Although Bend’s annual Dirty Half Marathon is over for this year, stories from the race will likely be told for days to come – tales of nasty falls, tight finishes, and simple survival.

More than 500 runners turned out on Sunday for one of Central Oregon’s most popular endurance races. Participants defied stereotypical images of runners in crisp, white sneakers and clean, colorful jogging clothes; many in the race finished with dirt- and dust-streaked limbs, upper bodies caked with a muddy paste of grit and sweat, and battle scars earned along the 13.1-mile mostly singletrack course near Phil’s Trailhead west of Bend.

While many of Sunday’s racers were Dirty Half and long-distance running veterans, others were taking part in their first half-marathon ever. As a result, goals ranged from finishing in less than an hour and a half to finishing without having walked during any part of the race. As the majority of half-marathons are run on roads, the all-trail half-marathon presented a more unconventional challenge.

Bend runners swept the top spots for men and women at the Dirty Half, with both Max King, who took first place in 1 hour, 14 minutes and 22 seconds, and Dylan Mason, second in 1:15, breaking the previous course record of 1:15:49, set in 2005 by Mason. The women’s winner was Pam Bradbury of Bend in 1:28:49, followed by Erica Johnson of Bend in second place with a time of 1:32:07. Bradbury also set a new women’s course record, breaking the previous record of 1:32:28, set in 2005 by Laura Meadors.

”I was hurtin’ going out (on the uphill),” noted King, 26. ”I did a short track workout the day before, which was probably stupid. I just wanted to help Dylan run the course faster than he did last year. We were together until about mile nine, then I broke off. I felt better the second half of the race.”

King, who has been striving to qualify for the Olympics in the steeplechase, will run his next race in Indianapolis in two weeks at a national track meet.

Mason, 32, said he felt strong throughout most of the race – except in the final stretches, when he became fatigued.

”That one hill at (mile) 10 is the one that really hurts you,” said Mason. ”The first five miles is also more or less uphill. It’s definitely a difficult course.”

As for his competition, Mason said that while trying to stay close to King he was also checking occasionally during the race to see how far Brett Kimble (who finished third) was behind him.

”I wanted to make (King) work for it,” laughed Mason, a close friend and running partner of King’s. ”I would love to beat Max, but I think my best bet would be to have someone stand in the woods with a baseball bat,” he joked.

Although Bradbury, 26, had never run the Dirty Half before, she managed to place first by a healthy margin among the women.

”My goal was to break an hour and a half, which I came close to while running part of the course a couple weeks ago,” said Bradbury. ”I was just hoping the excitement of the race would carry me the rest of the way.”

Bradbury noted that her strategy was to stay with men who she knew were striving to run the course in 90 minutes or less.

”The whole thing really felt great,” said Bradbury. ”I ran with a group of guys for a while but was by myself for most of it.”

Bradbury added that the partly overcast, cool conditions when the race started at 8 a.m. were perfect for running. However, the temperature rose when the sun broke through the clouds later in the morning.

Johnson, 21, a student at Oregon State University, said she did not expect to place as high as second. She took eight minutes off the time she ran in last year’s Dirty Half.

”The (winding) course is hard. It’s difficult to keep your momentum up,” explained Johnson, who noted that she was not trying to maintain a certain place overall for females. ”I was just running. It’s fun just being out there.”

For 24-year-old Emily Brungardt of Bend, the Dirty Half wasn’t about podium finishes, but about achieving a distance-oriented goal.

”I died! It was freakin’ hard,” laughed Brungardt, covered in grit and sipping a sports drink at the finish line. ”It started to really get hard at mile 11. I just kept saying to myself, ‘You can do it, you can make it.’ My goal was to finish without walking. What else do I want to say? The course was beautiful. Everyone was so positive and energetic. I loved all the people cheering.”

Although Brungardt experienced some knee pain on the downhill sections of the course and said she felt slightly dehydrated, she has already vowed to race in the Haulin’ Aspen Trail Half Marathon in August near Bend.

Half-marathon first-timers Vanessa Polvi, Katie Evens and Jason Adams said after Sunday’s Dirty Half that they are also already planning for subsequent races. Polvi and Evens have made it their goal to complete a full marathon – 26.2 miles.

”The hills were tough, but it was probably toughest at mile eight or nine,” noted Adams. ”I tripped on a log. My feet couldn’t make it over. They also couldn’t keep up with my body on the last downhill section. I was also (mentally) out of it. I was trying to figure out how many miles I had left after eight and couldn’t take eight out of 13.”