Bear of an idea

I am really thinking I might try The Bear this summer. For anyone not in the know about The Bear, it is a five mile race. A five mile race that goes from the bottom of a mountain to the top of one. An elevation change of 1541 feet over the course of five miles. If you have seen Forrest Gump, you have seen part of the course. Specifically the hairpin turn right before the finish of the race. The event starts at 7 pm, and the really cool part is that it helps kick off the Annual Grandfather Mountain Highland Games. According to the events schedule for the day, the next event is "more sheep herding." Later in the evening is the Torchlight Ceremony - I don't know exactly what that is, but it sounds very cool. Being of some Scottish descent (Fine. Acutally, I'm very Anglo-mutt. But I know there is some Scots in there somewhere), I am pretty jacked about this. This seems very "Stuff White People Like".

But I digress. The time limit on the race is 90 minutes. On a good day, my five mile time would be around 50 minutes. But that is also on relatively flat ground. The event has a sag van to pick up folks who haven't made it to the three mile station by the 50 minute point. SURELY 1500 feet won't slow me down that much.

I mapped out a route up a mountain just down the road from me, and it was about a 1000 ft. climb, and about 3.6 miles long. There's not much of a shoulder to run on, so I don't really know where or how to train for this. But I am still very much considering it. Look at the view from the finish line. How cool would it be to see that at the end of a run?


And in case any of my faithful readers are completely out of their minds, two days later is the Grandfather Mountain Marathon, "One of America's Toughest Marathons." The last part of the race is (13 miles) is virtually uphill - the link goes to the profile map. YOWZA.