clear I was on my own.    She was also a 50 miler turn 50Ker

Little cooler than I am use to so I had my favorite long sleeve.  The race started and they had us do a tiny 1 mile loop.  This was to get folks to start spreading out before entering a single track.  After the first mile I tossed the top.  The next loop was 11 miles.  We headed into the woods and ran over a rough trail with loss granite rocks.  I had the headlight I just bought and it did fine.  I probably could have gone without as everyone's lights were lighting up the trail.  So about 4 miles of this was this rough granite loss bolder type trail and we were pretty much just doing a slow Cong dance.

Somewhere around mile 7 the sky was becoming light.  The trail was running along a river and although the sky was light.  The trail at this point was nice dirt but also lots of roots requiring the headlamp still.

The River and some morning lightstarting to show.

This is coming out from the river bottom and into the light.  My headlamp was off by now.

I'm around mile 11 right now and the next 5 take you around granite slabs and through the woods.  This is a technical race and we were going up and down hills which would have been easy to run if not for the roots and rocks.  When others walked a hill, Sue walked a hill.

I was at mile 13 ish and texted my brother, "8:10 AM and at mile 13"  he replied, "Everyone is still sleeping"  Running is my thing so I had told them the night before if they didn't want to come no big deal, it's their vacation too.  So here comes Sugarloaf and no family there. 

View from Sugarloaf which is a highpoint that you get to through a series of steps.  I made sure I used the railings just to give my legs a break.

Leaving the loaf..

Susy loves moss!!!

After Sugarloaf we ran around 5 miles mostly along Lake Superior.  This was very flat but still technically so it didn't really give you a break.  I was starting to feel a bit low when who should I see in the middle of the woods but my bro, sis, and niece.  Having a crew really does perk you up.  I was stock and had a great run all the way to the finish.

They also came to Harlow Lake to meet me.  When I left my brother who I only see every other year or so yelled "I love you" 

Nice trails...

Yes I felt like jumping in..

This place had a lot of granite!!

A little mud...I guess nothing compared to last year.

This is on Top of the World.

Seriously there is no all out running here.  I would walk and then run but every time I started running again I felt awkward; like a little kid just learning to walk.  There's no getting a rhythm or doing the shuffle here.  I did fall once but landed softly.

The goal for me was to get back up Hogsback.  A Mt I climbed many times in college.  So here I am back on top.  I thought it was far off Big Bay road but really was fairly close.

I have this picture of me from college days so I had to reenact it.

I still felt great and thought I was somewhere near the 28 mile mark.  My watch died at 27 some miles.  So I keep running and passing quite a few people. 157 folks ran and I was almost smack dab in the middle number 75 with a time of 8:05 just 3 hrs and 50 minutes behind first place.    It was a good run.  I was met at the finish by my family.  I ran through the finish line with my niece.    They had cold beer in the truck and we hiked up Sugarloaf again and then sat on the shore of beautiful lake Michigan.

Thinking of signing up for Biz Johnson 50 K in October. 

They had cold beer in the truck and we hiked up Sugarloaf again and then sat on the shore of beautiful lake Michigan.

 

Great job but I see you had enough beer to forget which of the great lakes you were on!     I looked in the archives and saw I did it in a little over 8 hours too but it was a sufferfest that day. Tough course but beautiful.  There is a half marathon there that I have also run in the fall that covers some of the same route if you want to relive the bliss. 

Nice to have had family there and it sounds like a great vacation.  Well done!

Adding--great photos too.

I heard Superior in my head but typed Michigan.  Could be because I spent the rest of the trip on lake Michigan or I coyld be going Whackadoodle

 

Great job but I see you had enough beer to forget which of the great lakes you were on!     I looked in the archives and saw I did it in a little over 8 hours too but it was a sufferfest that day. Tough course but beautiful.  There is a half marathon there that I have also run in the fall that covers some of the same route if you want to relive the bliss. 

 

Nice to have had family there and it sounds like a great vacation.  Well done!

 

Adding--great photos too.

What, no picture of that?

 

 

That is why I kept scrolling down, total teaser!!!!

Great run, Sue. Congratulations.

Looks like I just have to cut 7 minutes off my mile from the beginning to be right up front!   that might take training! 

Little harder push at the end and I think you would been right up there with the winner

 

 

Nice to be able to throw a run in during the visit back to see your family.  Also nice that they met you along the way. I also like the carboloading and rehydrating choices!!

Thanks for the RR and great photos.  Congrats!!!

I went to college here so yes I hiked them.  I was surprised to see how close to the road they actually were.  My recollection was that they were long hikes.  Could have been all the beer stops. 

 Had you run these trails before? Reminds me of my time up on the north shore at Superior but maybe not as hilly. Remember meeting Scrapster up there.  Sort of a homecoming race for you, eh? Good work with the race and thanks for all the photos.

Way to go!  Those are some tough looking roots.