Davy Crockett Bear Chase

The Davy Crockett Bear Chase Marathon is a pretty cool little event. It starts and ends at the high school track, which is pretty neat, and it's a double out-and-back, so you have a turnaround on the track as well. There's a couple miles of rocky roads that lead out to the highway, then a 3-4 mile stretch of asphalt highway before you enter the woods on a jeep road for the turnaround. I think this would be pretty awesome, as the jeep road was pretty easy on the feet, but it rained hard the night before so it was very muddy and the footing was pretty tricky. Honestly, I think most people probably lost a couple minutes to the footing in the forest. That said, it got better on the second trip through. There was very little spectator support, but the folks who came out were enthusiastic, as were the water-station attendants and the cops helping with traffic. There were only 38 marathoners this year, which looks to be about half of the usual turnout. I'm not sure what accounts for the low turnout. All-in-all it was a good race though, and the hot dogs and other concessions at the stadium for the finish hit the spot. Also, it's always nice to have a shower available at the finish line even if it was stone cold. It's a great race for the low price they charge, plus it's one of the last in the Spring if you're a Texas runner. Note: there is nowhere to stay in Groveton proper unless you are camping. We stayed about 45 minutes away at a farmhouse B&B in Kennard that was really nice. Also nice was being able to show up at 6:50 for a 7am race and still have time to use the restroom!

I ran this race in Groveton Tx yesterday. Very small town with minimal retail spots. Maybe 50-60 marathoners and 75 half marathoners, but it did not feel lonely on the course due to the out/back/out/back layout. This was my 11th marathon, and definitely smallest and most laid back feel. But that was a good thing. Course starts on the local track, heads down a couple of white rocked roads. You run about 4 miles on pavement before turning into the national forest for about a mile of much softer sandy/pine needle trail running. Although there was mud from the previous nights storm, this surface felt really good throughout the race. Not a lot of fan support, but the ones manning the water stations were very positive and supportive. You run around the track at the midway turn around and the finish. Loved that. Weather was perfect, but that may not always be the case. BQ course and looking at precious results, pretty fast course. I BQ'd by five minutes. Due to only about 16 or so miles on pavement, I woke up feeling much better than I normally do leg wise. Nicely put on, low key small town race that I would definitely run again and encourage others to as well. Nice, cute long sleeve t shirt, an amazing looking medal for a small town race, and a small bear with a place finisher number as an added bonus. Well done.

This is was my 1st running of this race, and I greatly enjoyed it. While there is always a risk of warm weather this time of year in Texas, we got a great day with pleasant temperatures and low humidity. The wild flowers were in full bloom and it was beautiful. This race is very low key, but is well worth the price. https://gulfcoasting.wordpress.com/2015/04/25/davy-crockett-bear-chase-race-recap/