Western States 100 mile run
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| Western Mug Shot |
This story starts back in December when my name was drawn as
one of the lucky few that get a chance to run this historic 100 mile race, where it all began, the big dance, the track
meet, etc. I walked in the door from a 2
hour run in the mountains just moments before hearing my name called over the
laptop speakers. I was in shock, had it
finally happened after all these years, OK only 4 but it seems longer. It took a while to sink in but once it did
the planning started. How would I get into
100 mile shape 2 months earlier than normal? That was the biggest question
resonating in my brain cells.
The Plan
My plan was to keep it simple. I simply moved up the typical training runs I
normally do for Cascade Crest, my late August 100 mile race, by 2 months. I also figured out my races the same
way. For example, my 12 hour May race
was replaced with a March 24 hour race.
At the last minute I decided to go down and see the course during the
memorial training event. That was a very
important step in making my race a success.
Had I not gone down, my confidence and pacing would not have been at the
level needed to finish in a time I could define as “having a good race”. My training had very few setbacks in large
part to the sacrifices made by my lovely wife.
I sacrificed a lot of sleep, more days than not Jenn would wake up hours
after I had left for my morning run, but she didn’t complain too much. Other than too much snow in the hills the
plan worked well. No matter how hard I
train, there’s always that thought of I could have done more, but I made it to
the start healthy and ready to run. Most
importantly my mind knew I could do it. |
| Memorial Day Weekend Training @ Robinson Flats |
The race
Race week came way too fast and I was packing right up until
the day I left. I’d been watching the
long term forecasts for a month and it swung back and forth more than a
pendulum on a grandfather clock, hot cold hot cold hot cold. Eventually the weather settled on mild with
some saying rain.
My goals and how I came up with them. My first goal for the race was to finish,
above all else that is the most important thing. Finishing in less than 24 hours qualifying
for a Silver Buckle, instead of bronze, was next on the list. Then was to finish under 22:45 which is my
fastest Cascade Crest 100(CC100) time. Next
up was finishing in 20:45 or less. I
came to this time by adjusting my CC100 PR by 2 hours. On any given day, I felt that I could run this
course 2 hours faster than CC100 so that would be a course adjusted PR. Next were finishing under 20 hours, and then the
ultimate pipe dream goal would be to finish on Saturday which would take 18:59
or less. I came up with that Saturday
right after the lottery, before I trained a single day for the race and more
importantly, before I saw the course.
Once I saw how rocky the trails were I pretty much threw that 18:59 out
the window. I figured if I went for that
right out of the gate I’d risk blowing up and not finishing under 24 or at all. I also wanted to be in the top 10 in the over
40 age group. I settled with a pace
chart of 19:21 and 20:33. Honestly
anything slower than 20:45 and I would not have considered it a “successful
race”.
I slept well but not long enough. There was a party near my room and even an
Earthquake so it took me a long time to get to sleep. Race morning it was cool but didn’t seem like
it was that cold for predawn at 6200 feet.
I knew I’d warm up fast going up that first big climb. I went with gloves, arm sleeves, calf sleeves
for extra warmth. I thought about a hat but decided against it.
Cold and Wet at mile 24! Photo by Glenn Tachiyama.
The trail after the first A/S (aid station) gets pretty
primitive as you climb the rest of the way to the top. There was no stopping to enjoy the views
today. You had to keep moving to stay
warm. I just wanted to get down the other side where
it was a little warmer. The trail
through the wilderness, the first 28 miles, was supposed to be dry, but that
was before this storm came in. Some of
those dry trails had turned into streams.
The first five hours of the race was pretty much running fast enough to
stay warm but not so fast that you were going to blow up.
My A/S times were fast (time in an A/S not running), not as
fast as those with crew but fast for me. I was right on pace at Red Star Ridge
and Robinson Flat. After Robinson Flat
there is a little uphill and then 15 miles of downhill. Unfortunately when I
got to the top my left foot was basically numb, frozen from being cold and wet
all day, I couldn’t get a good stride going.
