I fully intended to write a race report after we got back – no, really! As much as it was an awesome experience, the self-inflicted disappointment I leveled on myself pretty much kept my heart out of sharing and putting the other bookend on it. That and not really wanting to hear another round of “pep talks”. We’re an odd lot. I more than appreciate anybody who actually shows enough care to comment and offer encouragement even though in reality they could care less about running. When it comes down to it though, when you’ve been 100 miles (pick your distance) and you don’t make 100 another time, “XX miles is good” or “I don’t drive that far” doesn’t really make you feel better. That’s not from an egotistical angle, it’s simply that you’ve been there before and fully expect to do it again. Yea yea yea – what’s your point and why the change of heart? I don’t normally buy any race photos, but last month I got an email from the company that did the pics with a 20% coupon attached. Maybe I should just go out and take a look. Looking at the pic of me coming up one of the climbs and all the mountains in the background kind of made it sink in. That was a pretty &#*&ing outstanding thing to do! Add in all our friends that got into the lottery this year and the fact that I have diarrhea mouth because I get so excited talking about WS, and here we are.
Get in that lottery – you won’t be disappointed.
The BW and I decided since we were making such a big trip we should go early and spend some time just hanging out in the Tahoe area. Wouldn’t you know it, there just happened to be a race the Sunday before. Bobbie went big with the 50k, but I stuck with the half. Pretty much the perfect last training run.
If you didn’t know the race started in Squaw Valley, you wouldn’t even know anything was going on. It wasn’t until Wednesday or Thursday that there was any indication of an event of ultra-proportions there on the weekend. When the activities and panel discussion started on Thursday, that all changed. All of the sudden Squaw became a bustling hub of activity. The discussion had a number of elite ultra runners available for a Q&A. In the immortal words of Nick Clark, “It’s stops sucking when you hit the finish line”. Packet pickup was run like it was those people’s full time job. No wandering lines or confusion, just BAM! You’re weighed, you’re tagged, get your pic taken and then get a ton of goodies from people dedicated to each item. After PP I was headed back to drop my stuff off at the room when I happened to see Anne Trason sitting under a tent off to the side with her dogs. I went over and gave the pups some love and Anne introduced herself. I just smiled. From what I’ve gathered reading, she doesn’t like the fuss made over her and avoids the spotlight to a great degree. It killed me, but I held back even asking to take a pic with her because I didn’t want to make her uncomfortable. What I did do was have the opportunity to sit one on one with ANNE TRASON (sorry Anne) and talk about dogs, Nebraska, uhhh, yea, and Western States. You can’t put a price on that. It was probably the highlight of the whole trip. During the pre-race meeting on Friday, the man himself, Gordy, was giving free back adjustments to runners in attendance. Not every day you go to Western States AND get a back adjustment from the man that started it all.
No shortage of swag
The BW & I with Nick Clark - "It stops sucking at the finish line"
Megan Arbogast. I don't care if I seem like a tourist...I'm having a good time meeting these people!
Joe Uhan. If he had a Midwest fan club, I'd be in it. Ultrarunner, sports medicine and some of the best articles around on various performance and running related issues. Pretty good dude as well...
Shannon McFarland & I under the start banner on Friday. Neither one of us looking at the camera. I had a better pic, but this one shows the friendship. Me looking like I'm coming up with some bullshit line and Shannon saying "Whatever bro". Shannon had a great run and brought home the buckle.
Race morning, to use the cliché, was “electric”. To get ahead of the narrative, this lasted the entire race and after the finish to the buckle ceremony. The feeling I got was that everyone involved knew the history and how important it was to the legacy of the race to treat it and the runners special. There was no half-assing, no sitting in the chair letting runners fill their own bottles and appreciation shown for every finisher after the race. On the way to the start, an Orange Mud Ambassador stopped me to take a picture since I had my Orange Mud double on. Now Bobbie & I are Ambassadors, so that was actually a pretty neat deal. The Orange Mud gear and my Hokas never let me down <advert over>.
"Team Ruhs" - Spoon (aka Larry), the BW, Sluggo, Barb (mom) and John (dad). It would take a whole report to say what these guys did for me. Let's just say I'm very grateful for the family and friends I have.
Start of the race. The crowd was pumped. Electric, if you will :)
The only solid number I had was a time in mind to make that first 2500ft climb up the escarpment. Doing the climb on Tuesday made me feel pretty decent about hitting that number and surprisingly I made it to the top 10 minutes quicker without feeling like I had overdone it. These two pics are from our Tuesday version, but show coming part way up and then again at the top where you start the high country section.
