Andrew Schrauben

My alarm clock went off at 5:00am Saturday morning to ensure that I would have plenty of time to drive up north. Striders, a local running store, was hosting a casual training run on the very course where their North Country Trail Run will take place this September. Since I'm planning to compete in that race, I thought I would take Striders up on their offer to join them for a run.

It was a beautiful morning to go for a 2.5 hour drive. A bright red sun was just peeking above the treeline as the nearly empty highway allowed me to enjoy the scenery. Low areas of the countryside were delicately covered by an airy blanket of fog. I kept wishing I had brought a camera but it's probably better that I didn't because somebody had to drive!

The trails are located roughly halfway between Manistee and Cadillac within the Manistee National Forest at a trail system called Big M. All of the signs there describe it as a network of cross-country ski trails, but with a forecasted high temperature of 80 degrees these trails were going to see other uses today.

14 runners of varying ability showed up by 8:30am ready to go. Steve (co-owner of Striders with his wife, Deb) briefed us on the trail markings so that we wouldn't get lost and then we were off! Quickly two packs formed: the fast runners and the slow runners. I fell in line with the slow folks, running about a 10-minute pace with five others.

I ran at the end of the line - ahead of me were Deb (Steve's wife), Mary, Don, and another woman named Deb; the four of them were all friends. Just ahead of the five of us was Paul, a 65-year-old guy with 25 years of ultrarunning under his belt! In fact, the four friends had 10-15 years of ultrarunning experience apiece. Then there's me, training for what would be hopefully my first ultra on these trails.

We all talked quite a bit for the first several miles until the first aid station at mile 8, where Steve & Deb had set out some water and Gatorade. We all refilled and then I continued on, deciding not to wait for the foursome to finish "taking care of business" in the woods. I remained at their pace, but now a few hundred yards ahead on the trails with Paul a bit behind the four.

Around mile 10 I stopped to dump some trail debris out of my shoes and the talkative foursome passed me by. A couple miles later I developed a sharp cramp on my left side so I took a few minutes to walk it off, during which time Paul passed me. Feeling better I started up again, but it wouldn't last.

Within just a few minutes I was feeling exhausted and light-headed. I even dropped my water bottle - it just fell out of my hand as if I were falling asleep on my feet! Clearly I was bonking, which was very surprising because 13 miles was WAAAY too soon for me to be bonking at that pace. In fact, I had already drank over 1.5 bottles of water - during my training runs at home I'd never been able to consume more than one bottle on a 14.4 mile run.

I downed the rest of my water - 2.5 bottles thus far - and tried to move on but couldn't maintain a running stride. My blood pressure must've been low, too, because I would nearly faint if I stood up from a squat and my ears were ringing. Yet the entire time, I was never upset. Quite the contrary, I was enjoying myself despite having to walk.

One good reason for having fun is that the trails are just spectacular! The entire route winds through deep forest - mostly hardwoods and occasionally some pines. The trees kept most of the bright sun at bay, but the views were still great because the ground cover was short. Ferns dominated the ground and prevented almost anything other than trees to grow, so I could see quite far through the woods. It reminded me of the Return of the Jedi when the speeder bikes were dashing through the forest of Endor.

Finally I reached the 15 mile mark with an aid station. I drank a full bottle of water at once, and decided to take the short 1 mile track back to the start to complete my 16 mile run. I had thought about running the 25 or 20 mile routes but in my current condition there was no point in running farther. While is was disappointing (and confusing) to have bonked so early, I was thrilled at being able to down 3+ bottles of water without feeling sick; in the past I would've been lucky to finish off even one!

I was the fourth runner back to the parking lot, where the three others had also run just 16 miles. Soon two runners appeared who had just finished the 25 mile course in a very fast time. Then the friendly foursome showed up, having run 20 miles. Eventually the remaining runners trickled in, the rest all running 25 miles. We all sat around for a while eating and drinking, recovering and of course, talking.

One of the runners there is quite an accomplished ultrarunner - Jeff Christian has completed five 100-milers and even won one of them in a time of less than 18 hours. This guy is also planning to run a 220 mile route across Michigan later this summer!

All good things must end, and it was time to head home. It was a great time to reflect upon the day - it's amazing just how FUN running can be when you're out running beautiful trails and meeting new people. The weather was perfect, too. I reminded myself to try and find other trails to "explore" via running. Spending time in that part of Michigan made me wish we had a cottage up there. I wonder what it would take for Amanda and I to make it work?...

Halfway home I stopped in Big Rapids to pick up some Jimmy Johns subs for dinner for myself and Amanda. She had spent most the day at Petsmart with Vicky, working an adoption event for Vicky's Pet Connection. We helped clean up and haul some supplies over to Vicky's, then headed home to finally eat our dinner. Ahhhh, food!