I’m sure I looked like an albatross running as I tried to warm up on the
way down. Eventually, sometime after
Miller’s Defeat, my foot and quads warmed up and I started passing back the
dozen or so runners that had just passed me.
Dusty Corners went by and I was still on pace, warmed up and passing
runners.
Starting to finally warm up @ mile 38. Photo by Glenn Tachiyama
About a mile before Last Chance I was flying down some nice
single track and I caught my toe on a rock or root or something. I did a serious face plant wipeout, a first
for me. I had a bloody gash over my eye. The blood was running into my eye clouding my
vision. I could see well enough to spot
the ping pong ball size welt growing out of the side of my kneecap. I knew I had to get up, test it out and start
moving before the swelling took over. I
was a little out of it, I didn’t check for lost gear from the fall (rule number
one). Sure enough I lost a bottle and it
was far enough off the trail that other runners didn’t see it either. I limped down the trail, eventually getting
back to into a run. By the time I rolled
into Last Chance I was feeling pretty good again. The A/S volunteers freaked out a little but I
convinced them I could see fine. I had a
drop bag here so this was a 3-4 minute stop and by the time I was running out
of there I could hardly even walk. The
knee did not want to work so I walked and shuffled and after ¼ - ½ mile I was
running again and within a mile I had my stride back. I cruised down to the bottom of Devil’s Thumb, glad to be sweating and losing those
extra 4-5 pounds I gained up in the high country. I drink half my calories so I had been
gaining weight all day from being so cold but it was coming off now. The climb up the Thumb was hot but I had
trained for a lot hotter so I didn’t struggle too much. The trail down to El Dorado Creek is sweet
and I was moving very well.
I came into Michigan Bluff and the volunteers steered me
over to the scale again, weight was fine so they directed me to the food and
drinks, then out the other side toward the finish. I got a couple hundred yards down the road
and yelled out half under my breath, “FUCK” and did a U-turn. I forgot about my drop bag, why did they not
grab it for me, this is a very important stop, “come on keep your head in the
game dumbass”. Back at the A/S, I try to
get my dropbag and they tell me I don’t have a dropbag. We go back and forth and finally they start
going through the rows of bags, I guess they could see the desperation in my
eyes. They eventually found it, it had
been put in the wrong row. I hooked up my watch charger, grabbed some
essentials and headed back down the trail.
That was very stressful but only cost 5-6 minutes, it could have been a
lot worse.
I jogged along trying to shake off my second drop bag
mistake of the day. At least I
remembered I had a drop bag. Earlier at
Robinson Flat (another medical check A/S) I totally forgot I had a drop bag
luckily the A/S’s are really close together.
The next few miles were uneventful, Volcano Canyon was hot, the watch
charger charged, the trails were dusty and wide, and the Gu was sticky. I came into Bath Road and my pacer was there,
he told me how great I was doing and off we went. He told me Krissy was ahead me and Megan was
behind me. This was opposite of what I
thought. I hadn’t seen Megan all day so
I figured she was way up there and I had left Krissy on the way down to El
Dorado Creek, she had been struggling.
Oh yeah, her crew probably whisked her through Michigan Bluff in under a
minute as I was searching for my dropbag.
Krissy ended up having a great race and finished about an hour in front
of me.
My pacer, Alan Abbs, filled me in on what was happening
with the rest of the field. It sounds like
it must have been exciting to watch.
This being our first run together he asked me a bunch of questions. I was just happy to be running with someone
again. I filled him in on the happenings
of my race, what he couldn’t see by watching the splits online. I felt good; I had been running within myself
all day so I picked up the pace just a little bit. We ran into Foresthill and I quickly
resupplied. I felt good down to Cal 1
but on the way to Cal 2 I had my first low.
I was still eating but not as easily as before. I gave back 3 minutes on the pace chart
between Cal 2 and the River but I was still right where I needed to be.
The River Crossing was not a good stop for me. I changed my shoes but forgot the insoles so
I had to do some transferring and ended up being there for 15 minutes. The trails from here to the finish are truly
the easiest on the whole course but I started to struggle. I had trouble eating. The food from the previous A/S would still be
in my stomach when we rolled into the next one.
