Today we're flying home from Sacramento and revisiting our memories, stories, and perspectives from the parts of Western States 100 mile we ran together. I crewed for Ben from the start to mile 62, met him at the aid station, and ran with him as his pacer for the last 38 miles of the race. Ben will fill you in on his experience in a full race recap soon, and I hope the other crew members may be able to share what they heard, did, and saw throughout the day.
Here's a look at some of our stories throughout the 12 hours we ran together. This is totally casual - so you're a part of the conversation, too!
Each milestone on the course, or Aid Station, is listed in bold and chronological.
Foresthill - Mile 62
B – I felt inspired and motivated leaving Foresthill. I felt
like sub-24 was still possible, all I needed was 12:40 pace for those 38 miles.
The trail was supposed to be getting easier so I thought it was possible… but
the trail really wasn’t getting easier so I decided I should just try to keep
it together and not risk something happening this late. (Legs seizing up,
stomach issues, etc.) After I got to that point I wasn’t going for a time… just
trying to relax.
S - The sun was setting and it started to get dark about 30
minutes into our run. We turned on our headlamps to the medium/dim setting to
make sure we’d have enough battery to last through the night. It’s good that it
starts getting light around 5am here! We actually started by running the road
part all the way to the trail, probably 2 miles before we took a walk break. I
hadn’t seen any of the actual trail yet and (being honest!) was kind of excited
there appeared to be plenty of road.
Cal 1 (Dardanelle’s) - Mile 65.7
B – You (Steph) were getting very talkative about the day,
but then you got inquisitive which was bad (because I didn’t want to think).
S – I was trying to tell some of the
jokes that people
suggested on facebook.
B – But I wasn’t in the mood to fake a laugh if I was on the
spot to “get” the joke or pretend it was funny.
S – I wasn’t sure what to say but we run silent often too,
which is okay. That’s the benefit of running with a pacer you know… you don’t
have to mess around with awkward silences or small- talk!
B – [Silence.]
S – As
we were approaching the aid station (it was dark by this time) we saw a
deflated balloon in the trees. I commented that it was weird and looked like a
UFO. We knew we were approaching the aid station when there were glow sticks
and glowy things on the ground. I really liked this about all of the aid stations -- always rope lights or glow sticks on the approach, like a beacon! The balloon thing made sense at
that point – the aid station was UFO-themed. There were glow-in-the-dark
cardboard cutout aliens mounted on the trees and stuff. This was the first time
it had been dark! It was kind of mean because … that’s scary.
B – Everything is scary to you.
S – You're the one who picked a pacer who’s afraid of the dark.
B – When you mentioned that the balloon looked like a UFO, I
realized that this was going to be that aid station (one that’s UFO-themed). I
had thought this one was going to be later, at mile 85 or 90. This is the
aid station (at Cal 1) where the volunteer mentioned that my Salomon soft
flasks were like condoms. I was not amused.
Cal 2 – Peachstone - Mile 70.7
B – Peachstone is when you can start hearing the river for
the first time, but you still have like 17 miles to get to it.
S- The sign said 7.
B – It was really 11. This was about the time where you got
mountain lion-scared.
S – I was afraid to look into the woods or on ledges. Our
shuttle driver from the airport told us that they like to hunt their prey by
hanging out and waiting to pounce/attack from a higher ledge. I was terrified
that if I shined my headlamp onto a ledge, I’d see eyes looking back at me, but terrified not to know what was up there. It
was definitely dark enough that we couldn’t see anything past 4-5 feet on
either side of us.
S – Fail. That was pretty much the theme every time we felt
like we could see/hear the aid station nearby. It was kind of reassuring
because I knew the noise would scare off the mountain lions.
B – [shakes head, laughs]
Cal 3 – Ford’s Bar - Mile 73
B – Steph started to get inquisitive again and decided she
wanted to do a 100 mile race. She started asking me about which ones to do,
what they are, and all that.
S – To which you replied, “Ask Chris Neoh.” Well, ok, you
did answer some.
