Ryan and Amber: Grin and Bear it- Bear 100

The Bear 100 has been by far the hardest and most scenic 100 miler I've done. I don't know if it is because I'm so spoiled by Tahoe terrain, but the fall colors here made for a stunning course. The course profile and tough weather conditions made for a brutal course.

I signed up last winter after looking at some pictures of the course and taking a peak at the course profile. I was intrigued by running somewhere new and completely different to home. What I hadn't planned on was running the entire Tahoe Rim Trail 3 weeks prior. Recovery from that included a lot of work and standing on my feet. Not the best recovery, but the week before the race I was feeling okay and I really wanted to run this course. I had spent lots of time with the foam roller and one visit to the chiro to get my all realigned before I beat myself up again.

Race week itself was slightly chaotic. I worked through Tuesday and Ryan was going to be my pacer and he was working until Thursday morning at 8. Packet pick up and the pre race meeting was Thursday afternoon. This left me solo to complete the 10 hour drive out from Tahoe on Wednesday while Ryan got stuck flying out Thursday and taking a bus to Logan. In the rush of throwing stuff in a bag to get on the road Wednesday I forgot to grab key things like my nutrition. Thursday I got a quick 20 minute jog in to shake the legs out after sitting in a car the entire previous day. I felt tired and had heavy legs, but brushed that off thinking it was the car ride. After that it was a chaotic packing of drop bags and buying items I had left at home. I didn't have a crew to meet me at aid stations so I needed to pack everything I thought I might need into drop bags. Usually this is fairly easy, but the weather predicted made this slightly more complicated. Friday had highs in the 80-90s with a storm blowing in Friday night with the prediction of rain and cold. Ryan was going to pace me from mile 45 to the finish where we had planned to leave the car. Race morning for him was going to be driving to the finish and hitchhiking to the Temple Fork aid station. Not having a crew definitely made this more of an adventure for both of us.

22,518ft of climing, but it felt like a whole lot more

All smiles pre race

The start went smoothly and after a short section of pavement we were funneled onto a 3500 ft single track climb. I tried to stay near the front as we formed a conga line, but others were running hard from go. I was slightly frustrated as the line of people that had been running hard now slowed to a slow walk, and I had to remind myself it was going to be a long day. Obviously many of these people started too hard as I came through the first aid station in 139th place and eventually moved up to 31st.
The first hour of this climb was in the dark and I'd really like to come back and see it in the light. There were sections of it that had a golden trail weaving around the trees. Fall here is really magical. It started getting light after this first climb and I was wishing I had brought my camera. After the initial climb there is short descent and roughly another 1500ft of climbing.

The 9ish miles from aid station 1-2 are mostly downhill and the crowd of runners was finally spreading out a bit. There was about a 45 minute section here where I didn't see anyone. My legs weren't feeling great and I could feel some niggles in my right shin and left glute. I took note of the pain to see if it stayed the same or increased over the coming miles. The pain I was in here was manageable, but this was awfully early to be hurting. Only 80ish more miles to go..... I suspect that this was residual from my TRT run.

I was power walking the steeper parts of the climbs and shuffling the mellower parts and trying to run flats and downhills. The downhills on this course are hard to run. Most are steep and rocky, and with somewhat broken legs I'm sure my "run" looked pathetic. I remember it getting really hot on the run into the Right Hand Fork aid station (mile 36). I've had a particularly cold summer with no heat training. August was spent in Colorado where it rained almost every day. I was suffering in the heat. I made note of the creek leading into the aid station and promised myself to hop in after refueling. After leaving Right Hand I got in the river and lay flat to allow the icy cold water to cover my entire body. Wow that felt good. For the next 30 minutes of climbing I felt great and then the heat started in again. Thankfully on this 8 mile segment there was a water refill. Yep, in 8 miles I went through 4 bottles of fluid. On the descent into the aid station there was thankfully another creek and in I went. This might have been my favorite part of the day. A couple miles later I found Ryan at the aid station waiting to pace me for the last 55 miles. Little did I know that the last half is way harder than the first half.

