April

 April was nuts. Started with snow. It's been busy busy busy. And bam it's May! 

This week the Peer Leaders of BBHS are hosting an entire week they're call Bear Aware Week. Lunchtime activities with trivia and prizes, self-care, stress management and such. And Friday is an assembly where we'll play Blooket using the questions they should've learned through the week, etc. So, BUSY!! BUT it's been good. Nervous about the assembly but also, whatever.

I also planned an event for the teacher's union where we went to a paint and sip type place. That was much more fun than I anticipated! 

Seems like so much more... OH! Last weekend I got to go axe throwing and have dinner with some friends who have since moved away. I didn't throw axes (stupid shoulder), I just kept score and cheered them all on. Friends will be missed but they have fun adventures ahead!

That was after spending all day on my couch volunteering for our local "Hamvention". Dad was there letting non-licensed folks try talking on the radio. I"m who they talked to! The best kind of volunteer job, cuz Slugger got to help!

Oh yeah, and PT for the knee. I don't think it's working. Probably could be better about doing my at home stuff. But it doesn't seem to make a difference. 

Plus lots of walks/hikes with pooch and a few runs. 

May won't be quite as busy but yet it will. Attending school play this weekend, teacher union EOY party later in the month. Grades. And hoping I get some interviews! I've applied to 5 jobs I think. Fun stuff. It's in God's hands. 

Here's to many more Slugger snuggles :)

If you read this far... I think this is my next tattoo. On my left forearm. 

AND TODAY I am PROUD to show off the last one!! YAY UMC!!!! (Finally!!)

Angeles Crest 100 2018

The hardest part about AC100 this year was leaving Slugger. We had only been in the new house for 10 days. I found a dog sitter and she came over 4 times to get to know him and make sure both were comfortable. Luckily, it all worked out!!

The big difference this year was that Dad drove up from Kresse's and I drove from BB. Because I wanted to stay with Slugs as long as possible, I didn't actually get to Millard until about 6pm. I still beat the aid station folks by a little bit. We got all set up and settled in for the night. By the time runners got anywhere near us, the early favorites, big names, and frequent guests had all dropped out! It was an interesting race - hot was the key word, I think.

Seriously have no exciting events to report!! Oh wait, there was one bit of drama. An early runner was reported going through the aid station before ours with a pacer. This is normal except that at AC, there is a category of runner called Solo. This means they are running without crew, and without pacer. They sign up this way and get an early start in the registration process. This runner was supposed to be running solo, but seemed to have a pacer. We were at first told to stop the runner and DQ him. Dad conferenced with Aid Station folks and explained to Net Control that this wasn't going to happen. It really wasn't our job!! Net Control did some research and agreed that it wasn't our job. Runner came in, with pacer, and left. We never mentioned the issue!! Two of our aid folks knew they guy, sort of, and knew he'd always planned to have a pacer and there must be some mistake with the Solo markings. After the fact, we learned that it had indeed been a clerical error and he wasn't running solo. He got his finish in under 25 hours :)

Our last runner came and went (though didn't quite finish in under 30 hours). Sweep runners and bikers came and went. We packed up. I finally bailed even though Dad wasn't done yet - we have to wait until everyone finishes. I was QUITE anxious to get to Slugger!! Oh, and I was having some weird allergic reaction (I assume) in my eye and was in pain and couldn't see clearly. I was hoping getting out of the woods would clear it up. It didn't. It was an interesting drive home. I didn't feel better until the next day!!

And as always, I took no pictures. Here's a couple someone else took!

the all night gang

everyone!

Western States 100 2018

(This is last year's post which has a link to the year before which I think has links to others, in case this is your first Race report and you don't understand what is happening!)


I'm not sure where to even start! It seems like the details are always the same - we drive to Auburn on Friday, stay at the Motel 6, head to Quarry Road, etc...

