Spartan Trail Bear Mountain Trail Challenge 50K

The Bear Mountain Trail Challenge, put on by Spartan Trail, takes part at beautiful Bear Mountain State Park in New York, right off the Palisades Parkway, and approximately 45 minutes away from my apartment in Stamford, Connecticut. I have had this race circled on my calendar for at least two months given that I have hiked at Bear Mountain a handful of times, the race was very close to home, and I figured it would be a well-run event considering it was put on by Spartan Trail, whose parent organization is Spartan Race. 

I didn’t necessarily go into this with the idea of it being an “A” race. I had just finished the Boston Marathon only 19 days prior and was still trying to shake off a relatively lukewarm performance there, which featured a 2:53:52 finish, but a 1:22:09 front half and then a pretty poor 1:31:43 back half. My goal today was have fun, run a smart race, and aim for a Top 3 finish and under six hours on the 50K.

I arrived at Bear Mountain State Park at approximately 6:15 AM, 45 minutes before the 7:00 AM start and walked over to pick up my bib. I was shocked moments later when my old coach, Kris Brown, who had coached me in 2020-2021, came over after recognizing me and told me he was actually the race director! Kris Brown is an extremely talented ultrarunner and a two-time Western States Top 10 finisher, so I was a bit relieved he was directing and not racing as he would have kicked my ass! Kris and I chatted for a few minutes before he had to attend to some pre-race items. After grabbing my bib, I walked back over to my car, changed out of my layers, put on some sunscreen and some bug spray, and grabbed my nutrition. For this race, I was working off of one twenty-ounce handheld water bottle with 480 calories of Maurten drink mix packets and about 420 calories worth of peanut butter pretzels. I’m honestly not a huge chest pack runner; I’m not really a fan of how restrictive it can feel and prefer to use a handheld. I finished up my pre-race checklist and made my way over to the start line with about five minutes until the gun. After a quick national anthem, some instructions from Kris, and a glance around at the field, we were off! 

Within the first half mile or so, which was on the road out of the park before entering a section of the Appalachian Trail, two guys had already broken off and were pulling away quite rapidly. Third place had also put some distance on me as I ran together with fourth place. It was quite a shock to the system hitting that very first trail section of the race, stepping onto the rocks and roots and ascending and descending the constant elevation change of the trail. My initial reaction based on the way my legs felt was that it had the potential to be a long day. Not a great start a half mile in! We popped out of the Appalachian Trail after about 10 minutes and entered about a mile stretch of the race that was on the road, climbing us uphill to the main set of trails in Bear Mountain State Park. On this long straightaway, I could see the gap between the leaders and to third place had continued to grow. I made a move here to put myself solidly in fourth place, but was wary of my heartrate, which was climbing into the 170s already. 

Somewhere Near Mile 4!

I reached the first aid station Mile 2.4 at Silver Mine in 19:11, already 2:10 seconds back of the leaders, and making a conscious effort to put myself in a better rhythm. The first seven miles or so of this race are largely uphill and it was just a “bear”, no pun intended. With the onslaught of rocks and roots, the constant incline, and the stifling early morning humidity, I was feeling pretty beat early on, especially towards the end of the first set of climbs near Mile 6-7. My Suunto, after the race, confirmed what I had expected, that I did not get my heart rate under control until just about Mile 7. I’m not exactly a heartrate runner, but I do run on feel, and I think heartrate can be a valuable tool there when used correctly. At about Mile 7, we had finally peeked out at the top of the skyline and while the elevation gain had subsided, we continued to test the skyline over and over again over the next several miles, dipping back down into the trails, and scrambling up large inclines, including one around this time that put you on all fours climbing up the side of the trail. I came into the second aid station at Arden Valley at Mile 7.7 still sitting in 4th place with the leaders apparently 7-8 minutes ahead and third place “a few minutes ahead”. I grabbed a Gu, a handful of potato chips, refilled my water, and then I was off again. 