Heading into Tony Grove. Beautiful camping spots here!

I wasn't moving great, but I was still moving. Storm clouds were blowing in, but I was still warm so I opted to leave my first pair of tights and wait until the next drop bag where I had another pair. The 10 mile section from Tony Grove to Franklin were some of my favorite of the race. It had it all. Beautiful fall colors and crazy rock formations. The descent into the aid station was a really rough one and it was starting to get dark. We stopped quickly and put headlamps on and kept on cruising.

At Franklin I switched out my vest for a hydration pack. Up to this point I had been carrying one handheld and kept the other in the back pocket. Placing my rain jacket, puffy, hat, gloved, hot hands, and pack at the mile 61 aid was a bit of a strategic decision. I knew I would need the warm stuff and rain gear at night, but I didn't want to have to carry it during the hot day. The bet paid off and we did get a little rain leading into Franklin, but the skies didn't open up until afterwards.

It was cold during the night, but as long as I kept moving and didn't stop too long at aid stations I kept the shivers at bay. I did have a 15ish mile stretch where I felt horrible. I have never felt so tired during a 100 miler. I kept wanting to take a nap, but I knew if I lay down I probably wasn't going to get back up. I was falling asleep while running/shuffling. I started tripping over rocks and roots and took a couple diggers. I went down hard once and was really glad I had tights on to protect at least some of my skin. I lost some skin on my hand, knee, and elbow and used my ear warmer to stop the bleeding. I stubbled into the warm den of Beaver Lodge aid station and didn't want to come out. About this time it really started to downpour. I pried myself out of the warm chair and stumbled back into the dark wet night. This is fun right! Somewhere in here the dirt turned to slip and slide mud and I was wishing I had poles. I was in road Hokas that had zero traction. Anytime I tried to push off or change direction I would slip and nearly fall. I think I did go down half a dozen times between mile 80 and the finish. Strangely I started feeling better and was laughing as I fell. I don't remember a lot of details about the dark section. I do remember a section where the trail seemed to branch off in a couple different directions and not seeing markers. Turns out all trails went to the same place. I also remember sitting down on a paved road when I wasn't sure which way to go and waiting for the runners behind us. Maybe I was just using this as an excuse to sit down.

We slowly picked our way towards the finish and I finally found myself at the last aid station where they warned us that the steepest hill on the course was coming up. Yeah!! As we started up the hill there was a river of water coming down the hill. The road was a slippery river. Every step I took I slipped backwards and fell onto my hands. Ryan and I both ended up using branches as poles to claw our way up this steep bit. Meanwhile as we are climbing up there was a lightning show going on around us. I was moving with purpose. I wanted to get up and over this thing before the lightning closed in on us. My relief at hitting the top was short lived as the downhill was a mud disaster. What probably would have been a tough descent in dry conditions was downright treacherous when wet. The mud was both slippery and sticking to the bottom of our shoes. I was grabbing the branches of the bushes on the side of the trail in an effort to stay upright. Finally after many tumbles we were at the bottom. I could see a gravel road on the other side of the cattle guard! When we got there the trail turned left up another mud hill to add further insult. Wohoo! I was not stoked about this turn and may have dropped a couple 4 letter words. I was no longer appreciating the beauty of the fall leaves. Finally we made our way to the finish line in 26hr 14min. This ended up being good enough for 31st overall and 4th female.

Overall this race had everything I wanted. The course was scenic, challenging, and fairly well marked. I also liked that it didn't coddle the athletes. There were long sections without aid and one had to be prepared and pay attention. I was tested me every step of the way. The weather only added to the fun. Part of running ultras for me is to learn something about myself and how I handle adversity. I highly recommend adding this race to your list if you like a challenge.

Lessons learned are to put dry socks/clothes in zip locks so that I do have dry stuff to put on. The other thing I would do different is have poles. With the rain they would have been amazing. Even in dry conditions I would have liked poles on the climbs, and I might have kept rubber side down.