B – You started getting so specific that I couldn’t answer
any more questions. But I was surprised you had decided you wanted to do a 100
(which excited me) so I felt obligated to answer.
S – Excited? Couldn’t tell... but maybe it was because of
the 73 MILES that came before this point! I just wished I had my computer so I
could search. I wish I knew more about this stuff!
B – You were asking for a popular
Boston-Marathon-prestigious 100-mile race that wasn’t in mountains.
S – Why do they all
have to be in mountains? It’s a hundred flippin’ miles! Watching a race like this is motivational like watching the Olympics. But I'm capable of running 100 (and not capable of winning a gold medal in ice dancing), so I decided I should.
B – I ate a quesadilla at the Ford’s Bar aid station. The
aid station volunteer was not as helpful because she was so distracted telling
her friends about Ann Trason, who’d just passed through (as a pacer).
S – Oh yeah!! I forgot about this aid station completely
until you mentioned that. Not only that, but she was standing in your way as
you were trying to get food and totally ignored you!
B – So then I had to explain to you who Ann Trayson was as
we left the aid station. The next three
miles we were teased by the sound of the rushing water and impending Rucky
Chucky crossing.
S – It was all a lot of downhill running out of Green Gate.
Then it turned into a wide road.
B - At one point, a spectator coming in our direction (going
backwards on the course) cheering on runners told us we were “almost there – a
quarter mile to go.” So what happened? The trail started going uphill and the
river was below us again.
S – You made a comment about how we were going in the wrong
direction to be getting down to water! When we finally got there, it was pretty
cool. It was probably the most lights and most commotion we’d seen since
Foresthill.
B – I weighed in before the crossing at 147, so that was a
pound under my starting weight.
S - When we got to Rucky Chucky you beat out my record for most at-once mileage in the family!
Rucky Chucky Near/Far - Mile 78 & 78.1
Crew met us to walk to Green Gate
B – I tried to take in the river crossing but it was just
kind of annoying. I tried to take it in because of the monument of it all, but
really it was just annoying to get wet. Just wanted to get through it. There
were some big gas rocks.
S – I don’t know how you got across so fast, I felt bad for
lagging so far behind. The river crossing is definitely a major disadvantage
for short people. What they had said was only a few feet, maybe waist deep, put
me more like chest deep when I fell in or missed some steps. At least the water
wasn’t shockingly cold! They strung a nylon line and had a team of volunteers
holding the taut rope and headlamps to show us where to step.
B – And wetsuits.
S – They activated a bunch of glow sticks and threw them in
the river so we could get a better view of the footing. Some of the rocks were
really slippery or just big.
B – “The knee-basher.” I can’t imagine volunteering for that
job.
S – I must’ve said, “Thank you so much,” or “How long have you been out here?” to each of them!
B – When I got across the river, that’s when I got some nice
potato soup that I had up until Green Gate. Except all their soups were blazing
hot and it took that long to cool down.
S – Good thing it wasn’t a million degrees out at this
point. Hot soup on a hot day does not sound appetizing. Anyway, when I got out
of the water, I was really confused on where go. But our crew was there and I
heard Maria yelling my name, so I went in that direction and found you again.
B – Rucky Chucky Far to Green Gate was just a power hike
like the one from Bath Road to Foresthill.
S – It was all uphill for 1.8 miles, so our crew hiked that
whole way down to come see. F
B- From where they parked, it was 3 miles down.
S – I couldn’t believe all of the stuff I saw people (crews)
hauling in, considering it was a pretty long walk. Maybe they just didn’t know
and were committed by the time they figured it out.
Green Gate - Mile 79.8
At
the top of the climb from Rucky Chucky
S – When we were stopped at Green Gate, the woman sitting
next to our crew camp saw my number, cheered like crazy (like, “Yay! Go number
75!!” and clapping). By the way, pacer bibs are yellow and runner bibs are
white with red.
B – She saw my bib, which also said 75, and realized that I
was the runner (perhaps because I didn’t look as fresh). Then she said, “Oh,
are you number 75 too?”
