First, read this. It's last year's story. Especially read it if you haven't read any of my other race entries. Also, I'm going to refer to it in this year's story. Go ahead. I'll wait...
Back? Here we go!
As is our tradition, Slugger stayed with Cousin Earl and Tuck stayed with the food lady while Dad and I drove and drove to Auburn. Okay, Dad drove. I rode. It's our norm ;) We did get to stay in Auburn this year which just meant less driving on Saturday, and we got to sleep a little later without worrying about getting to where we were going.
This year we were at a new aid station. Not because we changed - the actual location of our station changed! As I've talked about, the road into Brown's Bar aid station was atrocious. Well, between those driving it complaining, and some pretty bad storms last winter that made it even worse, there is no longer an aid station at the curve in the trail. Last year, if you recall, I walked down the hill to a dirt road, in search of the missing runner. Well, that dirt road is where the new aid station is! It is called Quarry Road so our station name was, can you guess? Quarry Road!! Except now we were closer to the actual Brown's Bar (like bar in a river?)
Since we weren't really sure what to expect in terms of getting there or what we'd find there, Dad and I did our Auburn business (breakfast, Rally's, Net Control) and headed on over. First, we had to persuade the nice state park girl that we were not parking in her parking lot but just driving through and she didn't need to charge us. We won. I think our knowing the combo for the gate helped convince her :) We drove past the gate and several miles up and down a decent dirt road (compared to the old road especially). We got to where the horses stop on their version of the race (google Tevis Cup) and kept going. The American River was flowing heartily to our left. We finally went around a curve and saw a turnout of sorts with a bunch of plastic tubs of stuff. Yup, we were here! And the aid station folks had been there. No one was around at the moment. We were WAY early!!
Now, besides wanting to make sure we got there and to get the lay of the land, we needed to be there because, just like last year, Jim Walmsley was hustling down the course toward us. Supposedly his goal was to finish by 6:30 (I heard 4:30 too but that's just stupid - less than 12 hours?! not on this course!! - the record is 14:45 ish). But we were WAY early, so we got out the chairs and sat in the shade for an hour or so.
Short story about that hour. I needed to tinkle. There was no outhouse (yet?). We'd always had one at the station before. I was VERY hopeful that the aid folks would be dragging one in. But until then, it was good old-fashioned bush time. I decided to walk up the trail instead of the road. Seemed more private - we'd already seen several folks out for a hike/run on the road. Now, I knew from the previous year that the trail went straight up and stayed straight up for a good ways. I didn't remember that the sides of the trail were straight down to the stream and straight up to whatever is up there. I walked about 200 yards and found no where to go off the trail. So I finally gave up and stepped just off trail and did my thing. As I was walking back down, here comes a very nice lady who was putting up trail markings for the race (more on those later). Luckily, she was far enough behind me!! But this 1200 step activity left me HOT!! SO hot!! So hot that I almost dipped in the stream. Except that it was in the sun and I didn't want that! So instead I dipped my hat and t-shirt in the stream :) In the shade, wet, it wasn't too bad!!
Have I mentioned that CA (and the rest of the world?) are in a massive, horrible, record-setting heatwave?! No? Oh, well, it's HOT here. H.O.T!!!
Anyway, about 3:30, maybe almost 4, the aid station folks finally showed up. We'd given up and gone ahead and laid claim to a spot (we totally moved some of their bins to claim it!) for our table and easy-up and radio. We used to track runners as they came in but this time we were set up on their way out. We only record an in-time so it really doesn't matter. The aid folks took up all the rest of the space with their water jugs, food stuffs, cooking apparati, etc. It was nice for them because they were able to have more than one vehicle there.
It was about this time that we asked the Net Control folks if they could tell us about where Jim (#35 this year) was so we'd know how long we had to get completely ready. They said maybe 1-1.5 hours in that he was almost to Green Gate (2 stations before us, but the last one we get radio info from). Okay!! I went to monitoring the radio and the station folks hurriedly did their thing (seriously, if you didn't read last year's blog, go do it now - you might start getting confused cuz I'm not repeating a lot of the details). By about 5:30 we were ready!
I don't remember how the next information came in and in what order, but here's what happened... Runner #46 got to Green Gate aid station just before 5:30. They called it in. And we all went, "HUH?!!??!". Where'd Jim go?! Did anyone know?? Was anyone concerned? Someone else radioed that question to Net Control. There wasn't really an answer, like they didn't know or didn't understand that maybe someone should find out! Jim had lead ALL day. By at least 30 minutes!! Now, all of a sudden (at least to us who'd been in the boonies for a while) he wasn't?? Before #46 (Ryan Sandes) got to us, or maybe right after, we got an answer of sorts. Jim had dropped at the river - the aid station right before Green Gate. I learned the next morning that he'd been violently ill, unable to stop throwing up and finally gave up trying to make it any further (yes, he'd been ill since at least one station prior!).
From the time we saw Ryan, we saw runners for the next 14 hours or so. We never had more than 20-30 minutes down time and only a couple times did we have that. It was like every time one of us thought we had time to grab a bite or go visit the outhouse (oh yeah, the aid folks DID bring one!! YAY!!), we had to hustle cuz there was already another runner coming down the hill!! Fortunately for us, a lot of them went pretty slow down that hill - it was STEEP!.