This year, Dad and I had the added adventure that he was trying the Keto diet and I was trying to stay mostly Vegan. It made eating out a challenge but one we happily accepted! For dinner we tried the Black Bear Diner. It is a chain with about 20 restaurants in CA. We'd seen billboards along our drive up the 99 and always considered it in Auburn but just never tried it. Well, we sure are glad we did! Dad had the best omelette ever (he said so!) and I can't remember what I ate!! I'm sure it was breakfast - french toast maybe?! But it was so good we went back there for breakfast!! Partly because the Denny's across the street from the Motel 6 was closed. Closed! Denny's don't close! I mean, permanent, weeds growing in the parking lot kind of closed! The guy at the Motel 6 said he didn't know what happened; it was just closed one day. Interesting! We really didn't mind going to the Black Bear again!!

We, of course, had plenty of time before we needed to head out to Quarry Road so we drove through town and stopped at the Auburn Running Company. I had been pondering a new hydration pack because I wanted more pockets, and more functional pockets. I tried this one on and took a pic so I could shop for it elsewhere. Then I decided that I would rather give my money to ARC so I bought it!! It is SO comfortable - hardly know I'm wearing it! And it has the fancy soft bottles. (Now that I've used it a couple times, I'll tell you I use one bottle for my Nuun electrolyte and the other pocket for my phone, with the extra bottle getting swapped out midrun, if I ever go that far).

We checked in at Net Control and drove off to Quarry Road. We were of course early and there well before the Aid Station folks. We set up a little but luckily not everything because we ended up moving once everyone was there. We listened for runners getting to the aid stations before us. Jim Walmsley was in the lead by quite a bit (it's a Job thing, go read the last two year's posts!). Once he left ALT (the station before us), I went up the trail to where the aid station used to be, about 3/4 of a mile, so I could radio back that he was on his way. THIS time, he was smiling, chatty, and all around looked like he was having a great day. I radioed and took off running after him. I wanted to see how much longer it took me! Now, it's downhill the entire way and I ran almost all of it - likely more than I would have if just out on a run. It took Jim SIX minutes. Me? twelve. Not bad!! Jim went on to win the race in a new course record of 14 and a half hours!! 

I have no idea when or why I took this! Looks like before anyone else got there though.

I really shouldn't have waited 2+ months to write this because I'm having trouble remembering much about the night! We saw a LOT of runners. Except for the hour between Jim and the next guy, we never really had more than 5 minutes between runners. Seriously, it was a steady stream of runners and pacers for HOURS. 

The Aid Station crew chose the 70's as their theme this year. Tie-dye tablecloths and t-shirts, weed (yes, really), and decent music. It was pretty much the same group as every year, plus a few newbies. Always fun to share the night with them. 

Dad and I packed up and drove home. He actually let me drive most of the way!! We got back to my house to see very happy puppies. My buddy Jacob had taken very good care of them! 

The only non-race excitement is that I spent most of the drive up trying to lock down a 4th reference for a job at Connections Academy. See the next post...

Old Goat 50 2018

(this is long, but the end is the "best" part)

If you remember, Dad and I had quite the adventure back in November for the Chimera 100. Well, yesterday we drove back up to the exact same turn in the road for the Old Goat 50. Our part of the course is the same, except we're at 34 miles and 36 miles or so. Runners don't do as many loops at the beginning and only go up 2.5 miles before they come back to us and then head toward the finish. The nice part about a 50 mile race is that our time on site is shorter. There is no overnight. In theory, everyone will finish before it gets dark. Or they're VERY close.

Dad and I left the pups at home at about 7am and headed out. We were on site by about 9:30 I think. Set up went quickly since I'm now able to actually help. I've finally watched and "helped" enough that I can put up the antenna all on my own! Technically, I think I could do it all but while I'm doing antenna, Dad is doing radio. It makes it go so much faster! We had plenty of time so I set out on a run. This was sort of the plan but it all kind of depended on timing and how my toes felt.

TMI alert - I had popped the larger 2 blisters, one on each big toe on Wednesday night and re-doctored them on Thursday night after my short run. They had mostly felt fine since them (with big bandages on them), so I didn't touch them again. I almost took pictures of all this process, but I didn't.  Sorry.

Anyway, I really wanted to run up to the peak to see for myself what these runner had to do after they left us. We knew the radio guys were already up there which meant I could meet these guys whose voice I'd be listening to all day. I often find it interesting that I talk to radio guys (almost always men) all day and night and never get a face to put with the voice. So. I set off.