It was a dry year without much snow, so I think the trail was really pretty good. A fair amount of it through the next two aid stations was a mix of dirt single track and the way it looks in the pic above. The uphills in this section actually looked like a little stream - you would be going up the rocks and the water was running down. I arrived at Lyon Ridge (10.5) and felt pretty decent. Early aid stations are eat and run, so barely had any time there before climbing out and continuing on my way. The next 6 miles into Red Star Ridge also went pretty well, or so I thought. When I came into Red Star I noticed that I was getting pretty close to cutoff times. Once again, in and out in about a minute - no time to spare. You know how when you're somewhere cool like way up in the mountains, you take a bazillion pictures because it looks so awesome only to look at them later and they all look the same? Even if I had had the time to take a couple of pics, it would never do the view at this race any justice. Here's the part where you think I'm going to lie and say just being there was enough because it was so beautiful. NO. Not only no, but hell no....but it was *almost* enough. Getting close to Duncan Canyon was when the reality set in that I was slowing down far too much. You want to know what one of the worst sounds during the race was? An air horn. At twenty minutes before cut they blow it and then again at 10 minutes. Here I am in the trees with no line of site on the aid station and not sure how far in I am. Hhhhoooooonnnnk. 20 minutes to cutoff. Time drags on, no aid station. Hhhhoooooonnnnk. 10 minutes to cutoff. Things are looking BAD. All of the sudden the trees part and there I am at Duncan Canyon (23.8) with EIGHT MINUTES to get out. This is one of those times you notice how absolutely top notch the people there are. As I'm coming in, two people are meeting me to get my bottles and give me some ice. Another guys says come over and get some food. I say no time, so he takes my order and goes over to the aid table to get it for me while yet another person has his eye on the watch and says "Get him out of here". As soon as my bottles are filled, I'm walking out with three people talking in my ear and handing me food. Survived by the skin of my teeth to give it one more try. The 6 or so miles to Robinson Flat was like the green mile. You know the end is coming and not really much to be done about it. Seeing a couple of safety runners really drove home the point that my day was probably going to be over. Even this far off the pace, I actually passed 4 or 5 people leading into Robinson. With somewhere around a mile (maybe) to Robinson, I saw Spoon coming down the trail to do the walk of shame with me. A little bit later the BW also showed up and we came into Robinson and my Western States experience was over.
Ya still gotta smile, right? What an experience!
Good shot of the JDP tutu...a man honors his bet!
This is what you do when your runner is missing the cutoff. Spoon doing his best Ish imitation.
We all got back to the car and headed to Forest Hill hoping we would get to see Kaci come through. I'll be honest on this one - it sucked being at that aid station and watching runners come by. Luckily, it didn't suck enough to let it bring me down. In talking with Miguel, we learned that Kaci was having some issues of her own, but staying strong. That really didn't compute. Kaci kicks ass. Period. Standing around soaking up the atmosphere when of all people, we see Chris Hall. He just decided to head to CA on his own with the pups to support the GOATz. Kaci makes her appearance and we just try to hoop it up as much is possible to give her that little boost to keep doing what she does so well.
Kaci and pacer Miguel - Heading out to "Gitter Dun" from mile 62
Spoon, the BW, Chris and I all headed down to Auburn to see the finishers. We got to see Rob Krar come in with the second fastest and only 2nd sub 15 hr run for the win and waited tensely while listening to reports of Kaci battling back and forth in the top ten women. When she came into the field, the announcer even said the Piiiiixxxxxxxxiiieee Ninja like he was announcing an MMA fight. It was pretty awesome being on the track to give her a high five on her way to a 6th place women's finish. Talking to Kaci after the race, something really became clear. Even people you think never have issues have struggles as well. Hearing her say "I never wanted to quit so many times in my life" and then have a 6th place finish at WS shows the drive and determination of this great lady.
Great finish Pixie Ninja - we love ya.
So, this Western States adventure comes to a close. We went back to the track to see our friends get their buckles. What a ceremony. It's pretty cool to see all these finishers come through and get their buckles. Some hobbling, some on just getting there as they had literally just minutes to spare. It was eye opening to see how many come in at the wire. They would have people line up by hours to come and get the buckles and when they called 29 hrs, there were still tons of people. Finish times of 29:30, 29:40....still several people. I believe the last guy had less than a minute or two before cutoff.
Would I do it again? Only one answer to that. It may take a year or two to get a qualifier to work out right, but as they say - Hells Yeah I want to go back.
Once again I have to thank my beautiful wifey for letting me have the opportunity to go and be crew chief. And to my mom & dad and Spoon, you guys are the best!
Sometimes all you get are memories and photographs
No comments:
Post a Comment