Before long I was fighting not to throw up. After a few miles, it seemed like forever, I
decided I wasn’t going to do this anymore.
I needed to run and I needed eat so that’s what I did. It wasn’t long at all before everything in my
stomach came right back out. After what
seemed like gallons of stuff, I was finally empty. That was a relief! Once it stopped I started in with a Gu and
drink right away. I changed to fewer
calories at the A/S and eventually just a cup of Coke.
I was hiking up a trail/fire road and was passed by a runner
which didn’t sit well with me this late in the race. We were somewhere between A.L.T. and Brown’s
Bar. I thought about it for a little bit and figured it was around 12 miles to
the finish, time to push a little more.
I started speed hiking up the hill and within a few minutes I flew by
that guy. That felt good to pass him and
the pace didn’t kill me. In fact it
didn’t feel any different than the pace I had been going before. So I cranked
it up a gear and started running the uphill.
That didn’t kill me either. I
figured a Gu would be too much for my stomach so I just gassed up with Coke at
the A/S and kept sipping on my GuBrew. I
went through HWY 49 in a flash. I
borrowed a cell phone and called Jenn to let her know what pace I was on and to
make sure they were going to be at the finish when I got there. That took too long, long enough for me to be
caught by a runner so I started running as I said goodbye. I ran out of HWY 49 up the hill and just kept
running. I cranked up the music and dug
deep. I pushed hard from a place I
didn’t even know I had. I wanted to be
done, I wanted to be under 20 hours, and I really wanted to see my family. I think I ran every step to No Hands
Bridge. Then, I didn’t run a single step
on the bridge. I knew we had the finish
in our sights. I basically took a long
walk across it and just took it all in.
I was at Western States. I am
running the most historic race I know. I
just raced my ass off. It was nice to
relax. OK, back to work and up the hill
I ran, well most of it because it gets really steep in spots.
4/5 of a very tired Martineau Tribe.
As we approached Robie Point I saw the lights of another
runner, and then heard the cheers of the A/S.
Megan was about a minute or two ahead of us. I knew I had what it took to catch her but I
decided not to. My kids would be waiting
at the track to run with me, my racing was done. We jogged over to the high school, through the
gate and on to the track but the kids weren’t there, so I stopped. The volunteers were going crazy, yelling at
me to run, RUN, you’re not there yet. I
just smiled and continued looking around for my three little ones. OK “where are they”, I thought out loud. So I start yelling for them. Finally I see
them 100 yards away at the end of the back stretch. Jenn figured 300 yards was too much for them
at 12:30 am so she set them up at 200 yards out. I went over to them and we all ran in
together as Jenn and my mom cheered us on.
It was the perfect way to end a great race.
I made a few mistakes along the way but it ended up a
success. I finished in 19:47, 7th Master, 44th overall. I
could not have shaved very much time running the perfect race. Other than not
falling at mile 42, I could not have run under 19 hours (the pipe dream), which
is the only goal I didn’t meet.
19 hour finishers!
I’d like to take these last few lines, which nobody will
read because they got bored ages ago, to thank all my friends that had to listen
to me ramble on about Western. How I was
never going to get in, and then how awesome it was once I did. Also thank all the runners that met me out on
the trail at ridiculous times of the day for really long runs through the rain
and snow. Lastly I thank Jennifer, the most important person in my life. She’s put up with me running ultras since
2005, without her support I wouldn’t be able to do these crazy things. I point to her as the number one reason for
my success this year.
Pictures from the Start, River, and Finish.
http://www.backprint.com/view_user_event.asp?PID=bp%1Es%40s&EVENTID=103175&PWD=0&BIB=271
Now that I’ve run Western States, what do I do? What else, go to Disney Land!
Cars Land, We won the race!
Lego Land
Beach flower 
Golden Gate Bridge
Racing the waves!
Talking to Paul and riding the Sky Trail
Not so sunny Crater Lake right before the snowball fight.
Knee 5 days later.
Knee one month later.
