| Bob Figuli: The 100,000 Mile Energizer Bunny U.P. runner keeps going and going for miles, hours even days. At one time his streak was running daily for over 17 years By Jerry Harpt Bob Pecotte, former Northern Michigan University employee, starts his day solving the world's problems with the boys at the Beeferoo Restaurant along the lakeshore in Marquette, Michigan. "Here comes my old colleague and jogging buddy," Bob says. "I can tell that gate from a mile away." The group peers out the window to watch a lonely figure shuffling along at a 12 minute per mile pace, his feet scraping the pavement, his arms in a soft swing, his white and gray beard, a mixture of age and new fallen snow.  His name is Bob Figuli and he started jogging with Pecotte back in 1970. While Pecotte has moved on to other things, Figuli's overachieving pistons still engage themselves every morning for 9.5 miles and have been doing so since his passion began. When Figuli started running he was 41 years old and pushing 200 pounds. He now weighs 137 pounds and, this year, at age 74, will surpass the 100,000 mile mark.
Figuli, the gentle and unassuming runner, was given the handle, "UP Energizer Bunny" by another NMU retiree, Lom Emerick, because he never stops running. He runs through rain, sleet and bitter cold, as the saying goes, but he can top that. He runs through mountain streams, on snowshoes, and even for days without stopping. He is that icon, that
prince who draws his subjects, from deep within, to a better place. His former ultradistance running partner, Bob Olson, labeled him "the toughest runner I ever knew." He is indeed tough, but most of all he is unassuming. Joe Johnson, another UP icon and protégé of Figuli's, once asked Bob what kind of running shoes he wore. His answer: "black." In 1978, Figuli of Marquette, Mich., (then age 49), and Olson, formerly of
Hancock, took 10 days off work and left Marquette, Mich., to run around Lake Superior. They felt that people had cycled it (Figuli did), driven it, and canoed it, so why not run it. Each day they started at 6 a.m. and ran 15 miles. They rested an hour and ran another 15. They rested again and did 10, rested and finished with another 10. They lived on coffee, coke and whatever food they could scrounge. They ran 50 miles per day and totaled 501 miles after the 10 day stretch. A year later Figuli and Olson completed their venture, amassing 1,049 miles in 20 days of running with stomach aches, blisters and inner strength. It was the toughest challenge of their lives and they celebrated by planning and, in time, running the length of Isle Royale National Park, the first to have accomplished that as well. Why not run it? It was there.
It was tough on Figuli when his partner, Olson, moved to Ohio but "Bob has a way of making tough seem easy," according to Pecotte. He once entered the 125 mile Copper Country Bicycle Tour, out of Copper Harbor, Michigan, and finished fifth overall. The following day he ran the Michigan 50 in Copper Harbor. In another 16 day period, he completed two 100 mile runs and a 60 mile walk. He has mastered the snowshoe circuit as well, twice completing the Yukon Jack World Championship
Snowshoe Race, a three day event that totals 83 miles.
When the "Energizer Bunny" reaches 100,000 miles, he will have completed 800 road, trail and snowshoe races. During this time, his name has appeared in national age group rankings and he has been named Upper Peninsula Roadrunner of the Year, just to name a few honors.
A significant portion of Figuli's 100,000 mile milestone includes ultramarathons. He ran the Western States 100 in the Sierra Nevada
Mountains in California five times, and the Old Dominion Run in Virginia. These off trail runs go over treacherous paths, through icy streams, and through eight hours of darkness. On one occasion, while running the Western States 100 with Chicago running guru Noel Nequin, they got lost in the Sierra wilderness. Before the runners got back on trail they added an additional 15 miles to the event. Consequently, they finished the
grueling event after officials had gone home. This disappointment meant nothing to Figuli, compared to the day that his 17 year running streak was sabotaged when he had to go to the hospital to take care of a chronic bug and forgot to run.
Figuli's biggest output occurred when he completed a 48 hour run near Sudbury, Canada, amassing 143 miles. Ironically, a 24 hour run, also near Sudbury, Canada, may have been even more challenging. He amassed
99.5 miles that day on a track that offered 15 laps to the mile. This means that Bob, in 24 hours, ran 1,493 laps. It's no wonder Bob Salmi, of the UP Roadrunners Club, coined the phrase, "Winter, summer, spring or fall. Bob doesn't rest, he runs them all."
Figuli, a retired Northern Michigan University accountant and one time police officer, is still creating his legacy. He started up the Northern Shufflers running group, the 20 mile Marquette Turkey Trot, and the
Yellow Dog Plaines 72 Mile run through the wilds of the UP. In 1994, mile 23 of the Northern Shufflers Marathon was christened the Bob Figuli Mile. His legacy also includes a beer or two, with salt in it, after his daily workout.
Is gravity tugging at Figuli's age strings? Hardly. This past year, at the age of 73, he amassed 3,306 miles running. His running streak of 17 1/2 years (averaging nine miles per day) is over, but he is currently protecting a new streak of 16 months.
If you happen to be driving through the snow tunnels of Marquette in the winter or along the Yellow Dog Plaines in the summer, and see an older gentleman slapping the pavement at a 12 minute per mile pace, cheer him on. He no longer runs three hour marathons, like he did at age 50, but congratulate him anyway for having run around the world four times. Who knows. He may still surpass his present record of 17 years of continuous daily running. The unassuming icon just keeps going and going.
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