"I know what I said the other night, but I didn't mean it, you know that."

I'm referring to my babbling about never doing another 100 miler again. Sue listened patiently while I went through the list of reasons why we shouldn't be doing these things in the first place. That was at 11:00 PM Friday night, 17 hours into the run, with 50 miles to go. We were traversing the mountain peaks in the Cache National Forest on the Bear 100 course. The night sky was absolutely full of brilliant stars. The Big Dipper sat on the mountain top directly in front of us and the Milky Way was the brightest I had ever seen it. Earlier in the day we had seen some of the most spectacular fall colors one could ever imagine. The maples and birches were a mixture of reds, greens and yellows patchworked in the mountain valleys as if they were placed by an artist's paint brush. The reasons all made sense to me at the time, but now I can hardly imagine I had made such statements.

We spent a relaxing day driving to Preston, ID, stopping for a bowl of hot beef stew in West Yellowstone. As our drive took us farther south, we enjoyed the views of the Teton Mountains in Wyoming to the east and the Wasatch Mountains in Idaho to the west. We talked about our goals for the run and about Sue's last minute decision to join me on the Bear 100 course. Originally she had planned to crew and pace me, but she had been training hard for her 6th Mountain Masochist 50 Miler; why not give it a try?

Arriving in Preston, we checked into our motel and headed for a pizza shop for dinner. The next morning, after a good night's rest, we drove to the start/finish area and hiked a mile or so on the first trail section. This is only the second year for the Bear so we had very little information about the course. The first and last miles are on the same paved road. The remainder of the course is on single and double track trail and dirt road. There are lots of ups and downs, almost 43,000 feet of change on sometimes dusty and sometimes rocky surfaces. It wasn't long before we decided to save our energy for the next morning. We spent the rest of the day getting our drop bags ready and watching Olympic events on TV.

The prerace briefing was fun and informative. Leland Barker, the RD, held the meeting at his trout farm in Smithfield, UT, about 20 miles south of Preston. We weighed in, received our numbers and shirts, and listened carefully as Leland answered questions. Afterwards, a few of us, including Bozena Maslanka, Dick Curtis, Betsy Kalmeyer and her crewperson/mother, sampled the tasty salad bar at Ruby Tuesday in Smithfield. Sad to say we missed Steve Pero and Deb Reno who were sitting in a different area of the restaurant.

Sue and I got a good night's sleep, but morning still came too early for me. The race started just a tad late and unlike the rainy start last year, the skies were clear. There were 20 starters that morning, but only nine would finish. As we made our way to the top of the first ridge, daybreak came. The colors were so spectacular I hardly noticed the difficult trail sections. The weatherman cooperated fully; the weather was perfect throughout the race.

Trail marking was adequate, not overdone at all, just adequate. Actually, because of the limited markings we were forced to stay more alert, I think that made our trek more interesting. We never got lost, but did have some hesitation at a few of the turns and intersections. The choice of ribbon colors, yellow and orange, puzzled me some; with all the fall colors they were sometimes hard to spot. I was also using a four LED light after dark and they were impossible to see with this kind of lighting.

The beautiful sunset came early, around 7:15 PM, that's usually the time I enjoy running the most. This time though, I seemed to have lost all my energy. Although Sue seemed to be running strong, much stronger than I, she didn't have her usual drive. We had eaten at all the aid stations, gels, chips, beef stew from our drop bags, even had a hot dog at mile 44.

Nothing was working for us. We just didn't want to be out there for another 19 or 20 hours, and at the pace we were moving, that's how long it would have taken us to finish. We pulled into the 50 mile aid station and talked it over; neither of us had enough left for another 50.

We were hoping we could get a ride back to the finish from a crew; unfortunately it was a fairly inaccessible aid station and no crews came. Fortunately for us though, the aid station people had the makings for two beds for two tired runners. They improvised crude sleeping compartments made from 4'X6'X4" foam pads which they duct taped together on three sides. They were comfortable, but the cold night air still found its way in. We slept as best we could and as daylight broke decided to make a run for it. This was also the 90 mile aid station, so we only had ten easy miles to get us back home.

Ha!! This "easy" ten mile section consisted of a newly constructed trail along the side of a mountain. Although it was fun and I'm glad we did it, it was tough. Betsy later described the section as "bushwhacking." Sue called it a mountain-goat trail. I found it beyond words suitable for this forum. :)

As I said, only nine out of twenty runners finished, a lower finish rate than last year. Maybe people just weren't aware of the difficulty of the course and weren't prepared. I believe that was the case with me. Next year, yes I will be back, I know what to expect and I will finish. I'm not out to settle a score or revenge a DNF, I really enjoyed the whole experience.

The aid station folks are still fairly new, most aren't runners, but they did an outstanding job. They are genuinely caring and did the best they could; with experience they will improve. My hat is off to all of them, they all deserve special recognition.

The post race dinner at the Deer Cliff Inn was excellent. Menu choices were steak, chicken and rainbow trout from Leland's trout farm. The dining area was outdoors next to a creek and we watched a mountain goat walk along the rocky edges a hundred feet up the side of a cliff. All the finishers received a personalized plaque AND a buckle. This year, for the first time, there were two Wolverine Buckles (under 24 hours) awarded: 24 year old Hal Koemer (23:29), last year's winner and Leland Barker (23:58). Hal won the race, beating Leland by only 29 minutes. Betsy Kalmeyer (25:47) won the women's race. Both division winners, who also set new course records, received beautiful handcarved wooden plaques.

Leland has a first class race, it will only grow better, and I want to be a part of that growth. The Bear is very different from larger, more established 100-milers we've run. It's small and personal, and very satisfying to be a part of it.

Oh, the trip home was icing on the cake. We decided to get off the freeway for the return and diverted to Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks. Saw bison, elk, snow capped peaks and glaciers. Had lunch at the lodge and saw rainbows in the sky. Have I mentioned how much I love living out here?

Good Running,

Jim O'Neil (& Sue Norwood)

Billings, Montana