Report from the Back of the Bear!

As with many of us, I sign up for a race to use as a goal to motivate my running. Since I drive for a living and did not really like the thought of another 18 hours (round trip) in a car on my days off I looked for a race closer to home. The North Face Endurance Challenge at Bear Mt State Park in NY was only 100 miles away; Great! Being fairly new to trail running, I pretty much assume all trails are basically the same: up/down, through woods and streams, etc. So what the hell. Then I talked to Lefty and Shelly Girl (who are not novices and can judge trails better than me). Seems Bear Mt was among their more “hard” races. Oh well, it’s just a day. The day before the race I was on a sales call in NY, stopped in the city to pick up my race pack and managed to scrap the side of my car entering the parking garage (DAMN), then onto the hotel, where the room smelled of smoke (now I’m really wound up), but with a little negotiation I was moved to a suite down the hall and I started to calm down. I ate, laid out my gear, watched “Bones” (my favorite although I’m beginning to like criminal minds) and did not sleep. Up at 3:30, headed to the start and basically hung out until Lefty and Shelly Girl showed up to tell me how hard the race was going to be (oh well, it’s just a day). My goal was to finish and find my car. Then I heard we got a medal, so now my goal became to make the cutoff time.

I had read Lefty’s report on the 7 sisters and “walk the hills, jog the flats and power the downs” was going to become my mantra. I lined up at the back with all the other newbies, and took off. Shelly Girl had mentioned the first 8 or 9 were very hilly and the hardest part of the race. Frankly, I found the first 15 to be similar to the Bluff and quite enjoyable. The scenery was beautiful, the day was nice, 50’s to start and slight clouds, and the crowd was talkative, I had nice conversations with people from Pa and Boston. It was a lot of up hill, but no real serious climbs. I followed Lefty’s mantra, tried to maintain a 12 min pace and made sure I ate at the aid stations (well stocked and well manned). I actually thought I would enjoy the whole race. Then the second half started. The Hills got just plain nuts, the rocks were everywhere, the bugs had come out and were unrelenting, and it got HOT. Up a steep climb with bugs in the eyes, and nose and mouth. Down the other side with the quads singing LOUDLY, even sidestepping was getting painful. I took Aleve, hammer anti fatigue pills, endrolytes, and perpetumn. I ate everything I could at the aid stations including Skittles (oh yeah, those are fun). I passed people, they passed me back, I passed them again; sometimes runnning, sometimes hiking, sometimes just plain walking. You would be running down a hill, see the arrow point to the right, make the turn and be climbing one of those rivelets that get started in the spring from all of the winter snow. Full of rocks, no trail, just what is left of where cascading water poured off the mountain.There was not a step in this race that did not include rocks, even the roads had rocks.  This race included a  50 mile that went off at 5am, then the 50k at 7 and then the marathon at 9. So in the second half we started (at least those of us at the back) getting passed by the 50’s. The second half I went from run and smell the roses, to hell, I may be out here all night. I finally hooked up with some other old guy who was in quad pain and shuffling the last couple of miles; we finished together. I was 14/20 in my ag, he was 1/4 in his.

I got my medal, grabbed a tuna wrap and headed for the shuttle bus. A full hour slower than the Bluff (my first 50), I found my car (yes, it was still light out) and drove two hours home. I was texting everyone how this was my last endurance endeavor, how I was just  going to do the small stuff from now on and enjoy the race till the end. Then by Tuesday, I realized how much fun I had, how I actually was recovering better than from my first ultra, and how much better my body felt overall a couple of days later. Then I picked up my Ultra Running Mag and was reading about running in the UK. May be next year, getting lost in the bogs and freezing my ass off. After all, it is JUST a long day!