The Bear – Race Recap 7/7/11
On Thursday night as Mike and I were warming up before "The Bear", our miles were in the mid 7 minute range. I casually mentioned to Mike that our pace was pretty much as fast as I expected to run for this race. Thinking back now, truer words have never been spoken by me.
Mike and I headed up to Linville Falls for "The Bear" 5 mile road race. The Bear Road race for those not familiar runs 5 miles from downtown Linville Falls to the top of Grand Father Mountain. The race starts at an elevation of 3640 ft and rises to 5181 which is just short of being a mile high. For those math challenged runners, this is 1541 ft of elevation gain over 5 miles so saying that the course is up hill, in my opinion is an understatement.
The rain was falling lightly when you arrived and they directed us to park in this large field a quarter mile from the start. Maybe it was an omen of the challenges ahead but there was Ford Explorer already stuck in the mud. They had hitched another truck to it and were attempting to pull it out.
The packet pick up was just beside the parking area so we tried to navigate around the mud and streaming water. The numbers listed the name of the race on it and long sleeve shirts were nice. There was a picture of the bear with the race logo printed in orange.
After few warm up miles, Mike and I switched over to our racing flats and headed for the start. A long the way, we encountered a nice contingent of runners from the Charlotte area. Chuck, Bobby, Stan, Jinnie, Butch, a group of the Crazy Legs guys just to name a few. And, before I forget, there were two Ambassadors from the Wilmington TrySports. Of all places to meet another TrySports Ambassador, I met two at The Bear.
Between the race director yelling through the blow horn and the State Trooper, we were told in no uncertain terms to stay out the road until the last possible moment. Finally 7 pm arrived we gathered at the start. Well, I assume it was the start. There was no line on the road just the race director standing on a ladder.
After a short speech about bandit runners threatening the event because they were uninsured running up Grand Father Mountain, we got a few simple directions and the gun was fired.
There was no getting around knowing that this was an uphill course. The starting line was right at the base of the hill so I just had to look up to see what I faced.
Once the gun was fired, everyone basically settled into a slow trot. We started running up a pretty steep grade, then turned right for a ways, and then turned off on to a gravel road. I didn't remember the race director saying whether they had mile marks so I looked at Garmin to get some idea of how far I had run. Ugh, ¾ of a mile showed on the display. Shortly thereafter, I passed a 1 mile sign. My legs were burning and my heart was pounding. My ears were feeling the pressure from the altitude change and popping. I had been running beside, Mike Moran but decided this was too fast and tried easing back just a bit.
The very ugly thought entered my head "You have just passed the first mile and the next 4 miles are all uphill". I tried not to think about it anymore and just run.
Miles 2 and 3 passed reaching mile 3 in just over 22 minutes. We ran through the Highland Games camping area and round the pseudo track. People were really screaming their lungs out which really helped from a motivational point of view. Once around the track, we headed cross country up a steep grass embankment to the road going up Grand Father Mountain.
I had been warned that the final two miles were absolutely brutal which was absolutely true. I didn't really feel like I was running. More so, I felt like I was walking up a steep hill while trying to use a running motion. When I stepped from the grass to the pavement, I was staring straight ahead which normally would allow me to see road further ahead. In this case, with the steep rise, all I could see was the pavement ahead.
Mile 4 passed and I was reached it in just over 30 minutes of running. Alright, time to take point check and see what I have left for the final mile. My legs felt numb – especially my quads. My heart was racing along at about 178 bpm.
I thought "I can do this. Just stay focused and keep moving. I can run the last mile under 9 minutes". I passed the two parking lots and looked to see what I had left to run. There was Mike running about 4 switch backs ahead of me.
At the start, I promised that I wouldn't walk, but on the 2nd switch back I finally cried "uncle". I walked part of one of the switchbacks. Yeah, it cost me some time, but my heart got a chance to settle down and my legs bounced back.
I rounded the set final of switch-backs and could hear the people cheering at the top. However, true to "The Bear"'s reputation, this may have been the steepest part of the course because it just went up. I was back to putting one foot in front of the other. There was no sprinting to the finish line this time. There was just me crossing the finish and glad that it was done.
My goals going into the race were to break 40 minutes – 38:31 so that goal achieved and top 100 which would get me a "Bear" mug. I finished 24th overall which I am still not sure about. I think some of the runners must have run off course or fell off the mountain because there certainly looked a couple of hundred runners ahead of me.
My secret goal of not walking didn't get achieved but what can I say "The Bear is tough".
Looking back on the run now, I recall 2 or 3 sections where the course actually flattened out and I use the term flatten loosely within the context of "The Bear". These were the only sections of the course where I actually felt like I was running.
Mike had a pretty good run and I attribute his fantastic effort to the Subway sandwich that he consumed 2 ½ hours before the race. If anyone might be interested, I am downing a Gel and ½ bottle of Gatorade. Maybe next time I'll try the Subway prerace energy boost. Anyway, Mike had a great night clocking a 36:54 for 12th overall. He easily picked up his mug. Bobby finished 64th overall in 42:35 while Stan finish in 40:36 for 43rd. Both finished in the "get a mug" window of time.
While I am on the topic of Mugs, giving runners mugs just as they cross the finish line isn't one of the better ideas. I understand why they do it, but still it is not a great idea. I know because I heard more than one mug hit pavement and break. I was very careful with my mug. Wrapping it in a shirt and placing it in my bag. For anyone that doesn't understand, there are earned awards and then are treasured hard earned awards. I consider "The Bear" a treasured hard earned award which will probably be bubble wrapped and put a way.
Before I wrap this up, I want to give a special shout out to Jinnie. She was kind enough to put our drop bags in her car and carry them to the top of the mountain. Having a drop bag is so important for "The Bear" because after this race hot sweaty runners quickly shift to cold and chilly runners bouncing from one foot to the other trying to stay warm. Most runners are stuck on top until the shuttle start down the mountain at 8:20 pm. That's about an hour after most of us finish.
Here's a breakdown of my splits and heart rates.
Mile 1: 7:04 - 168 Avg. Heart Rate 177 Max Heart Rate
Mile 2: 7:25 – 173 Avg. Heart Rate 177 Max Heart Rate
Mile 3: 7:23 – 175 Avg. Heart Rate 178 Max Heart Rate
Mile 4: 9:15 – 174 Avg. Heart Rate 178 Max Heart Rate
Mile 5: 7:24 – 174 Avg. Heart Rate 179 Max Heart Rate
Overall 38:31 – 173 Avg. Heart Rate 179 Max Heart Rate
Here's some of the in the "in-race" video that I shot. Honestly, the video doesn't do the course justice and I spent a lot of time looking at the asphalt.
Thoughts from the Cool Down Runner
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