Calvin's Big Bear Marathon - Sept. 12, 2009

The slogan for the Big Bear Marathon is "Run the Bear - If you Dare!" Well, Calvin is a daring individual and set his sites on running his first marathon (26.2 miles) at Big Bear Lake in southern California at an elevation of 6,750 feet!

Calvin and his friend, Ryan Low, decided some months ago to make this happen in the month of September. They trained and prepared but still had some jitters the night before. Who wouldn't?

The race is an out and back trail with rolling hills and beautful country to run through. The temperature was in the high 70's and a perfect day for a run. There were almost 400 people entered to run the marathon. There were other events as well such as a bike ride, 5K and a half marathon.

The trail for the marathon is shown here on the map. Starting at the south side of the lake they ran clockwise all the way out and then back. We met up with them just before the turn around point to offer a little encouragement.

Here's Calvin getting prepared - putting on his belt with water and electrolyte drinks. All smiles!

There was plenty of time for stretching - making sure the "machine" was primed and ready to roll!

This was the last opportunity either Kim or Becky wanted to take to be this close to the runner. The next time would be AFTER the 26.2 miles and neither one was going to stand in line for a hug then!

Finally, 8:30 arrived and everyone was line up and ready to go. The air horn blasted and they were off!

Now where are they?? Keep looking - they have to be there somewhere!

Oh - there they are - right in the middle of the pack!!

Well, with the racers off and not expected back for 5 hours - what should we do? Hmmm? Kim, Becky and I decided to head to breakfast. The Teddy Bear Restaurant (everything in Big Bear has the word BEAR in their name) came highly recommended - Best Breakfast in town!! Here's Kim in front of the restaurant! It was good but I couldn't help but feel guilty - knowing that we were eating a good breakfast while Calvin was out pounding the pavement.

With breakfast eaten - we decided to drive out to the halfway point to offer our encouragement. We hoped we had timed everything right and would end up in the right place at the right time.

Becky and I stood in the shade of the trees where we could see down the trail enough to tell when they were getting close. Kim was a little further back - sitting on a picnic table taking our picture.

Finally - they arrived and we were ready. We shouted, clapped and yelled encouragement! They looked like they hadn't even broken a sweat yet!

Looking good - AND SMILING!!

And the trail is through the most beautiful areas. Plenty of pine trees and clean mountain air.

It couldn't have been more than 15 or 20 minutes and they were back from the halfway point. Still going strong they gave us a thumbs up and kept on moving!

We drove back to the finish line - probably should have stopped and offered more encouragement along the way. We noticed that some of those rolling hills (even in the car) were feeling a littlel steep!

We were ready for them when they came across the finish line. 4 hours and 22 minutes was their official time. Much faster than either one of them had expected. They were thinking it would be closer to 5 hours. What a great job!!! Now if the lady in the PRESS jacket would just stay out of the way so I can get my picture!

Gliding in to a stop - both are feeling a huge relief. THEY DID IT!!!

The race officials want their timing chip back and then gave each a Big Bear Marathon medallion for finishing and a bottle of water. Calvin promptly found the fence to lean on and emptied the bottle of water on his head!

Here's the two runners - catching their breath just past the finish line while we pumped them for info about the race and the challenges!

Calvin - the machine - up and going even after 26.2 miles! AWESOME JOB!!!

Not far away the race organizers had little wading pools filled with drinks for the runners. A few runners were innovative and turned three of them into feet soakers! Oh what relief!!

Calvin needed some time for recovery and napped and took it easy for the afternoon. We got him out in the evening - even though he walked like an old man! We went to the Peppercorn Grille and everyone had a great dinner - except Calvin. His stomach was still back on the road and he wasn't really ready to eat. He had a little soup and bread and that was all.

We visited the Big Bear Ward on Sunday morning - small little ward but a beautiful building. What a great place to be on a Sunday morning! Then it was time to head for home and back to business.

Calvin - thanks for making it a great weekend and CONGRATULATIONS on your newest accomplishment!! Now what's next?????????????