I've been mapping out this half marathon course for the better part of the last year and I can't say that I wasn't excited to see a hundred plus people come up to run the inaugural Big Bear Lake Half Marathon. It turned out to be a gorgeous weekend for running in Big Bear and despite a couple of missteps the race went off as planned.
I tried my best to include as many ups and downs as possible over the 13.1 miles as well as get up to the highest roads in Big Bear. The race starts with a steep climb just around the 1st corner which is a sneaky surprise. I laugh every time I run it just thinking about everybody who starts out too fast and then has to contend with that first hill and trying to recover while at an elevation of 7,000'!
The meat and potatoes of the run starts at about the mile 4 mark where runners make a right turn onto Clubview Drive and head up to Moonridge. From this point on the hills are relentless and steep but the views are spectacular, truly making this course scenic and challenging.
At the turnaround its more steep up and downs until the big downhill near Bear Mountain. Then its fast back to the Village of Big Bear where a left turn reveals one last climb at the 12.5 mile mark. One of the steepest of the course it's a great reminder of everything you've just conquered.
While I didn't get to run the day of, watching everybody cross the finish line was a great reminder of how difficult this course was the first time I ran it. After a winter of trial runs and wrong turns I've managed to bring the run down a bit in my head, although it still presents a great challenge for a 13.1 mile run!
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