S – I was changing into a new pair of shorts and eating a
snack minding my own business when I
guess she figured out that I was the pacer with the identical bib. She didn’t
do anything to hide her – disappointment? – that she’d cheered for me and not
Ben. So then she said unenergetically, “Oh… well, we like pacers too... I guess.”
B – She was a dipstick*. [censored]
S – That comment kind of upset me. Like, I know I didn’t
just run a billion miles, and I don’t need to get credit or recognition for it, but never
dismiss the importance of a pacer. That was really not cool.
* We later found out more about her shenanigans from our crew... Apparently we'd barely scratched the surface. The cumulative oh-you're-just-the-pacer comments up to now were getting to me (and my fatigued brain). It made me feel bad for being there, for using up aid station supplies/resources, for being "in the way." I thought it was really strange that people would ignore or stare blankly at me and other pacers but enthusiastically cheer "Great work, runner!" (Um, not that hard to make the word 'runner' plural!) I don't need any glory - just give me polite acknowledgement, especially if I'm filling up my runner's handheld bottles. Maria: "Pacers are people, too!"
S- I’m pretty sure at this aid station (Green Gate) they
told us the trail was really runnable from here to the next, “much more
runnable than the last stretch.”
B – Yeah, the guy even said it’s his “favorite trail in
North America.” Not the United States, not in California, but North America. More runnable than a
river crossing and an uphill hike to Green Gate? But this section was hardly
runnable. Paynetown is more runnable
than this trail.
Auburn Lake Trails - Mile 85.2
S – I was starting to feel
really tired during this stretch. It was the first time I felt like I
was almost nodding off while my legs were moving.
B – Maybe it’s ‘cause you saw Chris Muir sleeping at the
crew station at Green Gate and not even flinch while we were there. He did have
to drive though, so I’ll allow it.
S – I figured I was having trouble focusing from being
hungry. I had one of those gels I stashed in my back shorts pocket and I felt
better almost instantly!
S – I heard a low growl or roar coming from behind me
somewhere off of the trail.
B – I heard it too. It was more like a snort.
S – Yeah, it was a big animal snort. I wigged out and pretty
much jumped into your arms and almost tripped you. I don’t remember if this was
before I ate that gel, but this raised my awareness paranoia that I
could get mauled or eaten by a bear on this run too. Then I got really scared
that they’d smell the food on me and FIND ME in the woods.
B – [rolling eyes] I was picturing Yogi Bear coming after
your gel. I just kept hoping we wouldn’t see the memorial for the mountain lion
attack** victim (that I continued to choose not to mention).
** After Ben told
Steph about this the next day, she shipped her pants. S – I would have been so much more
freaked out.
B – Yep, that’s why I didn’t tell you.
S – I kept checking those ledges. Well, there was a point in
time where I knew something was up and was legit freaked out because even
though I was scared, you
stopped and shined your flashlight into the darkness behind us. That scared me.
A lot. Because I knew you wouldn’t have done that for fun or to be funny.
B – Luckily that Chatty Cathy wasn’t far off. Unluckily?
S –I feel like this was the first time we were starting to
see a decent amount of people on the trail, either being passed or us passing
(or both: yo-yo-ing.) It felt less
isolated in the dark dark dark.
B – The Chatty Cathy was a pacer for another woman. She was
a loud talker, stayed up to 50 yards ahead of her runner, and we could hear her
talking a quarter mile away. I started running more to get some distance on her
and keep her out of earshot.
S – She suuuuuure liked to gossip. Too bad we yo-yo-ed with
her and her runner for a few hours… fortunately all of that talking was scaring
off the mountain lions.
B- After leaving Green Gate, I thought, “20 miles to go,
15-minute pace… that’s 5 hours. 5 hours left.” The next few miles, I was
struggling to run 20-minute miles. At the next aid station, I had 15 miles to
go at 20-minute miles… 5 hours.” So I’d gone 5 miles and it had taken a little
over an hour, and I still have 5 hours left. That was the toughest hump to get
over. After that I was more confident I
would finish.
