This runner goes the extra mile

Lots of people do something special to celebrate the last days of summer. They barbecue. They go to the coast.

Bob Baker had something different in mind.

The 61-year-old North County resident ran 43 miles of looping, up-and-down forest trail from Silver Star Mountain to the Bridge of the Gods in one day. Baker popped an amino pill every half hour and ate a bit of food every hour to power himself along for 12.5 hours of running.

Baker once ran 50 miles in one stretch, but his normal training schedule calls for six to 12 miles per day. Why does he do it?

“You have a lot more energy,” he explained. “And I’m probably not as grumpy. In the beginning, it was partly to get back in good health.”

He dropped 45 pounds and now weighs about 180, looking much more fit than most men 15 years younger. Baker enjoys running ultra-marathons – races longer than 28 miles.

“I like the 50 kilometer ones,” he said. “That’s about 33 miles.”

He doesn’t race to win. Instead, he finds it rewarding just to be in a wilderness setting, testing his endurance against routes that often include an elevation gain and loss of 9,000 or 10,000 feet. Baker does his daily training in addition to a full-time job loading grain onto ships for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“Sometimes in the spring I’ll run Silver Star at sunset,” he said, savoring the scene in his mind.

Baker also has worn scaled-down crampons on his shoes to run the Silver Star Mountain area in the snow. He’s seen tracks that attest to the area’s robust population of cougars.

Baker carries high-energy gel packs to gobble during long races, and there are aid stations every so often. Those offer runners peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, potato chips, candy and other high-calorie items.

“It’s what you’d feed a teenager,” he said.

Hydration is important, too. Once during a long race when the weather was extremely cool, he forgot to force himself to drink water because he wasn’t thirsty. About three hours into the race, he’d become dehydrated, a mistake he’s been careful not to repeat.

There’s a special bond between those who compete in ultra-marathons, Baker said.

“People go to these for the camaraderie, the electricity that’s going on,” he said.

Baker’s friend, John Swatosh, calls the ultra-long running “a recent obsession for him. Past obsessions have been flying ultralight airplanes, sailing, and caving.”

In the past, Baker belonged to a caving club that developed trails at Ape Cave near Mount St. Helens. He’s not just a runner, he often volunteers with various organizations to do trail maintenance or build new trails.

He says wilderness trails offer an important recreational outlet, and “for some people that is their gym.”

Baker’s wife, Donna, also is a runner, but doesn’t do marathons. Baker said she is skilled at running technical trails with rocks and roots.

Donna had a key role in his end-of-summer run to Bridge of the Gods. It was like a scene in a movie.

“She met me with beer and cheese,” Baker recalled, “and I finished in starlight.”