The Bear 100 is a tough mountain 100-mile race that runs end-to-end from Logan, Utah, to shores of beautiful Bear Lake in Idaho. This was the second year on the new Bear 100 course. This course has about 22,000 elevation climb, going up and down the canyons on its way to Bear Lake. This time of the year is ideal for a race in this location. Autumn is arriving and the trees are turning colors. We would run through groves of golden aspens, by red maples and scrub oak. It is an amazing view if you can take your eye off the trail from a few seconds.
I again ran in the Wasatch Front 100 that runs in the mountains from Kaysville, Utah to Midway, finishing at the Homestead Resort. This was my focus 100-mile race of the season. I really wanted do well at this home-town race. In 2006 I struggled to a 34:15 finish and that has bugged me for three years.
This is a very tough 100 mile race with nearly 27,000 feet of climbing. Any finish is great, any finish under 30 hours is super. I set what I thought was a realistic goal of 28:30.