In terms of the course profile, I knew exactly what to expect from this race in terms of the technically. The Northeast and New York State are famous for their rugged, technical rocky courses, and I have run on several just like this. These courses demand absolute precision on your footwork, one wrong step, or one step put down weakly, and you are on the ground. I took my first fall right about Mile 10, gashing my knee and sending blood all the way down my shin and soaking my sock and my shoe. Overall, Miles 8-12 were certainly my low point of the race, and that’s not where you want to be with over 20 miles to go! 

Around Mile 14, Running with Aaron.

I hit the next aid station at Mile 11.2 at Crossroads 1 again in 4th place, but I genuinely thought I had been moving well after stabilizing my heart rate, only to find out I had lost ground to all three ahead of me, with the leaders 18 minutes ahead, and third place 8 minutes ahead. This took quite a bit of wind out of my sails, and I felt like I ran a pretty sloppy race on this section of the course, losing focus, and making a handful of very minor double-backs after missing a marker. On a side note, this course was marked extremely well, with pink flags every 30 seconds or so. There were a handful of places where I had to pause for a moment to scan ahead for a flag, but for the most part I was able to switch my brain off, which certainly saved much needed mental energy. At about Mile 12, I could sense fifth place, Aaron Perez, coming up on me, so I slowed until we were connected. We ran the next several miles together, which was great morale booster for me as I had been running entirely alone since pretty much the start. 

Action Shot on the Bloody Knee!

Things started to get a little strange for the first time at about Mile 14, when we had a 50K runner come at us from down the trail. I knew he wasn’t one of the top three ahead of us, and I’m not sure how he came down that way, but we got him turned around and running with us. After a couple minutes, we ended up dropping him, and Aaron started pulling away from me a bit on a long grassy decline. Right as we were coming up to the next aid station at Mile 15.8, Little Long Pond, things continued to get weirder. This section of the course featured a short out and back, with a half mile descent down to that aid station, followed by the climb back up. Going down the decline with Aaron just ahead of me, we could see a handful of runners making their way up the climb. I reached the aid station at 2:54:21 and promptly asked what my place was. A bit to my dismay, he scanned down the list and said 12th! I’m not sure what happened exactly, but it looks like a handful of runners may have missed a small loop (~1.5 – 2.0 Miles) out near the very outer ends of the course. While the navigation was a bit more challenging out there, Aaron and I never lost site of a flag, and I actually came into the aid station with about 16.8 Miles on my watch. I left the aid station a bit flustered, forgetting to grab some much-needed food, but reminding myself that it was a long race. At this point Aaron had stopped for a bit longer than I did at the aid station, so I continued up the hill without him, and did not see him again until the finish. By the top of the hill, I had begun to catch a handful of the runners ahead of me, hoping to ascertain what had happened, and to get an idea from them as to what place I was in. I definitely had to take some deep resetting breaths here and remind myself that it was a long race, and I was feeling perhaps the best I had felt all day. At the last aid station, I had also closed the gap on the leaders to about 12.5 minutes, though I had no idea where third was. 

I continued to pick off another two runners as the second half of the course was much more runnable and had far less elevation gain than the first half. At about Mile 18 or so, I came up to the “third” place, Mac Crawford, and chatted with him for a bit as we ran into the next aid station together at 19.7 Miles at Lake Skannatati, which is where things started to get interesting. The guy who had been running in second place the entire race ended up dropping out here, putting Mac and I in second and third position, though we were somewhere between “4th to 6th” in terms of runners who had come through and might have nicked that outer loop. I came through 19.7 Miles in 3:38:49 and was now 16 minutes back of the leader with twelve miles to go, having given back a couple minutes since the last aid station. I stayed with Mac for a couple more minutes and then took off down the trail, not so much intending to catch the leader, but more so to pass the other runners ahead and eliminate any doubt as to positioning. I knew Aaron was probably still back there running strong, and Mac looked good as well, but I told him “I’m not letting anyone pass me; you can pass me, but I’m not letting anyone else do it!”. With that I set off down the trail towards the last aid station. Overall, the last ten miles of this race was super runnable and much more downhill. We probably climbed 65-70% of the elevation in the first half of the race, and the back half did not have nearly as many super steep or technical climbs. My legs continued to feel very strong, particularly on the downhills and the flats as I made my way to the last aid station at Mile 23.7, Tiorati Brook Road. When I got to the aid station, I quickly took water only, and inquired on my place before setting off. I was told I was in 4th overall, with three men and one woman ahead. I didn’t know it, but I was about eleven minutes back of the leader with less than eight miles to go. 

