Running the Distance
DENVER — Former Red Oak High School Cross Country athlete Brad Bishop has done something that only 250 people before him had accomplished: completing the Grand Slam of Ultra Running.
Bishop was one of 12 people this year to complete the Grand Slam, which consists of four marathons of 100 miles each.
The four marathons Bishop needed to compete in were the Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run, the Vermont 100 Mile, the Leadville Trail 100 Mile and the Wasatch Front 100 Mile.
All four races took place from June until September.
Bishop hadn’t run much since competing in high school and college when he moved to Kansas City a couple of years ago to be a ministry intern at a Christian Fellowship.
He was invited to compete in a 5K and realized afterwards that he missed running.
Soon Bishop stumbled on to a group called the Kansas City Trail Nerds and would run with them. Some of the members of the group had in fact ran in ultra-marathons.
“I wanted to spend more time with them,” Bishop said. “The way you spend more time with a group of runners is to run further.”
For Bishop, he had originally taken part in soccer at the YMCA when he was younger.
But when Red Oak didn’t have soccer at a high school level, Bishop opted to try cross country, instead of football.
He was injured his first season, but Bishop said he got better each season.
“I ended up reading and learning enough about running that it became a passion, a hobby,” Bishop said.
Bishop graduated from Grinnell with a degree in economics and religious studies. He did run at Grinnell his first two years, but had cut it out due to time considerations.
“He was just always a really hard worker,” Bishop’s high school coach and current Red Oak cross country coach Curt Adams said. “He wanted to get better. Wasn’t particularly blessed with talent, but he had a lot of desire, worked real hard.”
Adams said Bishop was really into the thinking part of running, breaking down his times after cross country meets.
“I’ve never really had anybody quite like him since then,” Adams said. “He just loved to run and worked real hard at it.”
Bishop ran his first ultra-marathon on February 2009. He wasn’t able to get in the grand slam in 2010, but had more success in doing so in 2011.
“Once I saw I got into Western States, you can't do the Grand Slam without Western,” Bishop said. “I figured I wasn't going to get in for another five years, might as well go for it.”
Bishop's first race was June 25-26 and was the Western States 100, which takes place along the Western States Trail in California, starting in Squaw Valley and ending in Auburn.
Bishop finished 175th with a time of 26:52:52 and finished 16th in his age group (18-29).
“It’s one of the most scenic, as well as one of the oldest,” Bishop said.
“It’s the most prestigious, it has the most top-level athletes,” Bishop said. “There is no world championship hundred miler but it’s the one that comes the closest.”
The next race would prove to be Bishop's best finish. In the Vermont 100, Bishop finished 41st overall and second in his age group (20-29) with a time of 21:39:10.
The race, which took place July 16-17, starts and finishes at Silver Hill Meadow near Brownsville, Vt.
Bishop said it’s one of the only races he ran well at. Vermont’s race also features a simultaneous horse race.
“There is no altitude, but there’s no flats, you’re either going up or you’re going down,” Bishop said.
Bishop next competed at Leadville Trail Aug. 20-21. Leadville's Trail is located in Leadville, Colo., two hours west of Denver, off of Interstate-70.
Bishop finished 184th overall and 19th in his age group with a time of 28:02:42.
“I tried it last year and did not finish,” Bishop said. “This year I went out just about two weeks early and got myself altitude acclimated before race day.”
The final race was the Wasatch 100, which took place Sept. 9-10, in Utah. Wasatch starts in Layton, Utah and ends at the Homestead in Midway. Bishop finished 163rd with a time of 34:33:53.
“That one I ran well for 53 miles and all the sudden, basically my shin felt like it just exploded,” Bishop said. “I did the first half in 13 hours and the second half in 21 hours.”
Bishop hoped he’d feel a great sense of elation after completing Wasatch.
“Upon crossing the finish line, I let up just a little bit on keeping the pain on my legs in check and collapsed at the finish line and had to be helped around for the next hour,” Bishop said. “The next day, I was feeling good.”
Bishop’s had to deal with chronic inflammation in the ligaments of his lower legs, between his shin and ankles.
Bishop’s taking a short break from the ultra-marathons, but he will be running in the Ozark Trail 100 Mile Endurance run, which takes in south central Missouri on Nov. 5.