Western States 100 Miler 2016

This past weekend Dad and I traveled to northern CA to work Ham Radio Communications for the 43rd running of the Western States 100 mile Endurance Run. Entrants run from Squaw Valley to Auburn, through the mountains, across the American River, and right through a little cove of mountain we call Brown's Bar. You might want to read last year's installment for more background on the race. If you know nothing about endurance races, you might want to read an intro I wrote on a different race a couple of years ago.

Early (well, early for summertime) Friday, Tuck and Slugs and  Dad and I got in the loaded up car and drove off! First, we stopped in Fawnskin to drop off Slugger at my brother's house. He got to enjoy the weekend playing with his Cousin Earl (dog) and trying not to eat Cousin Tigger (cat). Then the rest of us drove a couple hours (stupid traffic made it more like 3) to Kresse's house where Tuck got to spend the weekend with "the food lady" and her dogs and Jack the Cat. Then Dad and I started the long trek north toward Sacramento! Dad did an excellent job of dodging cars passing us while we were passing the semis. We both commented going north, and south, how nice it was to see so many new fruit/nut (??) trees being planted through the Central Valley. They are having water issues, but at least they're able to keep planting!

Anyway, we stayed in North Sacramento about 20 miles from Auburn because I forgot to remind Dad to get us a place until too late. Oh well. We enjoyed our Denny's breakfast for dinner Friday night, and breakfast Saturday morning :) After a stop at the Raley's grocery store for last minute snacks, we headed off to Net Control to pick up our shirts and check in. We used the flushing toilets one more time and were off to Brown's Bar!

The road down into Brown's has not improved. Parts may have been worse with all the rain they got this winter. The ruts in the middle were deeper and wider, it seemed, but Dad is a seasoned off road driver and got us there in one piece. The aid station folks had obviously been there as there was a truck with stuff in it, stuff that had been unloaded from somewhere, and a port-a-potty. No people though. We started setting up and were done in no time. Dad didn't bring anything fancy this year. Just a table and a radio. It was nice to be done quickly and enjoy the quiet.

In fact, we weren't completely alone... when we drove up to our spot, a deer crossed the dirt road in front of us. He hung around, just up the hill. If he moved, we could hear him, but I only saw him one more time, when he moved through a little clearing to a different watching spot. He had to wonder what on earth we were doing there! Once the aid station folks showed up, I never heard or saw him again. There were about 10 of them, and they weren't quiet!

Rob, the aid station captain, was very businesslike and got his crew working madly to get set up - the first runner was on course record shattering pace and was going to be early! It was fun to watch them all jump in to their own sections (water, food, electric, etc) and get it done. They were ready to go in about an hour. Then they got to have fun with their setting up large speakers which played all night, fun lights, a disco ball, matching shirts (we didn't get any), and hats (those we were given but didn't wear).

Since we had communications with the aid stations before us, we knew when Jim (#16) was on his way to us. To make it a little more fun for all of us, Dad gave me a handheld radio and I walked up the trail. I walked not quite a mile, until I had a nice view. Unfortunately, the view was in the sun so I walked back a little ways to a nice wide shady spot where I could see Jim coming. Sure enough, within about 5 minutes, there he was! All alone, running through the forest. He looked at me kinda funny, standing there in the woods cheering him on. Later I learned that he might have just been out of it with a confused look on his face the whole way. I radioed in that he was about 3/4 mile out, so they'd be expecting him. Oh, I should mention that I could still hear the music from Brown's Bar, loud and clear, all that way out.

We knew we had about an hour to wait for our second runner so we sat and ate a snack and listened to the station 2 before us (Green Gate) radio in their lists of runners. The station right before us (ALT) didn't radio in because they had internet so they just logged them into the website directly. We did talk to them now and then though. That's pretty much my activity all night - eat and listen! Runner #2 (bib #28) was Andrew Miller. The aid station people knew him from runs up in Oregon. This kid is 20 years old!! They said he'd been running since he was very young but until the last few years, his mom made him run with her. When he came through he looked great and in good spirits. He also had a pacer with him, which most runners do at this point. I thought it was exceptionally odd that the first guy didn't.

Shortly after Andrew left, we heard word over the radio that Jim was off course somewhere between us and the next station. Two of our aid folks immediately ran off down the trail in search of him. Another aid person and I, with my handy radio, walked off down the trail about five minutes later. Brad and I walked about 3/4 mile down the hill until we got to a dirt road. We were far enough down the canyon, that we couldn't hear the music and I had to switch to full power on the radio! It was good I had the radio though because Dad was able to relay to us that Jim had been spotted, on the wrong trail and they were navigating him to the right trail. Brad and I headed back up the hill. I swear it was not that steep on the way down! But, I was also unexpectedly on mile 3+ for the day! The other two didn't come back for hours. I was starting to worry about them since they'd left without water or lights!