Around Mile 20, After Lake Skannatati.

Within about a mile after the aid station, I caught the female runner ahead on a long uphill section and went by after a brief chat. Within about another mile or so, approaching Mile 26, I had caught the second-place male, who happened to be the same runner who had run down the trail at Aaron and I earlier! We were relatively close on overall mileage when we compared, and I didn’t want to leave anything to chance on positioning, so I took off pretty hard to put some distance between us and to put myself in second position (both on the course and overall). At this point, the humidity was relatively tame, and we had gotten some decent cloud cover, but I was still trying to ration my remaining water. There were no more aid stations between Mile 23.7 and the finish, so a deliberate and patient fueling strategy was required, despite my thirst. To bad at Mile 27 I briefly stopped to put the remainder of my Maurten drink mix in my water and in my haze tipped my water bottle instead of the drink mix and promptly dumped the rest of my water onto the trail. A few expletives later, I had no choice but to continue down the trail to the finish, the only remaining place I knew would have water! That was definitely a tough stretch for me mentally; I was still running strong, and my legs were feeling great, but I was out of food and water with nearly five miles still to go. Thankfully, the trail continued to still be relatively runnable and downhill, and I worked hard to continue to put distance between myself and those I knew were behind me. 

Finish! 

Finally, with about a mile and a half to go, I spotted a runner up ahead, tall and slender. I had passed by a handful of runners still on the half marathon course, but when I saw him ahead, I just knew it was the leader. I quickly worked to close the gap over the next half mile and came up on his shoulder with little over a mile to go. One thing I have learned after years of racing, especially close to the finish, is that if you make a move, you have to make it with conviction and leave no doubt. I wish I could have stopped for conversation or been kinder about the pass, but I came up on his shoulder, and accelerated by, picking up my pace into the low sevens to put some quick distance between us and to not turn my head to look back. I certainly ran pretty scared the next half mile, but that feeling also created a tremendous amount of adrenaline as I was determined not to let up on pace. Finally, I approached the last turn on the course and could see the paved road leading back into the park only half mile from the finish. I tore out of the trail down the road and my stride just opened up as I was not prepared to coast in, pushing my pace down to low sixes. It was an absolutely exhilarating and surreal feeling to approach the finish line and have those at the finish, and especially my old coach, and Race Director Kris Brown, cheering as I approached the finish. I made the final turn doubling back down the straightaway to the finish and crossed the line first overall in a time of 5:31:23! 

Close-Up Finish Shot!

After a quick hug from Kris and collecting my finish medal, I was taken over to the starting tent for a post-race interview where I had the opportunity to discuss my race, my experience at a Spartan Trail event, and to provide some advice to newer runners or runners hoping to one day run the 50K. Afterwards, I took a quick trip to medical to clean up my knee, which had long dried but since stained my mud soaked shoes with blood (RIP HOKA’s). After about 15 minutes or so of chatting with a number of the finishers in the half marathon or spectators for the event, Kris called myself and the second and third place male finishers, over to the podium to present awards. After a photo session at the podium and some congratulations to the other runners (Tom Woolway in 2nd Place, and Aaron Perez in 3rd Place, whom I had run with way back at Mile 12!) we took a handful of professional photos with the top women finishers at the finish line before I began to collect my things to make the drive back to Stamford. 

Overall, I can’t say enough good things about this event or Race Director Kris Brown. Everything from the atmosphere to the course markings, to the aid stations were extremely well done and I’ll definitely be doing another Spartan Trail race in the future! Maybe even as soon as later this year… 

See you at the World Championships?

Overall Men & Women's Podium.