Oh my word that road is STEEP!! and ROCKY!!  So, I pretty much hiked the whole way up. I ran when I could but it was seldom and it was slow. It took me an hour to go the first 2 miles. I was told it was about 3 to the top. But I didn't let it bother me that I was walking so much. I was there and I was doing it and I knew I'd be able to FLY back down!!

Santiago Peak has some beautiful views. I didn't take any pictures. It is also the home of a massive antenna farm as they refer to it. There are MANY LARGE antennas and things. For a plethora of communication needs. I have no idea what they all are. But it was cool to see them up close. They really are as gigantic as they seem like they must be from afar.

I chatted with Jim and Matt, the radio guys, and headed back down. Oh, I tried to talk to Dad on simplex but we couldn't actually understand each other. We connected but the static and noise was just too much to be able to actually talk. But I was pretty sure he knew it was me and that it meant I was at the top. I'd been gone well over an hour at this point.

My prediction was correct - compared to up, I FLEW down!! About 80 minutes up and 50 down. Or something like that. I probably could've run the entire down but some sections were steep and rocky and I don't like to fall down. I also had to stop several times to step off trail for vehicles to pass me. This particular dirt road is very popular amongst people who like to drive their fancy 4wd vehicles on first roads.

I got down before we saw any runners so yay! We then did our radio thing. We saw 53 runners. We had to turn around 4 of them though because the race director realized we'd all be there forever if we didn't activate a cut-off. Those 4 weren't very happy about being turned around. We saw 49 runners go up and 49 runners come down so we didn't lose any!! There were 84 who started the 50 mile race. Most of the difference in those 2 numbers dropped down to the 30k or 50k distance that were also part of the race. Basically at one of the early aid stations they turned right instead of left. We did have one young lady who switched from the 50k to the 50 miler. I have never experienced that before. Who decides in the middle of a race to an extra 20 miles?! But there was some radio chatter that it was an accident - she'd turned left instead of right? But who runs an extra 20 miles ON ACCIDENT?!

The only other memorable runners were a couple. The gentleman was back after having gone to the peak already when I a woman came in for the first time. They seemed excited to see each other and gave each other kudos and such. Then they kissed. And he commented on her skirt. They then went on their different ways. When she came back through, someone said something about the previous kissing and she commented that "there's always time for kissing". Quote of the day?
I almost forgot to mention that when we were told to turn people around, we thought we had 6 we were waiting for. So I headed down the road to catch them so they wouldn't have to go up that extra bit if they didn't want to. About half mile before they get to us, they come off an actual trail and turn left on the road. So if I could catch them there, they'd have one mile less and only about 2 miles to the next aid station. Dad said he thought it was about a quarter mile. I am here to tell you it's closer to half a mile. I actually recorded it on my watch on the way back up cuz it seemed even further than that and that was going down! Four runners were told within sight of the aid station so they went up to refuel and complain and such. When I got to the trail, I radioed to confirm that the other 2 were really on their way. There had been quite some issue with reconciliations all day because of the very large numbers of runners who switched courses. Indeed, they were not on course to me so I went back up the hill. It was steep but I did it! So my mile count for the day was technically just about 6 though I only attempted to run a little of the down on that short stint.

We packed up and started off as the sun was setting. We ended up getting out in the dark. As is habit, we stopped at the Starbucks in the Vons shopping center to get some caffeine for the drive home, and to borrow their flushing facilities and running water with soap. Dad mentioned wanting to check tires since we'd kicked a couple rocks on the drive. He did this while I went in cuz I was in desperate need of the flusher, if you know what I mean. On our way out, I asked if everything had looked good. Dad said yes, as I looked down at the back tire on my side. Tire looked great but there was a large puddle of something that I'm pretty sure wasn't there before.

One of those rocks had punctured the fuel tank. NOT GOOD!! Gas was SPEWING out. This could be a long story so I'm going to give highlights. A young man saw us trying to figure out what was going on and got down on the ground and stopped it with his finger. Then Dad and I and Aaron (the young man) and his dad tried to figure out what on earth we could use to patch the hole. We'd already talked to AAA but there would be no towing if we couldn't get it to stop leaking.

