Jared Campbell's Blog

The new Bear 100 course was incredibly beautiful, just as expected (at least the part I saw).  It was supposedly 95% new, and I was immediately interested as this is a great fall run, going from Logan to Bear Lake.  The Bear is race I do for fun, which makes it a really relaxed atmosphere for me.  I had a great time the first 46 miles, which I ran mostly by myself with the exception of a bit with Nate McDowell, Ty Draney, and Erik Storheim.  After this point, my friend Tim Rude picked me up and went to mile 76, where I ultimately stopped.  My stomach was excellent and I ate well the entire race.  Overall I felt pretty good, but by about mile 70 a past anterior tibialis injury changed from annoying/dull to sharp/deep.  As we hit the road at mile 75 we took a wrong turn and got lost for nearly an hour as the temperature dropped to 33 degrees.  I entered the aid station and aside from being cold I felt very alert and surprisingly good overall, except my newly sharp injury.  Oddly I just decided I was done.  I think everyone was baffled by me dropping out given how happy I appeared.  I had had so much fun up to this point, the thought of the next 25 miles would have destroyed the whole thing for me.  In Leadville 2006 I crawled the last 25 with the exact same injury and it sucked.  I didn’t want to do it again.  So, I called it good there.  I received was I was after already… A beautiful, quiet, and humble run in spectacular fall colors.  So, we packed up and drove home that night.  Kind of a strange decision and experience, but I feel pretty good about it.

Mindy and my sister Heather were my excellent crew and Tim was great as a pacer.  It was a beautiful experience despite not crossing the finish line.  Pictures here.