Doing The Hard Things – October 2026
What’s inside: Taking a BreakMARJI GESICK 2026: “I couldn’t get distracted for even a second.”MARJI GESICK 2026: “He has all these challenges and stories – and they are his.”16 DAYS OF MARJI: Golden tickets and new registration platformMade U.P. PodcastAdventure Team in the Off SeasonEvents with 906AT Taking a Break As I sit here tonight watching the Lions game… I’m supposed to be writing an introduction to the October newsletter. But ya know? I’m gonna wait till next month to share what I was gonna talk about. I’ve been at camp for a couple days trying to take a break – and I’m gonna do that. Tomorrow I’m headed back to Marquette to get back to work on Gluski Park, the Secret Event, and Marji Gesick registration. Tonight, I’m gonna finish what I started… Watch the Lions… And take some time for myself. Talk to ya in November. “I couldn’t get distracted for even a second.” Dan Streinz graduated from Northern Michigan University in 2022. He says as a student, he was aware of the Marji Gesick but never had the opportunity to do it. After graduation, he completed the MG100 on a mountain bike, earning a green dot. Life continued. He moved to Duluth, Minnesota. And then about two and half years ago, the Marji hit him again. He says he was looking for the next challenge – looking for something different. He bought a mountain unicycle and got serious about riding, training and timing. “I wanted to try out mountain unicycling – I had to get out and ride to see what kind of average speeds were possible,” says Streinz. He admits Marji was always part of the plan. He says at some point it hit him, “It was possible. I started running calculations – you know what? It might work.“ Finishing the MG100 on a mountain unicycle earning a green dot – goal set. “I wasn’t trying to prove anything. It was for me. It was my own demon and I had to go face it.“ He toed the line with a dedicated support team behind him that included his fiancée Sydney, two friends from Duluth and a friend from Marquette. Looking back on his experience, he says he needed every single one of them and couldn’t have done it without them. So, how did he do it? And how much did he ride versus run/hike/walk with his unicycle? He estimates about half of the course was rideable. He rode a lot through the first bit, about half of South Trails and did very little riding through RAMBA. His unicycle is about half the weight of a typical mountain bike, which gave him a bit of an advantage – running through some of the course with his unicycle in one hand. It was physically exhausting. He made it through the second pass of Jackson Mine Park just minutes before the 2:00 AM cutoff. “I was hurting bad, but I was going to finish the damn thing. I didn’t know how, but I was going to finish, I had to get food and fluids.” He says riding a unicycle is physically harder than riding his mountain bike. There’s a lot of core – but he had been building his strength for over two years. And while he says he was deep in the pain cave physically – the mental demands of the event were perhaps the most challenging. “I couldn’t get distracted for even a second. If you even look up or think of something else, that’s when a root gets ya – I had to reach a whole different level of focus.“ All of the effort – both physical and mental – and the preparedness of his support crew paid off. Streinz crossed the finish line with just six minutes to spare – among a crowd of spectators whose hearts he’d stolen. “It’s good to see – that people appreciate it – unicyclists tend to be a bit of an eclectic crowd. It’s good to see positive attention. I’m glad people are enjoying it.” Streinz isn’t sure what he’ll do next. He’s working on a trailer and film for his YouTube channel, Uncle Dan the Uni Man – sharing his Marji experience – from his support crew to those early calculations he made during training and how he figured out how to do it. For now, he’s sitting in a goal accomplished! “I got it out of my brain. I put that demon to bed. It is indeed possible. It was eating away at me, cutting into my life – it’s time to get back to my life.” Streinz pushed not only his own boundaries – but the boundaries of Marji Gesick. We’re not saying there will be a unicycle division next year – but a bar has been set. “Do Hard Things,” encourages Streinz. “Don’t let other people’s opinions get in the way. It’s up to you to pursue your own dreams and get what you want in this crazy world.” Written By Elizabeth Peterson “He has all of these challenges and stories – and they are his.” 12-year-old Strummer Zuzula. Finishing the Mini Marji for the first time. A crowd cheering as he crosses the finish line. A moment captured by Rob Meendering Photography. There are thousands of photos from this year’s Marji Gesick. The gallery of photos is inspiring in itself. But as the stories and recaps of the event unfold – you quickly realize each photo holds so much more than what we see. Strummer’s Marji story began nearly a year before he crossed the finish line. It began on registration night in 2025 as his dad and sister, who had both participated before, waited to sign up. Strummer was standing there and said, “hey – I want to do it too.” Donny, Strummer’s dad says he was surprised, as it wasn’t something they had talked about or that he would normally do. But, of course, he was all in. That night Donny signed both of his kids up for the