“Badwater” Ben Jones/Special to the Sun
Springs resident Suzanna Bon is celebrating her recent victory by training for a 100-mile race in June.
A week after her triumphant performance at the Bishop High Sierra race, Suzanna Bon was only too happy to explain what she was thinking when she signed up for the high-altitude, 50-mile competition.
“I was thinking about training for my 100-miler next month,” said Bon. For her, the ultra marathon was just a warm-up run.
More than 200 runners competed, and Bon beat all of them except for four men. She won the women’s race and came in fifth overall. Her run time: 8 hours, 45 minutes.
Bon, who took up ultra-distance trail running only four years ago, stays in competitive condition by cruising the hills at Sugarloaf Ridge and Annadel state parks. The rigors of the Sierra Nevada, however, pose serious challenges for even experienced athletes.
“I’m not exactly sure, but we started at about 4500 feet and the high was at 9300. Twenty-five miles of the race was above 8,000 feet,” she said. “Most of the course was a sandy fire road, in the high desert, and most of it was exposed and hot. When I finished, it was over 90 degrees.”
Bon, who is sponsored by Montrail, lives in the Springs with her husband, Sam, and her three children – Gracie, 12, who attends Adele Harrison; Ian, 9, and Eleanor, 7. The younger siblings both attend Flowery Elementary School.
For Bon, the payoff is not in accumulating prizes, but in the act of running itself. “It’s hard to explain to people who don’t love to run. There’s a pure connection between mind, body and spirit. It puts me out in nature, where I love to be. It’s simple, just moving. It allows me to disconnect, to meditate,” she said.
“I wouldn’t be able to do any of this (running) without my husband, Sam,” she added.
Another of Bon’s biggest supporters is her mother, Elizabeth Kemp, who won the 2006 CommonBond Award for her outstanding work with Vineyard Workers Services.
“My (four) siblings and I made sure to give her lots of recognition” for that award, said Bon.
Bon says her mother worries about her racing, a charge Elizabeth Kemp does not dispute.
“This is the daughter who wouldn’t run when she was in school,” said Kemp. “She wouldn’t even walk to the bus stop.
“So, yes, I worry! Every mother would. Suzanna is the kind of person who pushes herself. It’s dangerous running that mileage. While she is very smart how she goes about it, she is possessed about it.
“I went last year to the Western States (100-mile endurance race),” said Kemp. “It’s really better if you are there because you can see her along the route and you can tell how she is doing, how she is feeling, just by looking at her.”
In fact, the June Western States competition, a race from Squaw Valley to Auburn, will be the next challenge for the 42-year-old Springs runner. If you see a blur on the hills at Annadel, chances are you’re looking at Suzanna Bon.
