July 2021 Monthly Running Challenge

The Bear Race is a 5 mile run from Linville, NC to the top of Grandfather Mountain. A sag van picks up any runners who do not make it to the 3-mile aid station within 60 minutes of the start. I knew this would be challenge going into it but I did not realize that every single step was uphill – no level spots, no downhill, all uphill. The race starts at 3640’ elevation and finishes at 5181’ elevation.

Two friends and I met at 4:15 pm and drove to Linville. It rained on us during the drive and when we first parked at the start area but it had stopped raining by 6:15 pm. The temp was around 70F. The race was scheduled to start at 7:00 pm. We picked up our packets and hung out talking to friends in the parking area making our way towards the start area about 15 minutes before the scheduled start time. Many runners were warming up on the side roads. There was a guy with a megaphone at the start/packet pick-up area asking runners to get to the top as quickly as possible because high winds were moving in at the top and they were worried about runner safety. I guess they were really worried because the start horn sounded about 5 minutes prior to the scheduled start time catching many runners by surprise.

We started on a paved road but shortly after turned off onto a side gravel road and was on it for the first couple of miles. The race is held during the first day of the Highland Games Festival. The route took us through the campground and the area where the games are held around mile 2 1/2. The festival participants were out in their kilts and a couple of guys were playing the bagpipes as we ran through this part of the course. Lots of rambunctious cheering in this section of the course!


After passing through the campground we ran up a grass hill and on to the paved road up the mountain. This section seemed never ending with lots of curves and switchbacks. There were unmanned water stations at mile 2 and mile 3. It started raining again on me around mile 2 ½ and continued for about 20 minutes. At that point, I really didn’t mind getting wet. I was already wet from sweat so the rain was no biggie.

The last couple of miles were mostly walking with some intermittent jogging when I could. I crossed the finish line at 1:12 and placed 579 out of 653 finishers just happy that I wasn’t the last one up! The guy who came in first finished in 31 minutes at a 6:22 pace! How in the world do people do that???? The first female finisher came in at 40:58 minutes (8:02 pace).




The winds were really high and blowing a rainy mist at the finish area. You could check a bag at the beginning and it was supposed to be waiting for you at the end but the van was late getting up there and I had to wait about 10 or 15 minutes before I got my bag which had a bottle of water, snack and long sleeve shirt in it. Shuttles were provided back down the mountain but did not start until the last runner crossed the finish line. We didn’t get on the first wave of shuttles down the mountain so had to wait about 45 minutes for the return shuttles. Thankfully, they kept the gift shop/museum area open for us to shelter in because according to one official, the temperature dropped 20 degrees in 7 minutes and the winds were very forceful. I got home around midnight.

There were 653 runners who completed the race. The race is capped at 800 runners and it always sells out within minutes of registration opening so I don’t know if the other registrants were no-shows or didn’t reach the cut off in time. For my efforts, I got a finisher’s medal and a really ugly brown shirt (this makes the second ugly brown shirt I’ve got this year in races – is that the new color?) Not sure I would do this race again but I’m glad I got to experience it this year.