Endure the Bear 50k

Pre-race
I left pretty early and got to the starting area way too early. I parked just across the street and took a nap. While I was napping, I heard a tap on my window. I looked and it was a cop. He wanted to check to see if I was alive and not dead. He took down my name and birth date to check me out. I guess they aren't busy with bigger issues up in the Big Bear area or are not too fond of vagrants.

Once there was daylight at around 6am, I was able to check in and pick up my bib and timing chip. Slowly but surely, my maniac friends started showing up. During check-in they instructed us to park at a lot about a few blocks away. I drove over to the lot and got my stuff ready. Since I had been dealing with some ankle issues, the only goal for the race was to finish without getting hurt. I also tried out using my hydration pack to carry my food. Instead of drinking from a tube, I took out the bladder and carried a second bottle instead. I got my stuff ready and walked over to the starting area.

That's a weird looking bear

4 Maniacs and the 1st place female finisher looking all pretty on the far left

Right before the 7am start for the 50k race, we all gathered at the starting line. It's mostly the same group of people running ultramarathons, so I was able to shoot the breeze with a few familiar faces. The race director said we had 10 hrs to complete the course. I was pretty confident that I could hike the course within that time.

Start/Finish line

Starting corral

Keira!

Lifesabeach

A few thoughts during the race
I took the race very slow from the very beginning. I definitely felt the effects of the altitude on the very first climb on the road up to the trail head. My breathing just could not keep up even with the slow pace, so I started walking.

One thing about trail races is that the higher you go, the nicer the views. My pictures definitely does not do it justice!

For the most part, I was moving at the pace of two runners from the "Run With Us" group from Pasadena. After a while I could not keep up as my ankle was getting sore. There was one part where it was a very steep downhill. We had to go through this section a couple of times. The first time was somewhat scary because I had to navigate the gnarly hill with a few other mountain bikers. The second time was just as hard since your legs were super tired.

Looking back at a very steep downhill

At the bottom of the hill, I found a bench. There was a very nice view from the bench. Another fun part of trailing running was having to limbo under trees.

The obstacles definitely keeps the running interesting.

Well, look what we have here!

The view from the bench

Limbo!

Near the end of the race I caught up to and was walking with the last place guy in the 30k race. He was an older gentleman with some health and physical issues but he was still out there running and hiking a tough 30k trail race. I told him that when I'm older that I'd want to be like him. My legs were cramping up, so I walked with him for a little. Once the electrolytes kicked in, I told him that I was going to jog it in. I bid him farewell and took off for the finish. The only section that I really ran was when I finally made it back to the roads and it was one long downhill to the finish line. I took so long that the timing mats were already removed. I thought that I came in dead last for the 50k, but I was told that there was one more guy out there.

8:52:43 official time
8:55:34 watch time (I'm not sure how I gained about 3 mins)

Race shirt, medal, and bib

Post-race thoughts
This was a fun and challenging race. Hiking a 50k was definitely not as easy as it sounds. You know that you're out of shape for a difficult course when your breathing was very rapid and you're only hiking and not running. I would hope to run this again next year hopefully dealing with less physical ailments. This was my first race where I tried eating Honey Stinger Waffles. The vanilla flavored ones were pretty darn tasty. My body still prefers the margarita flavored Shot Bloks with the extra salt.