We saw a total of 254 runners, with 252 going out on their merry way down the road toward the finish. We had two drop. One was runner #116 who had hurt himself - looked like a ham pull or something. He could barely stand on it. Now, remember, there are cars here this time but they're all about to be full of stuff and people after we close up. We never have room to take out runners! Not to mention the fact that the runner wanting a ride will have to wait for all of us to be done, cleaned up, etc. But this guy had no business continuing on. So one of the aid guys unfurled his truck from the piles of stuff and drove him and his pacer to the gate. The crew then picked them up apparently.
While the truck was gone, we had a radio call that perhaps there was a runner down (lying across the road?) out of our station. Runners report these things when they get to the next station so that something can be done to help. Well, I was about to head down the road with a radio to check it out, but the radio was almost dead. And oddly, Dad hadn't brought another back-up. But we all surmised that the truck would HAVE to see said runner and would be able to do something. About the time the truck returned, we got radio that the runner in question had walked in to the next station. Never did find out what had been wrong with him. And the truck never saw him but agreed that he WOULD have!
If for some weird reason you still haven't read last year's report, go at least read the part in the middle about getting to meet the baseball player. I'll wait... no, really, go.
Sometime in the middle of the night, - no, it might have been almost light - I noticed our resident celebrity, Hal (okay, now you might want to go read the 2015 story), talking to a pacer about baseball and running and stuff. I looked at him and he did look familiar. I looked at his runner. Sure enough! The runner was "not Lance" and the pacer was Eric Byrnes!!! I didn't say hello, but mostly because they were gone before I was completely sure I wasn't just seeing things.
I had been waiting for another runner all night. A celebrity in my book though no one else seemed impressed by him. John F. (can't pronounce it, can't spell it) #398 is a Barkley Marathon finisher. The Barkleys are an insane "race" in Tennessee where in some years, NO ONE finishes! Usually just one or two do. There is a documentary on Netflix about the 2012 race when THREE people finished. John was #3! He was also the last (or second to last?) person who got off the wait list to run Western States this year. He didn't know until THURSDAY that he'd actually be running! Luckily, he knew he'd be next if a spot opened and had already flown out (he lives in VT) and was at the ready. He got in because the legend who started the race in 1974 gave up his spot for him. So, anyway, I was anxious to see this guy!! He happened to sit down in a chair across from me, so I quickly stepped away from the radio and told him what an inspiration his Barkley run was, and all that other fan-girling stuff :) I later read that he'd decided to go slow and enjoy every mile since one never knows when/if they'll get another chance to run WS.
Another runner we were ALL waiting for was #337. Craig is the race director of this race. It is RARE for an RD to run his own race. I never read why he decided to do it. But he did!! He wasn't fast but he looked like he was having fun :) He, of course, knew EVERYONE.
Oh, another memorable runner was #26. She wasn't really memorable while she was with us. But 3 hours later, we got a radio call that she had apparently turned around and was coming back toward us and we should go get her. I tried to get across that this was an absolutely silly idea and perhaps Net Control could find someone somewhere else to head toward where she might be who could actually HELP her and get her somewhere safe. We didn't have medical and couldn't get her out until late morning (it was about 3am while this was all happening). Finally, the next aid station - Pointed Rocks, often referred to on radio as PointY Rocks, got some more info from somewhere that she was being picked up on the road by her crew, taken to another station to get her armband cut off (the official designation that a runner has dropped out) and then taken home. I tried SEVERAL times through the rest of our time to get this confirmed because technically she was OUR runner and we'd have to stay until she was sorted out!! To make a long, frustrating end less annoying to you, my awesome reader... her situation actually made Pointy Rocks' #s off but they sorted it out and I eventually, in person at Net Control, got confirmation that it all happened like it was supposed to and she was safe and with her crew.
Our last runner expected was #236. She came in on horseback with the sweep team. She wasn't doing well. The heat had knocked down SO many people!! Somehow, the aid folks made room for her and her pacer (I think two of the aid ladies walked out), the horses continued on and the aid station folks left. Dad and I had to stay until Pointed Rocks had reconciled and the horses had reached their "point of no return" or halfway in between. It seemed like forever because at this point we were sitting in the car ready to go and I had visions of getting to see Slugger in 8-10 hours! FINALLY, they said good bye. Which is always funny cuz we leave the aid station and go back to see them in person to deliver our lists of runners. We did, gave them some thoughts on the event, and brushed our teeth at their bathrooms. I changed my clothes too. Cuz it'd been a LONG 26 hours since I'd put them on!! I know TMI. You love me.
Dad, as always, did an EXCELLENT job getting us to Kresse's where he stayed, and I left to go get Slugger. I encountered ZERO traffic and was at Dave's in just about 2 hours. Slugger was VERY happy to see me, as I was him. We came home, I showered and changed, and went to bed.
And now we're all sitting on the front porch enjoying the beautiful BB weather. Blue sky, some wind, bright sun. Heaven :)
PS I took no pictures. I was busy.
PPS On MANY of these race recaps, I have finished by remarking that I would never be one of those running. However, now that I'm calling myself a runner, it doesn't seem so impossible. I told Dad this weekend (in the middle of the hot afternoon) that if I ever did WS, I'd need to run SO fast in the morning and night that I could just sleep during the hot part of the afternoon. We eventually decided that it made no logistical sense unfortunately due to station cut-off times. So I just have to get in on a cold year :) In like 10 years...
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