Dad went off to Vons and the gas station to see what he could figure out. Aaron and his dad went to Starbucks to clean up (later figured out that the barista was I'm pretty sure Aaron's sister). Aaron came back out with an idea. He used some guerilla tape in a ball as a plug of sorts and then taped it up. It seemed to work. They left. We called AAA again and a tow truck was dispatched. And that's about as long as the plug worked. Dad had bought some fancy leak fixing tape. It was leaking less but still leaking.

The tow dispatch lady called to let me know the truck was coming but the one that was about to pull in was actually for another call in the same parking lot. I told her that the leak was back and asked if anyone there had any ideas for us. Jimmy said to call the fire station. We did and WOW! They had some putty stuff that they just wadded up into a ball and bam, leak stopped!! I called the tow lady back and told her to keep the truck on its way!! The very nice firemen waited until the tow truck got there keeping us company. The tow truck driver, Darrick, had some cat litter to clean up the gas we'd spilled. We were on our way!!! Darrick drove us all the way home to Hesperia and the dogs were fed by midnight!! Golly were they glad to see us!!!

I highly recommend Steve's Towing out of Lake Elsinore, by the way. They were all very helpful and professional. Also, I thank God for the angels he sent in Aaron and his dad. They did not need to help!! But Aaron's short term fix gave us the hope we needed to get the tow on the way which led to the fire guys, etc. God is good. Also we were leaking gasoline many miles and nothing bad happened from it so YAY! Oh and also YAY for AAA premium which will tow you a long long way, like from Corona to Hesperia in the middle of the night!!

Dad has a good friend who is a mechanic in Big Bear. They chatted this morning and Nick assured us that the putty would hold it so Dad drove home. We talked almost all the way for my sanity and we had several contingent plans. We'd unpacked almost everything into my garage and Tuck stayed here. The car is now at Nick's garage and tomorrow he'll figure out what's next. But apparently the hole is in a large dent so there will be a new fuel tank for Dad! Also, we are both going to put some of this putty stuff in our glove compartment and recommend to everyone we know they do the same!! It apparently will stop any leak in anything. Who knows what a rock could puncture next time!! Also, my next car will be a high riding 4wd truck or jeep or something and will become our race vehicle!! Dad's car can go anywhere but with all the equipment it rides even lower than usual.

So apparently, Bear Springs adventures are BIG adventures. I guess I'll keep going back...

Sorry. I took not one single photograph. There is one of the aid crew but I don't possess it yet. Check back in a few days maybe.

B2V 2018

One of the races that Dad has done for years that I got tired of NOT being able to do is Baker to Vegas. It's in mid-March and I was never able to make it work to get here. So I moved here ;)

WOW! What an AMAZING feat of organization!! Baker to Vegas is an event for Law Enforcement and it is HUGE! This is a 20 stage relay race from outside Baker (a tiny town on I15 on the way to Vegas) 120 miles to Las Vegas. There are 275 teams involved. Each team has 20 runners (one for each stage) and many, many support personnel. There is a catcher and some sort of crew at every stage. I saw as many as 6-8 crew with a team at our stage. Some only had a few. There is a follow vehicle behind the runner at all times. The new runner has to be at their starting stage in time to check-in, warm-up, etc. I heard about and saw several clipboards with many papers - I am sure all in an attempt to organize who went where when. In addition to all the logistics, someone was probably also in charge of making their team competitive!! We talked to a woman representing the NYPD and she estimated that there were probably 50 people with her team. It's not a cheap endeavor! Many teams appeared to sponsored by local businesses and such - signs on their vehicles indicated this. Oh, these teams are from across the nation and further - the Canadian Mounties had a team and team #3 was from Belize!!

There are a lot of categories within a team could compete - all female, mixed, age-related, etc. I saw a lot of law enforcement personnel. There were teams from FBI, PD, Border Patrol, Game Wardens, Crime Labs, etc. There's actually an episode of CSI based on this race (420 Dead Ringer). Runners were all fit, some incredibly so. Their times for that last mile before they got to us ranged from 6-10 minutes or so. Mostly in the 7-8 minute range I think.  The results aren't in at the time I'm writing but Twitter told me that LAPD won again in a record 12:37.

