I've been in CA for a little over three weeks now. A week of that time was actually spent in MD/VA visiting friends and family, and Ma. Apparently nothing notable happened because I didn't feel the need to blog it. Perhaps eventually!
This past weekend, Dad and I travelled to Auburn, CA. Auburn is a small town Northeast of Sacramento. I hadn't been there in about 30 years. It has grown up a lot but the quaint downtown and hilly streets with cute houses are still there. We made the trek so that we could work radio communications at the 2015 Western States 100-mile Endurance Run.
When I was a youngster, my family attended the event several times. We would crew for runner friends and my dad even paced a couple the last 40 miles. All the aid station names were familiar to me but it had been a long, long time. Too long!
Our aid station, Brown's Bar, was actually one I had never been to. It is down a long dirt road with very little space for cars or extra people. Crews are not allowed anywhere near it. Dad has been doing radio there for several years and was able to get us there without incident. My uncle and cousin met us in Auburn and also made their way to our spot. Actually, they left their jeep about 1/4 mile up the dirt road. Only two cars stayed all night at the station. Not much else would fit!
The aid station personnel were all from a running club in Ashland, OR. They were obviously all runners - some even came in on foot down the trail! One of them was famous. Well, famous in the world of ultra runners - Hal had won this race twice. Runners would take selfies with him as they stopped to eat and fill up water bottles! It was kind of entertaining.
Our first runner, Rob Krar, came in at about 6:10pm. He was a little under the record pace. He didn't stay long. He lost time after he left us and ended up finishing in 14 hours and 48 minutes - 3 minutes slower than the record. The next few runners trickled in every 10-30 minutes until the middle of the night when it seemed we had one every 5 minutes or less. There was never really a lull. Runners came in until about 8am or so.
To me, the notable thing was that there were a LOT of runners!! At the AC100, the only other one I've done, we saw less than 100 runners. Here at Western States, we saw 255!!! And that was a low number. At the start, there were 371! It was a VERY hot day on the trail and that likely knocked out a few more than normal.
The other difference of this race, for me, is that we call in, over the ham radio, EVERY single runner that comes through the aid station! This year, Dad let me do most of it. Like probably 200 of them!! And when we got back to Net Control - the people I'd been talking to all night - they were very complementary on my radio skills. I think it's my math background. I wasn't about to call a zero an "o"!!
A few memories stand out from the all nighter at the curve in the trail...
- Most of the women wore skirts. Fancy running skirts, but still. I need to get me one :)
- Many of the pacers looked worse than the runners. The aid station folks even commented on it. Not sure what that was about! They'd run no more than 27 miles by the time they'd reached us - the runners had run 90!
- The youngest runner on the course was just 19 years old. And he was from Austin, TX!!
- Women need port-a-potties. We had one at the aid station (thank goodness) and many women looked quite excited when we told them that!!
- Beards are in. I already knew this. I just don't get it.
- This footrace began as a horse race and is still raced as such in August. The sweep teams are horses. They were very nice ladies who were also ham radio operators. Their antenna is on their helmet! Wish I'd taken pictures.
- About 1/2 mile from us, the sweep ladies came upon Alvin, #254, who was not wanting to go on. They walked with him to our aid station. He was my first drop. He had to walk UP a long hill to get to the cars of the aid station people so he could get a ride to the finish. He seemed happy to get to the cars!
Overall, we saw 255 runners. Alvin stopped, so we sent 254 on their way, and all 254 of them finished in under 30 hours.
The most memorable part of the run was definitely Gunhild Swanson. She wore bib #70 because, well, she's 70 years old! She ran the race in 2005, at 60 and finished in 25:40 setting a record for her age group (60-69). I happened to hear her number called in from the station two before ours, at about 4:30 am (I think). A couple hours later, I kept saying she'd be there any minute. Then the station before ours called in their final 5 runners. She was on that list. So she was coming, eventually! She ran in about 7:30 or so, looking pretty darn good! She didn't stay long, she was cutting it close to finishing before the 11am (30 hour) cut off.
Dad and I pondered heading to the finish line to see her finish but decided it'd be an hour that would put me home to Slugger in the dark. And we were both exhausted and ready to get going on the long trek home. As we drove in to Sacramento and I got internet back on my phone, I kept an eye on the website for her finish time. We were eating our In-n-Out as she finished. In 29 hours and 59 minutes. The website didn't give us seconds, but SHE DID IT!! We have since read several articles and watched a video over and over. She finished with SIX seconds to spare before the official cut off. She is officially the oldest woman to finish the WS100. What an inspiration!! Here's a link to the npr article and video.
I have said it before and I will say it again... Ultra runners are awesome people. They are incredible athletes. And they are so very nice. They thank US for being there, they joke and have fun, and today most of them are back at their normal jobs where very few people understand what they just accomplished. And this weekend, they'll be back on the trail, looking forward to the next event!
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