Back in 2000, I was living in Arizona and training for the Angeles Crest 100 Mile, my first 100-mile race. In those days, there weren’t any 100-mile races in Arizona, so if you wanted to run one, you needed to go out of state, and for me, Angeles Crest was perfect. As I was trying to figure out how to train for the race, I reached out to some Southern California locals and ended up befriending a great group of guys from San Diego, affectionately known as the Bad Rats. The group included luminaries from the 1990s, such as Ben Hian, Tom Nielsen, and Al Valverde.
Over Labor Day weekend that year, the Bad Rats invited me to their annual Angeles Crest 100 training camp, during which they ran the entire 100-mile course over three days. It was so cool! They rented a small bus with a driver to shuttle the group to the start of each day’s run, and somehow convinced friends and fellow runners to provide aid for the group at key locations along the course. While the course reconnaissance and training volume of those runs proved to be invaluable when I ran the race, it’s the relationships built on the trail that weekend that I remember most.
The group gathers for Sunday’s 2026 Cocodona 250 Mile training camp. Photo: Andy Jones-Wilkins
It was the cherished memory of those runs over a quarter century ago that inspired me to host a couple of training runs on the Cocodona 250 Mile course last weekend. Like I did last year, I thought it would be fun to bring together folks to run sections of the course a month before the race. The race organization hosted a training run on Saturday, so I offered to host runs on Sunday and Monday that would allow runners to see some of the more challenging sections of the course, including two key sections that come late in the race during which runners are not permitted to use pacers.
As it turned out, about 40 people showed up for the Sunday run, and 20 runners participated in the Monday run. What struck me about the weekend was how quickly and effortlessly the group came together and bonded. From Saturday morning, when a bunch of people who had never met before headed out for a run, to Monday afternoon when the runners said goodbye to one another like family, the entire experience was amazing.
A training camp can turn a group of strangers into lifelong friends. Photo: Andy Jones-Wilkins
Over the decades, this sport has given me so much. Yet, when I look back on almost three decades in ultrarunning, it is experiences like the Angeles Crest and Cocodona training runs that provide me with my fondest memories. In this age of increased participation and commercialization in the sport, it warms my heart and gives me hope to know that we can still just pull together a group of people, get in some miles, and build a strong and meaningful community along the way. I hope we never stop doing that.
Bottoms up!
AJW’s Beer of the Week
This week’s Beer of the Week comes from PHX Beer Company in Phoenix, Arizona. Electric Palms is a hop-forward IPA brewed in the classic West Coast tradition. With a fruity and spicy finish, Electric Palms is the perfect beer for a hot desert night.
Call for Comments
- Have you gone on an event-based training run and met good people?
- Where do your fondest running memories come from?