Not only do the teams need to be organized but the actual event is incredible. There are 20 stages with hams (us!), medics, timers, sign-in, traffic control (of teams, not really cars though they did some of that too), etc. At any given moment, with stage volunteers and team people, I'd say there were 50-100 people at our stage. Of course, other moments, there were very few team people so it was more like 20-30 - just the volunteers.

Teams started in groups of about 30, every hour. There were 9 starts! The self-acclaimed slower teams start first and the elite really really fast teams start last. This way the start lasts about 10 hours (with sign-in and such) but the finish is considerably less time.

Our job at Stage 5 was different than any other race I have ever worked. We had some ham folks who set up one mile before our stage. They would let us know when runners came by. We then announced it to the masses so that the teams could be get prepared and all set up in the right spot. There were 3 distinct jobs at our table - take down the info from the early warning guys, announce it to the teams, record when runners actually come in to the stage. It got quite chaotic at some moments!! There were precious few moments of non-activity!

Our little team consisted of myself, Dad, Uncle Charlie, Aunt Patty and their son Steven.  Patty and Steven aren't hams (yet?!), but they were crucial. Steven did a lot of the announcing and Patty was able to field some of the team questions (though they didn't bug us nearly as much as they could have!) and give moral support. We commented several times that it really took all of us! It would be absolutely impossible to do it alone and incredibly difficult to do it with just two of us. We were able to take breaks when we needed, shift roles, etc. There were four guys down at the early warning set up. One of them was working this race for the 34th time!!

Dad and I left my house before 5 am and got home about 10:30pm. It was a very long day for us and the dogs (who hung out at my house) but SO worth it!! We got to Stage Five about 7:15am and immediately started setting up. And we were busy until 6:30pm. Time went so fast that I swear I blinked and were were waiting for the 275th team! I already can't wait to go back next year!!

Chimera 100 2017 - AKA Don't Mess with Ultrarunners

A friend from work agreed to stay at my house with the dogs while we worked radio at the Chimera 100 in Orange County. So Dad and I left Saturday morning from the desert. I was nervous about Slugger being nice until Jacob sent me this picture.

Traitor

Anyway, Dad and I were working at the Bear Springs aid station. Runners came in at about 60 miles, went out and back about 18 more miles and came back to us a second time. This was my first time seeing runners twice at the same spot. It could have been chaotic but it wasn't really too bad.  For the most part, all the runners had shown up the first time before the majority started coming back the second time.

We had 6 runners drop at our spot all together. The first four dropped on their first visit. The fifth was sometime in the middle of the night and I honestly don't remember. The sixth did not make it by cutoff the second time. Actually, he got there the second time in a "transport" vehicle. We, of course, knew who we were waiting for and he was taking quite a long time to arrive. So the nice transport driver drove up the course to find him. So glad he did. Even by car, it was at least 30 minutes, if not an hour before they got back!! We were completely packed up and ready to go, helping the aid station folks do the same.

Some memorable runner moments before I get to the excitement of the night:

- I actually missed two runners! One going up (the first time through) and one coming down (the second time). What?! It's not like we had oodles of runners at one time. Oh well, I was tired, and we were able to figure out where they were. As in, they weren't lost.

- #132 was the last one to go through the aid station before us before coming back to us the second time. He is memorable because he came FLYING in to Bear Springs, stayed a moment or two and flew out again. He knew he was very close to cut off and didn't want to get stopped. Happy to report he finished. Also, I believe he had the fastest split before us and after us!

- I don't remember her number but I am still giggling at the woman who came running in for her second visit. She said her pacer had stopped to pee so she sprinted in so she'd have time to sit down before he got there! I did note that her pacer let her sit a few minutes even after he got there. But he did seem like a slave driver. Which reminds me of another pacer who was very very perky. I told Dad I totally would've slapped her within the first mile or two. Pacers are supposed to be perky. That's their job but I'm not sure I could handle it at that point.

- #166 is memorable because he truly did not seem as though he should be roaming the woods alone at night. And that was on his FIRST visit. He actually appeared to be kinda loopy. He was a bit worse when he came through the second time. We then happened to see him at about 82 miles and he looked even worse. But he finished! We decided that perhaps he always looks like that - the out of it part, not the tired, sweaty part. I do know people (mostly teenagers, and this guy was 23) who look loopy as a way of life. Loopy is SO not the right word but the right one isn't coming to me. I don't mean it derogatorily (is THAT a word? yeah, I'm gonna move on now).

