Trips

Running with the Bears – Mile 7 of the 1/2 Marathon

Many months ago, as I was looking through the list of races in the California Marathon and Half Marathon Series, I noticed a race with an intriguing name – “Running with the Bears”. I visited and was impressed by the professionalism of the race website as I reviewed the information about the race course, location, the charity the race supports and the comments from prior runners. Over the next few weeks I found myself going back to the website over and over to learn more about Mountain Circle Family Services, the beneficiary of the proceeds and fundraising efforts resulting from the Running with the Bears. I came to appreciate the services that are provided by Mountain Circle to assist in and improve the lives of foster children in this area. After telling my wife about all the great race reviews and showing her the awesome things Mountain Circle does, I convinced her to register to run the half marathon with me and make the seven and a half hour trek northeast to the little town of Greenville, California for the race.

In the early morning of Friday, August 14th, we began our drive from San Luis Obispo on the central coast of California, out through the agricultural lands of the central valley, up through the state capitol of Sacramento and finally into the foothills of the northern Sierra Nevada mountains. Human population becomes sparse as one heads into the Sierras as the terrain becomes rugged and beautiful with rivers, deep valleys and gorges, and massive pine forests. At about 4:00 pm, we arrived at the Taylorsville campground, our home base for the next couple of days, and setup our tent among the pine and oak trees. Many runners and others were already setup in the campground, but still, there was plenty of space for us. After the long drive, we were hungry so we drove the 10 or so miles over to Greenville (pop. 1100) for the pre-race dinner in the backyard of the new Mountain Circle location. After a pasta and salad dinner along with desert, we heard from the race directors, Josie and Shauna, about the Mountain Circle mission to support the foster children of the area by providing them with a mom and dad that they were missing in their lives. Hearing the story of a former foster kid, now a young adult, in person made our support of the group through the race feel more real and well worth the cost and effort to get here.

After returning to the campground and getting and a good night’s sleep, we we awoke early to arrive at the start area six miles away for the Running with the Bears half marathon by 6:30 am on Saturday morning. Without paying too much attention, we were thinking it was a little chilly in the early morning light until we looked at the car thermometer indicating that it was 38 degrees! Wow, this is still August, right? The area around the race start was buzzing with activity by the time we arrived. The marathon had just started and the half marathon and 10k participants were beginning to congregate near the start/finish line. These are not Chicago Marathon size crowds but rather an intimate group of 500 people on the edge of the beautiful, barely populated Indian Valley surrounded by mountains highlighted by the rising sun. Cattle grazed across the country road from the start line and throughout the thousands of acres of ranch land stretching before us with a “real” cowboy on horseback in the foreground tending the herd. As race time neared, in true, small town, laid back fashion, the race director announced that the race would start 10 minutes late to allow the restroom line to clear, which made many people happy. And, why not, we had all day to finish this race. There are no time limits. In fact, there are refreshingly few rules to follow. It gave me time to greet Stella, a blue heeler I met on Friday night that looked like a small version of our own Jackson back home. There were many dogs getting ready to run both the half marathon and 10K all excited and ready to go.

After the National Anthem, a nice rendition sung live at the start line, the shivering mass of runners began their journey. Becky and I had no time goal so we decided to run at a comfortable pace and enjoy scenery along with food and drinks at the eight aid stations along the course. Eight aid stations is a lot for a half marathon and these were not ordinary. There were the 4077th MASH, hillbillys, cheerleaders, belly dancers, fruit, peanut butter balls and a multitude of other snacks and drinks. The effort put into this race by the aid station volunteers was truly extraordinary. The course followed the edge of the Indian Valley along a mostly flat route with some rolling but no killer hills through the half marathon. As we approached the finish line, something that I’ve never experienced in a race happened. One of the race directors who is also the executive director of Mountain Circle Family Service, Shauna Rossington, ran the last 35 yards of the race with me to the finish line. She then turned around and did it again and again with other runners as they finished. A nice personal show of appreciation for the runners!

After the race, most of the finishing runners stayed in finish area to cheer the remaining runners in, play with the dogs, eat snacks, drink a beer and get a massage (all included in the entry fee). After an hour or two of post-race relaxation the temperatures had warmed into 80s so we gathered our fancy Running with the Bears finisher medals and made our way back to the Taylorsville campground for a nap followed by a stroll in the nearby river. For lunch, we visited the Taylorsville Young’s Market, which offers a surprisingly eclectic selection of meats, cheeses, sandwiches and gourmet coffee.

After all this, most would think they were done activities. Not at Running with the Bears! 5:00 pm marked the start of the Hoedown. The Hoedown is the post-race event complete with dinner, live music, dancing and a bar held in the Mountain Circle backyard in Greenville. At this event, special recognition was given to the volunteers and fundraisers involved in Running with the Bears. The organizers and volunteers were amazing throughout the weekend. People that were performing bag check-in at the race in the morning were in formal attire taking drink orders in the evening all with a smile. This was a nice way to end a great weekend that was much more than just a race – it is truly an event.

The months of weekend back to back training days paid dividends in making our 40 mile trail run along the Rogue River trail in southwest Oregon a success. And what an adventure it was!

