Rob Basidlo, Suzanne Larsen and Eric Larsen were among a group of Riverbend Striders who came to Munising for the Pictured Rocks Run for Shelter.
MUNISING (6/26/05) - "30" to old journalists means "end of story" or "no more copy." Here it means 30 years for the Pictured Rocks Run, which cannot be copied. Where wonder starts.

Midsummer in Munising, on the northernmost edge of Michigan, is an eyeblink. Beyond, Lake Superior, to compensate, tunes up chlorophyll to full wattage: greens in leaves sing; billions of trunks, with their barky textures, are bars of music.

"Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die," ferns and flowers don't really say, but should you run - and do not miss running - on Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore trails, you will sense eternity in their transience, note how freshwater streams sculpt stories into stone nonstop as they tumble down to Superior.

You may wonder when - and if - you will crest Stink Hill.

Stink is Summit 2 in the Pictured Rocks Run. The first, Cemetery Hill, climbs 300 feet in 1-3/4 miles - past a graveyard, naturally, to the home of race founders Norma and Elwood Harger.

Should you pause there - which you won't, because you are racing - and chat - which you can't, as you're out of breath - Elwood, who designed the course 30 years ago when he was 50, might bemoan the shortage of planes in Munising to quench his love for skydiving; Norma, 77, might take time from tennis and rollerblading to reminisce about how the first PRR, during America's bicentennial, traversed 17.76 kilometers, or 11.03 miles, and how one runner, several years later, was elated they shaved off the last .03 miles after sprinting home, without looking back, from a bear he'd seen.

"It's not easy," says Lynn Chamberlain, 47, of life in paradise. "Munising winters are long and cold, it's remote, bugs are brutal ..."

Since when did runners like things easy?

"Rewards are sweet," she concedes. "It's a beautiful place to be."

Norma retired after 21 years as race director. Another group tried to put on the PRR and found, well, it wasn't easy. This don't-miss race was going the way of Great Lakes shipwrecks when backers of Harbor House, a domestic violence shelter serving Alger and Marquette counties, threw a life ring, "because it's a priceless community asset," says Lynn, in her seventh year as director. "It helps us raise funds for, and spread awareness of, our cause."

The race, now called Pictured Rocks Run for Shelter, isn't easy: you'll know you have been somewhere by the finish. You'll be glad for a safe and sane place to be.

Sponsors added a 5-mile run - more friendly to less-hardcore hoofers - several years ago, while maintaining its long traditions: the downhill start, the ascent of Cemetery past the Hargers' home to Charlie Starsick's water stop - "How can anyone be star-sick?" we asked after viewing Saturday-night skies above Superior, before someone said, "It's spelled S-t-a-r-c-z-y-k" - the downhill on M-28, past a waterfall, back to town, then along the shore to where locals once shot and dumped dead horses. Hence the name Stink Hill.

Turn inland, near where glass-bottomed boats haul sightseers to view shipwrecks, and start your second 300-foot climb of the PRR.

The good news? You'll be done in a quarter-mile - if you're not done in.

You might say that Stink Hill steep. You might say a lot of things we can't print. Did we mention the trail is sand? If you go too slow, bugs might finish the job that bear of yore never quite accomplished?

Stink will make you nostalgic for Cemetery. You'll identify with Old Dobbin, R.I.P., or the Herman H. Hetler, which hit a rock reef 80 years ago in the bay and has resided there ever since.

From the peak of Stink it is downhill - seriously downhill - to Mustang Stadium for a finishing loop on the school's five-lane concrete track.

Who runs Pictured Rocks? "I do this whenever I can," says Michigan Runner columnist Scott Hubbard, one of a dozen-some Riverbend Striders making the trek north from southeast Michigan.

"Flagman" Michael Bowen, 56, of Flushing, is back to log more miles in his quest to run a mile for each of the 58,220 names etched into the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. Making his task harder is the large POW/MIA banner he lugs on a padded pole.

"I've run more than 46,000 miles with the flag," says Bowen of the labor he launched in 1982. "I've run Pictured Rocks at least 15 times.

"Difficult? It's nothing like what our veterans went through - and are still going through. It's a privilege coming to Munising. It's a beautiful place to be."

Winners of the 30th annual Pictured Rocks Run for Shelter 11-miler were Mike Turton, 17, of Marquette (1:09:58) and Pika Aderman, 19, of Menominee (1:17:23). First in the 5-mile run were Rob Bysidlo, 38, of Highland (29:41) and Brooke Rediger, 19, of Marquette (32:24).

The top three men and women in each age group won their choice of trophy rocks from the hills - polished and inscribed - every one unique.

Was it easy? No. Unforgettable? Like the stars, lake and sandstone cliffs lit in fleeting but almost-till-midnight sun.

Here's to 30 more. MR