Kodiak Again, But This Time I Finished

This weekend I spend a few days in the San Bernadino mountains above Los Angeles, California in Big Bear for the Kodiak Ultramarathons by UTMB event.

I flew into Ontario International Airport (the closest to Big Bear), spent 24 hours in Palm Springs visiting a friend (Hi Etienne) and took the Aerial Tramway up to Mount San Jacinto for a cool night time hike (gotta take a cable car whenever and wherever I can). During the day Palm Springs was hot AF – 104F to be precise, but also weirdly lovely (You into mid-century modern stuff? This is the place for you). The following day I drove the scenic route via 29 Palms and the Lucerne Valley to Big Bear and arrived to cooler temperatures and rain on the horizon. Big Bear is a funky town. A bit ramshackle, a bit upscale, and a bit ski (and lake) resort. Close to LA, it invites lots of weekend travelers and is (as North American is concerned) really a great location for a UTMB event, and the American Major, no less. The start and finish area for most races is right in town and while most of the trails aren’t technical, the scenery with views of the lake below is pretty lovely. There are enough amenities close by to make the stay worthwhile and the drive from the nearest airport is pretty reasonable – unless there’s 2 inches of rain in the forecast.

I’ve visited Big Bear once before, DNF’ed the 100K before UTMB designated the event their Major. Since the Major designation the UTMB team upped their expo game and made the event feel worthy of the designation. Is it comparable to Chamonix? Shut up, nothing is.

I ran the 21K on Saturday but on Friday I spend the day volunteering at the Camp Whittle aid station, the 2nd (19miles in) of the 100M race. Let’s start there.

As volunteering at an UTMB event goes, there are two sides to this:

One one side we have the people that make the aid station happen. True volunteers who do this for the love of the game, but more so, for the relationships they honor. This is a key component that isn’t often talked about. Some folks volunteer for race credits, or because they really love the hustle and bustle at an aid station or just love to help out, but most get activated, are willing to show up, and give up their weekend, because they know someone at the organization they are doing it for. And I don’t mean this disparaging at all. Folks don’t show up to volunteer at a random event because the brand behind it seems cool, folks volunteer because they respect and love the race director. (Or another connection in the organization. It could be that the aid station captain is the glue that brings people together) What I am trying to get at here is that when UTMB buys existing races they aren’t just buying the name (and brand recognition) of an event, or the course layout and permits, but UTMB needs the people who have built the relationships within the community to ensure that this event can continue and can continue to grow.

Folks also don’t show up to volunteer at an UTMB event because the work is particularly glamorous and or elevated compared to other trail races. Yes, refilling water bottles for elites is maybe a bit cool, and maybe being able to track the race via the UTMB Live website is a perk other races don’t offer, but in the end, the work at an aid station is the same at any trail race. Put out the water, mix the electrolyte drink, cut the watermelon, boil some potatoes. An UTMB aid station is like any other – maybe with an additional timing mat, or two.

I expected a bit more corporate polish, if you will. In a sense it really did feel just like any other trail race where things might fly a bit by the seat of the pants. Nothing bad happened, and I don’t want to distract from the stellar volunteers and aid station captains who truly owned their stop along the race and deeply cared about the runners, but maybe it’s a good thing that this expectation of mine didn’t get met. No corporate structure can make up incredible people caring and showing up when it counts.

The Americas Major

Big Bear is a cool little town and UTMB has found a good home there for their Americas Major at Kodiak. The event didn’t feel overproduced while they still aimed to do the event’s importance justice. With over 2,300 starters and an average elite sized field, Kodiak is still UTMB smallest Major in their World Series and I am curious what UTMB’s plan is for the future with the events in North America. This too will deserve another thought and longer article.

The 21K Race – My Race

I mentioned already that this was my second time at Kodiak. I previously DNF’ed the 100K back in 2023. This time I didn’t take any chances and ONLY signed up for the 21K. After a year of ups and down, and mostly downs battling life’s distractions and a broken toe, I decided that a half marathon would be something I could probably pull off without much training. And I actually did. To my surprise the altitude didn’t affect me much. This previously had been a big issue living and training at sea level. I took it out slow, knowing that the only real crux of the race would be the big climb up the ski slope to Snow Summit. After having survived this one well, and moved up in the field not he climb I took the rest of the downhill chill with a mix of running and power walking. I walk fast, but know I should run more, especially on the downhills. But, given my odd, or rather unproductive year of running I am taking 284th place and an Index of 371. Ha, you laugh and wonder why this deserves a race report and to that I respond with: “because it’s my blog and I can write whatever I want to over here”.

Gear

I wore the new NNormal ‘Modular Trail Vest’ (more on that later), my trusty La Sportiva Prodigio Pros (I wore the same shoes for Lavaredo Ultra Trail last year, which tells you how my running has been going this past year), Terignota’s Sendero shorts (I might never wear another pair of running shorts they are that good) and a running shirt I bought off of Instagram in the blue and white checkered pattern of the Bavarian flag.

I drank a bunch of Tailwind and had a random gel I still had left from TrailCon. It was a 21K, not much was needed here.

And now?

Now, I have 9 Running Stones, and Index making me eligible to put my hat into any UTMB Finals lottery of my choosing, but let’s face it, as my running is currently going any big ultra isn’t in the cards, now is it. What I did notice when perusing my UTMB dashboard is that if I don’t put my hat into the ring for the UTMB or CCC I will need another Index qualifier for 2028. Stones are still good, but Index is expiring. This throws up some interesting questions I am currently not wanting to answer. But, I did take notice.

And with that, I guess my off-season begins… or rather continues, who know.