- We knew no names. We didn't have an entrant list or anything so unless there was a reason to "introduce" themselves, runners were just bib numbers to us. When we got home and were looking at results and such, we realized that we actually knew one of the guys who dropped AT our aid station!! Well, I sort of know him - he graduated a couple years before me and his brother graduated with me I think - and Dad has interacted with him in the running world of Big Bear. Small world. Bummer we didn't know it was him at the time!

I think that's about it for runner stories worth noting. On to the EXCITEMENT of the night. Not like getting gifts exciting but like I'm never gonna sleep now kind of excitement.

At some point mid-evening (never thought to keep track of the time on our end but I'm sure someone did somewhere), the aid station after us (2.5 miles down the dirt road) reported a drunk driver zooming about their location. To make this story as short as I can while making sure you, the reader, get the gist, I'll sum up some parts.

This gentleman in the green jeep left and came back to the ITT aid station a couple times, the last time running into a fence post and one of the station's canopy tents. Luckily no one was hurt. Unlucky for us, he left there and headed toward us. I want to say it was about midnight. Who knows. All sense of time goes away once it gets dark. Anyway, thanks to our radios we knew he was coming. We started preparing ourselves...

Exactly what Dad thought he would do with the hammer, I'm not sure, but I'm glad he was willing to protect us. I am not sure when I have been quite so scared. This maniac (we had LOTS of names for him, most not suitable to print) had a jeep, was mad and drunk and possibly high (the first report over the radio stated this was true), and we were parked on the side of a mountain, literally. There was nothing but a steep mountainside behind our tents!! We heard him coming and all kind of scattered so that if he missed the turn (on purpose or not) we might be spared. I'll post pics of our set up at the end. Just know that my chair would've been the first over the cliff. Thank God, he went zooming around the corner, only sliding a tad, and went on up the road. Dad guessed he was going 30 mph. Dad would've taken it at no more than 5 mph, I am sure. Yes, the guy was a lunatic. I hate drunk people.

Anyway, we calmed our hearts and called in the sighting to warn the others. He didn't get to the next aid station for quite some time. Dad guessed (probably correctly) that he got lost in the "antenna farm" on the top of the mountain. He did eventually get to the aid station, circled and basically tormented them for a few minutes before moving on. He eventually got to the final aid station before the runners turned around. Thank God he kept going.

This was all even more scary because the road this idiot was traveling on - oh did I mention that at times he turned off his lights? - was covered with runners!! Runners who were tired, etc. I spent a good hour or more sitting in my chair praying for their safety. We had ended all radio traffic except about this guy. So for the most part I had nothing to do but listen and pray. I am VERY happy to say that the prayers worked. All runners stayed safe. All stations had been warning runners about the moron so they knew to get off the road, turn off their lights and such. Seriously scariest night I've spent in a very long time.

Think I'm done? Nope. The next morning as the two aid stations above us were driving out, guess who they saw stuck in some trees?! YUP!! Now, we at Bear Springs were mostly voting for leaving the "poor guy" there. They didn't. They pulled him out and then followed him to the highway until CHP caught up with him. They pulled him over, ruined his morning, gave him a sobriety test and HE FAILED!! Now, it'd been a while since we'd seen him so not sure how he hadn't sobered up but I'm okay with it!!

When asked why they bothered helping this guy out of the trees, we were told "Karma goes both ways". Quote of the weekend for me!!

Now, let me tell you something. I LOVE ultra runners and their community. You know that and you know how awesome they are if you've read any of my posts about them. So all I can say now is:

DON'T MESS WITH ULTRARUNNERS!!!! :) 

the view behind us - the ocean is out there!

down the hill - they ran up to us the first time, down the second time

our set up

doing my thing

our tents at the bend in the road

the new addition which is AWESOME

the view from my chair (see what I mean about being first impact?)

sunrise

Kodiak 100 2017

For the last several years, as Dad gears up for the Kodiak 100, I have had horrible homesickness because I so wanted to be able to help. THIS was one of the events that I moved here for!! 