Brown’s Bar - Mile 89.9
S – I’m gonna say it. I had to pee, so this is where I tried
to pee. They didn’t have a portajohn and I was ok with going in the woods, but
the aid station volunteer said there was a bathroom just 100 yards up a hill. I
went, but then realized I was starting to get surrounded by higher bluffs. And
then it occurred to me that it would be a good perch for a mountain lion. I
went about 25 yards farther than I had the courage to but then wigged out and
ran back down the hill as fast as I could with a full bladder.
B – I had to also, but I decided to hold it to keep my
weight up for the next med check.
S – Once again, we heard that this next part would be really
runnable.
B - “…If you have legs,” they say. Last I looked down, I had
legs, but it still wasn’t runnable.
B - This is actually where Ann Trason passed us, this time
pacing a different runner. Actually, we ran with them for a bit – like a tenth
of a mile. (She must have picked him up at Green Gate.)
S – She seemed pretty chatty: “10 miles to go!!” She was
wayyy too peppy.
B – We were just craving the sunrise at this point. Our
headlamps were getting really low.
S – I turned mine down as low as I could without tripping on
stuff. All of the lights we had were definitely starting to die. There were
people sleeping on cots when I went up that dark hill to find the protajohns.
B – You suggested we take a nap before daylight. You really
know how to make “good” suggestions to keep my spirits up, pacer.
S – Nailed it.
Partway into this segment it started getting light, at 5:15
am.
B –I had to “use
the facilities” for a good half hour leading into the Highway 49 aid station. I
hadn’t been eating and drinking as much as I did during the first part of the
race, so I held it to keep my weight up.
S – We must’ve heard the Highway 49 aid station from at
least a half mile away. And again… the trail kept winding away from where the
commotion was coming from.
B – Somewhere around that point, I would must up a shuffle
(a scoot), and I’m sure it was probably the most pathetic thing ever, and it
felt like I had put together a solid half mile stretch of running when it was -
in reality - more like a solid 100 meters that took a minute and a half. I had
to stop thinking in miles because it was giving me false hope. That’s one of
the reasons I decided not to get a different GPS out at the next aid station.
That may have backfired because it made that feel even longer and still made
the milse seem to tick away so slowly.
Highway 49 - Mile 93.5
Crew access - crews took shuttles in to the aid station.
B – I weighed four pounds over. Shoot! The med check person
showed some concern but I told him I had to go to the bathroom and that I’d be
right back. So when I got out I went to weigh in and he said, “Do you think you
actually peed that much?” and I told him, “I didn’t just pee.” I dropped three
pounds back to my starting weight.
S – There were pancakes and bacon and other real food (of
substance) at this aid station. It was really nice to see a ROAD and signs of
civilization. I was so hungry at the Highway 49 aid station – but I don’t think
I ate anything here, and I chose not to take a gel with me… must not have been
thinking straight. I regretted it almost immediately.
B – I had some sausage and hash browns. It was delicious.
S – Then we took off and started running in that huge grassy
field.
B – Our shadows were really long in the grass, it would have
made a good picture. I was just so ready to be done. This was probably the
first time I was 100% sure I would finish.
S – I’m not sure if it was because it was finally light out,
or if the terrain changed (it was “more runnable”?), but I felt like the tone of
the run was completely different from here on out. We ran in silence for a big
part of this stretch. I think we were both really tired – but least it was
finally light. I was starting to feel really spacey, even though I hadn’t been
running that long in the scheme of things (nor in the heat).
B – I was 100% sure I’d finish, but the crazy thing was that
I probably still had 1:40 to two hours left. I felt like I could just gut it
out and powerhike it as much as I could.
S - As we were coming
down that hill to get to the No-Hands Bridge aid station, I think I started
falling asleep or dreaming while I was running. I saw MamaB sitting Indian
style in the trees (which was in reality a drop-off ledge, so obviously
impossible) and a brand new blue Chevy Cruze that was actually the side of a
rock wall. I snapped out of it when I took an involuntary hard right turn
almost off the trail and into a ravine. Woke up a few steps before I was tumbling down a hill.