This was Jim's first 100-miler. I still think it was not smart of him to not have a pacer. A pacer could've helped him stay on course! The moral of Jim's story is that after sitting a while (hours?) at the aid station after ours, he did go on to finish. He was 20th and finished in 18:50. That is still a remarkable time, especially for a first timer!! And it means that Andrew, the 20 yo, WON!

Back at Brown's Bar, we ate and radioed and visited. Most of the aid station crew had been there before. Brad, who I walked with, hadn't been there last year because he ran the race! Didn't finish but talked fondly of his experience. We saw a fairly steady stream of runners every 5-10 minutes, with the biggest break being about 30 minutes. During this time, I actually took some pictures!

Our view of the actual aid station.

Our table. Radio and food :)

The view of us from the aid station.

Going over the bridge into Brown's Bar - blue lights and a disco ball!!

Coming up the hill from the bridge into Brown's Bar.

The non-running highlight of the entire weekend for me was getting to meet a former pro baseball player, Eric Byrnes (A's and DBacks)!! The big scuttlebutt of the race is that there was an entrant who used to play baseball (Eric) and even more exciting for many is that his pacer was to be none other than Lance Armstrong!! For me, it was a convergence of my three favorite sports - baseball, cycling, and ultrarunning!! At Brown's Bar, no one seemed to care about Eric, but Brad was positively giddy about meeting Lance. We were all anxiously awaiting #133. I knew when he left Green Gate, of course, about 10 miles before us, and let everyone know they were on their way.

At 1:13am, in runs #133. And everyone looks at the pacer and says quietly to each other, "uh, that's not Lance". While I said, "that's Eric!". I slipped next to him to get a covert picture. I figured he had been bombarded all day and had other things to worry about than a stupid baseball fan. Sure enough, he was the nicest guy ever, turned around, put his arm around me and we laughed and joked while Brad attempted to take pictures with my phone! At one point, Eric joked that he should cover up and I joked back, "no, who ever gets pictures with half naked baseball players!?!". I then said nice things about getting his sub-24 and such and off he and "not Lance" went!!

"not Lance" on the left ;) 

On Sunday, I researched via Twitter that Lance had paced Eric earlier, from Forest Hill (mile 62) to the river (mile 78). Oh well. It added to the fun of the night. When Brad woke up from a nap later, I told him that Lance had come in with another runner while he slept. He didn't buy it but enjoyed the good natured joking. Eric went on to earn his sub-24 finish and silver belt buckle. He ran the race in memory of his father, and I'm pretty sure his dad is looking down quite proudly!

The rest of the night consisted of more eating, being cold, and listening and talking on the radio. We saw a total of 289 runners, plus probably 250 or more pacers. In the last several hours, we saw runners who were fresh and bubbly, runners who just wanted to be done, runners who might not remember Brown's Bar today, runners who were just amazed they'd reached mile 89.9. In the 7 o'clock hour, we had a stream of one runner after another, with never more than 5 minutes between them - 61 of them! These were the folks who just wanted to finish in the allotted 30 hour window. If you ever want to see true athletes and heroes, real people, go sit at 90-ish miles during an endurance run. 

Each of the 289 runners that we saw have a story. Some stories we might know, others we don't. They all do this for a reason - cancer survivors, drug recovery, to "get away from it all", cuz it's "fun"... This year's race had 280 official finishers, making it in the 30 hours allowed. I believe there were a few more than that. One in particular had me in tears. Wally is 72 years old. He looked pretty good coming through Brown's Bar at 8:05am. He had until 11am to get to the finish at mile 100.2. As is our custom, Dad and I were on our way home, eating lunch, as the golden hour came to a close. I was following the finishers list as it updated every 30 seconds or so with the names of those who made it. Of course, all the numbers were stuck in our head. For example, I knew that #105 had passed several people to finish in 29:51:24, 275th. We kept looking for #72, Wally. The 30 hour time passed and he had not finished. However, thanks to Twitter updates, we got to see a video of Wally crossing the finish line, with help, at 30:01:55. He might not have "finished" according to the record book but the incredible 72yo ran 100.2 miles. Who cares that they won't give him the stinkin' buckle!?! He's a hero in my book. 

And this is why I love the sport of ultra-running. In the video of Wally finishing, you can hear the cheering, likely as loud as it was for Andrew who had finished 16 hours earlier. In fact, there's a good chance that Andrew was there, cheering for Wally. I'm pretty sure I talk about this in every race post. The camaraderie and attitude of this community just warms my heart. There is no discrimination in ability or age or gender - everyone supports everyone. Everyone RESPECTS everyone. Perhaps the world at large could take a lesson from these incredible athletes. Every year, my heart and soul are refreshed and invigorated making me want to be a better person.