The play-by-play:

First this wasn’t a race, it was a three day, 40 mile, guided trail run. The difference between this trip and a race, at least for the running portion of the trip, for a mid-pack trail runner like me, is minimal. Even in a trail race, I’m not pushing to gain every second I can. For me, it’s more of an endurance challenge, an estimate of how far I can push the pace and still complete the distance. With this run, it was much the same. I put in the effort to run at a pace up to my abilities – but there was no clock and absolutely no external pressure to push through pain for the sake of time. Internal pressure is a personal thing though and I, like many others, will push through some discomfort just to experience the challenge. That’s why we run.

My wife, Becky, and I booked this trip back in January through Momentum River Expeditions in Ashland Oregon. We had been looking for a trail running vacation and after comparing the few guided options available, decided on Momentum’s and convinced a couple of our friends to join us. We love trail running and to make this an actual vacation, we wanted to be able to run for a few days in a beautiful location while not worrying about carrying gear, setting up camp or cooking every day. This trip was exactly that. On guided trips, there are several areas where things can go wrong. The outfitter can have too many rules and be so restrictive that it’s hard to have fun or they can be so relaxed that you feel like you’re on your own without much support. From our view, Momentum hit the sweet spot. They provided enough structure to keep everyone going in the right direction safely. The guides allowed people that wanted to run fast to do so while allowing those wanted to move more slowly to do that with no pressure to “hurry up”. It would be easy to turn this into a Momentum River Expeditions advertisement because they are so good at what they do. On a guided trip, another thing that can go wrong is that the client’s personalities can conflict causing the group to splinter. My impression is that this is less common among runners and especially trail runners. Most trail runners I’ve met are easy going and supportive of each other’s effort level while competitive, for the most part, with themselves. Our group of 18 runners from Massachusetts, Colorado, California, New York, North Carolina, Georgia, Washington and Australia ranging in age from the mid twenties to the mid sixties were friendly, fun and supportive of each other’s abilities. A great group to hang out with.

So what was a typical day like? This is hard to describe for a three day trip without getting into a lot of detail because each day is different, but I’ll try. With the exception of the first day when we all met at the pickup point at 9:30 am, the outfitter’s staff would have coffee and tea ready at 7:00 am followed by an awesome gourmet breakfast at 8:00 am on the river bank. I can’t say enough about the quality of the food Momentum put together with direction of chef Orea. The breakfasts, lunches, dinners and desserts were much more than expected. Even the coffee was freshly roasted and pressed. Following breakfast and a trail briefing, each of the runners would roll-up our sleeping pads, breakdown our tents and pack our personal belongings into a dry bag that was issued to us for transport by raft to the next night’s campsite. By 9:15, one of the running guides, usually Jenn Shelton, would take the self-described slower group to the trail to begin the run. Jenn is one of the fastest trail runners in the country and had the record for the fastest 100 mile trail run for a female in the USA from 2007 – 2014. While she has the right to be, she’s not the least bit snobby about her running triumphs while being open in talking about her life stories. She’s supportive of everyone, genuine, direct and fun to be around. The faster group would start 20-30 minutes later and be guided by two other running guides one of whom was usually Pete Wallstrom, the owner of Momentum and an accomplished athlete himself.

Before beginning the run each morning, the guides set a meeting point somewhere in the middle of the section of the trail to be run that day. All of the runners, fast and slow, and running guides would meet at this location to gather and start the second half of the run. The condition of all the runners was evaluated here to determine if everyone was capable of continuing and if not, to board a raft for the rest of the way downriver to the campsite. To start the run, both the first and second sections, one of the participants would volunteer to lead the group down the trail at a reasonable pace while the guide followed in the middle of the pack to make sure all were progressing without difficulty. There was no pressure to run faster than was comfortable for anyone. The Rogue River Trail is a wonderfully scenic, well maintained trail with little foot traffic. At least this is true in mid-May. The surface varies from pine bark to a few rocky sections on mostly rolling terrain with only a few significant hills. The trail closely follows the river for nearly the entire length with only occasional deviations. The runners would sometimes find ourselves on some exposed ledges above the river but nothing I would call dangerously narrow. There are many small creeks and streams, some with waterfalls, that cross the trail and flow into the Rogue. In some cases, the waterfalls create icy cold pools in which some of my colleagues immersed themselves. Because the campsites on the Rogue River are first come first served, it’s not possible to know exactly what distance will be run each day. It’s only known that the total will be roughly 40 miles. For my group, we did approximately 11 miles the first day 17 miles the second day and 12 miles on the last day finishing at approximately 1:00 pm. The guides that transport the food and gear get started as early as they can each day in an attempt to acquire the best campsites. These guides, Erik, Sam and Orea were also very experienced, knowledgeable and more than willing to educate and discuss outdoor leadership, environmental law or any other topic they’ve gained experience in over their years of guiding.

At the end of the run each day, usually between 1:00 and 3:00 pm, lunch was awaiting the hungry runners followed by time to hop into the river, read a book, throw a frisbee around or take a nap. Our tents were always setup by the time we arrived at the camp and the cooler of cold drinks was waiting. A gourmet dinner was prepared on each of the first two days with fresh ingredients for both the vegetarians and the carnivores followed by an awesome dessert. Bananas Foster anyone?

Following dinner, we got to know each other better, had a beer or two and headed to sleep to prepare for the next day.The last day of the run ended at around 1:00 pm on Sunday afternoon with everyone tired and happy. After a quick lunch and some celebratory champagne, we boarded the vans for the two hour ride to our cars at the start. For me, the trail was great, the scenery was awesome, the runners were fun to be around, the food was unbelievable and the guides were the best. I think I’ll do this again!