No-Hands Bridge - Mile 96.8
S – I was so hungry at No-Hands Bridge!! (Possible explanation for sleep-running) I got caught up at
the aid station by a chatty aid station worker and Ben gained a few hundred
yards while hobbling away.
B –I caught up with another runner on the bridge. I found it
amusing that we’d been in the woods for the past 4 hours or something and as
soon as we come out into the open, the sun has come out just enough that boom – it’s on us. It wasn’t too terribly hot, but
I just wanted light, not sun.
S – There was more climbing after No-Hands Bridge, wasn’t
there?
B – We had about 2.5 miles to go and a mile/mile and a half
was dirt road. We passed a guy who said, “You’ve got 15 minutes of climbing,
almost there,” and it was stupid climbing.
Like, it was stairs [which are harder than a constant slope] and it was hard
for me, but I’m sure it was hard for you too. The rest of the trail was
not-steps.
S – That’s when we saw that rock formation that looked like
a spiral tower. And I told you to use the hands on the quads trick to get up
the steep climbs.
B –Yeah, I was done trying to do things [figure out the
spiral rock formation] at that point. We emptied out my water bottles at that
point so I could put my hands on my quads. And who were they [that guy] to know
what pace I was going that it’d take me 15 minutes to get to the top??
S- That was a lot of climbing. I feel like people were
trying to sugar-coat
B – Everyone was saying congratulations lead up the aid
station at Robie Point. That’s when you hit the road. And they were all ilke, “Great
job! You Did it!” Except I was looking at a face-wall of climbing and I wasn’t
done yet. I was appreciating it but I didn’t want to acknowledge them but didn’t
want to be mean and not acknowledge them…
Robie Point - Mile 98.90
Crew
met us to walk in to the Auburn finish stadium.
S – Maria had our InRunCo shirts when the crew met us at
Robie Point.
B – She’s on it!
S – More hills, more climbing.
B – The thing was, even though it was slower, the climbing
didn’t bother me.
S – It was the people lying how far we had to go!
B - The descending would bother me too, but any time we went
up, we’d have to go down again. That was the double-edged sword: If there was
an uphill, it would feel ok but was very slow. Couldn’t we just have flat?? I started wondering if the track would be
flat. I hadn’t seen flat all day. I wonder what total distance of the course
was actually flat – if you add up all the little hundredths of a mile somewhere.
There’s probably 1,000 3 or 4-foot sections of flat on the course all day.
Descending was not pleasant.
S – I seriously wondered where this track was. People told
us we had so far to go, but after we’d covered that far, we were
still not there!!
B – That’s when we had three people speed [run] by me, and I
said, “Sorry guys, there’s no more run left.” Not even when we got to the
track. Not even a 100-meter scoot.
S – So we got to the track FINALLY and had 300 meters to go.
They were calling numbers and announcing over the PA system (to spectators) the
finisher’s name, bio, and any other fun facts provided by the runner. Since
there was a guy ahead of you, they must’ve talked about him for the entire time
it took us to slowly go 200 meters. You only had 100 meters left (or less!) and
they were still talking about him! I didn’t
initially see the “Pacers that way” arrow sign, since we weren’t supposed to go
through the finish arch. Someone told me to go right like I was supposed to, so
I tried to pull off and let you finish.
B – But then I said “Hell no!” and the rest can be seen in
the finish video. As they say… the rest is history.
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Products used and thanks to be given for helping me have this exceptional experience:
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How would I train differently? First, I wouldn't bruise my ribs and reaggravate my knee which caused me to have less than 30 miles per week of running for the last 8 weeks before the race (aside from two 50 mile races, which helped). I would also spend as much time in the Smokeys as possible. The two days I spent there provided me with a calm reassurance multiple times when the course would roll up and down on rocky terrain much like the Smokeys. Otherwise, just more experience to gain confidence in the distance... like how a 5k feels to a marathoner, a marathon feels like to a 50-miler, and so on.
What's next? Well, a year ago I qualified for the Western States lottery and now here I am, qualified for the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc lottery...
