I again ran Kodiak 100 which is in the San Bernardino Mountains at Big Bear Lake, California. I ran the 100 last year and enjoyed it enough to return. This is an easier mountain 100 and has about the same difficulty for me as Tahoe Rim 100. But make no mistakes, there are a couple very tough sections of this race involving some long, difficult climbs. The finishing rate is only about 65% which is pretty low, but typical for newer races that attract newer ultrarunners.
The course makes a complete loop around Big Bear Lake but you rarely see the lake because generally you run up in mountains over the ridge away from the lake. The course involves about 17,500 feet of climbing. What keeps its difficulty down are many miles of dirt roads and a few miles of pavement. There are also plenty of miles of fun single track, most up on the Skyline trail. I believe the course is a bit long. My GPS measured the course at 102.6 miles. This year they reversed the course direction from last year, clockwise, presenting a nice inviting change. I couldn’t use my counter-clockwise split times from last year. It would be a new experience. I believe I enjoyed the clockwise direction of this year a bit more.