Bear in Cadillac

My son just got back from cross country camp in CADILLAC. If you have been watching the news you will see that there was a girl who was attacked the same week JOGGING in CADILLAC!
Well they saw a few deer but thankfully no bear. The trails attacked one boy on a bike ride and was injured pretty bad breaking his elbow and wrist.
This really sucked my thoughts today on my 25 mile run. My ultra :Hungerfold  is in six weeks at the end of September in Big Rapids. Big Rapids is 45 minutes south of Cadillac. I have always heard the fall is when the bears gorge themselves in preparation for the winter. I was thinking of maybe running with bells on. I was wondering if I should wear a certain scent to detour them from me. I am really hoping that my small size will not look appetizing to them.
I looked at the size of runners for the Ultra and it looks like total is only about 400! I thought it was closer to 1000. WRONG!! Maybe they will have a bunch of volunteers!! Or maybe I will make a friend and run with them the whole time. There is power in numbers right?? I will definitely be bringing my mace which I am sure if confronted my Yogi the bear will completely forget how to use it!

As I let my feet hit the floor this morning I instantly felt the soreness in my quads. "Ouch..Ouch Ouch" I whined with each step forward. Crazy that as much as it hurt I didn't know real pain until I started the descent downstairs for coffee. WOWZA!

I was out of the house by 7:30am. There are 3 elements that make up my running.

1. My head
2. My lungs
3. My legs

My legs even though they were sore I knew I could run through, even my lungs I knew were going to be fine. But that stupid ankle I twisted yesterday on the trail really caused me grief out there. It was nagging for the first 18 miles but then it started to get nasty with me.
I was very thankful to finish my run. I had to walk quite a bit the last few miles but I had a lot of time banked.

I took the boys with me to the gym. They were excited to go swimming and I was looking forward to the cold plunge. Too bad when we checked in there was a large sign that read "POOL CLOSED FOR CLEANING" I felt bad for a second towards the boys but I knew they would have fun playing basketball.

I am glad those runs are done. 46 miles in 2 days. I am tuckered and in the hurt locker. I knew that running today in pain was going to be an asset towards my training. However,  I was going to hurt throughout my run this was pain that I had to embrace.

I doubled up on my juice plus, I also had a juice plus complete smoothie. I did this a bit to late. My sugar dropped at VG's. I felt my body going down quickly. We had just left the gym and I could feel myself getting funky. I got some sushi and the boys got a sandwich but by the time we made it to the register Austin could see my condition. "Mom, your shaking." I tried to talk calmly but I was struggling. I had not yet paid for our food when Austin ripped the package open and picked me out a California roll.
We sat in the car eating our lunch. I rested my head on the steering wheel trying to relax and wait for my body to recover.

Well heading off to bed and praying for a good sleep.


Anybody ever ran in Manistee National Forest?? Anything I need to know about BEARS???
Anita