Dad is in charge of ALL the radio communications for this race. It has multiple races within, with the 100 miler being the longest, with 36 hours allowed to complete. It basically makes a very large circle in the mountains around Big Bear Valley. There are a LOT of aid stations, MANY of them running for VERY long hours, through the night and/or all day. It is very hard to get enough communicators to adequately cover the stations with shifts. Mostly, communicators just stay at the station for hours upon hours. These are some dedicated folks. 

This year, the race started at 9am on Friday morning. I worked but as soon as I could get out, I picked up Slugger and we drove to Big Bear. Slugger got to stay at Dad's house with Cousin Tuck and I went on to Net Control. This is who all the other communicators talk to throughout the entire event. Some stations were hooked up with the computer system we use at AC100 but only if they could get internet access. There were many too far into the boonies for that and so they called every runner's time through the station into our Net Control. We then recorded it into the computer system for them. 

By the time I got there, the runners had been on course about 9 hours. Everyone in Net Control was tired. Of course, so was I since I'd taught all day! Several took naps throughout the night. Some came and went. I spent a lot of time on the radio. That's my favorite thing so I was happy and it kept me awake. 

Saturday dawned. Things got slow. Things picked up. I finally gave up trying to stay awake and un-grumpy at about 6pm. I went and got some food and went to pick up Slugger. I know it only makes sense to me, but I needed to go home to get any real sleep. I'd forgotten my charger at Net Control so Slugs and I drove back over there to get it. Slugs was so excited to see Dad. They actually hadn't seen each other yet. I love that Slugs loves Dad so much! We got home, and I went to bed and slept WELL!!

This was my first time working in Net Control. Usually we're off in the field somewhere doing the calling. This weekend was a very interesting experience for me! I had all these runner numbers in my head, could tell you a few names even. I know some stories about their race experience. But I never saw a runner. That's so weird!! It definitely gave me a new appreciation for Net Control. It is a BUSY place!! All sorts of crazy things are happening in person, on the radio, on the cell phone, etc. I think it made me even more tired, besides just not sleeping, because I had to THINK a lot! Answer questions, deal with emergencies, etc. 

I would be in Net Control again, but I'd MUCH rather be in the middle of nowhere!! 

Oh, Net Control was located in a cabin on the lake. It is usually in a location away from all the actual action. Here's the sunrise (before I left to go feed the dogs). From our porch.

AC100 2017

(If you're new, or haven't read my other posts on ultra running, you might want to check out this post first... go here! There are many others, but that sums up the whole concept)

This year's AC100 was extra exciting for me because I DIDN'T HAVE TO DRIVE BACK TO TEXAS after it was over. And I mentioned that several times over the weekend!! It made a HUGE difference and made me VERY happy!!

Dad had been in Sunland dog-sitting for a week when AC rolled around. Slugger and I were still based in Big Bear, though a house existed in our name (yay! - but that's another post). So on Saturday morning, Slugger and I made our way to Sunland. Slugger would spend the night with the rest of the pack there while Dad and I did our radio thing at Millard. Dad would go back and feed them all late Saturday night and early Sunday morning. It was a good plan! It worked too :)

We arrived to Millard a little later than usual this year. Dad had talked to Bob so we knew he was also running late. There's really no point in getting there before Bob since he has the key to the gate. I do remember carrying all the stuff up one year. Let's not do that again!

The campground actually had campers in it!! Not sure why it was so popular this year. Pretty sure the majority of the folks were more or less living there though. There was a tent where we usually set up. We set up there anyway. The new camp host, Steve, said he hadn't seen the guy in a few days. Turns out that doesn't mean much as Steve is also not seen much! Shane, the owner of the tent came back before dark. He was very understanding and didn't seem to mind our presence. We warned him we're up all night and aren't quiet. He said he had earplugs :) He woke up looking refreshed so I guess he really did sleep through it all!!

One of the other "residents" was an odd fellow whose name I can't remember! About 8pm (totally making that up, I just know it was before runners), he "cleaned" the bathrooms. The bathrooms are portapotties with walls... yup, mop, cleaner, etc. He was really actually kinda my hero - those bathrooms have never ever smelled GOOD before! And they did, for most of the night!! Then he got high and just became creepy. I will always remember him for his cleaning ability though :)

Some words about the new camp host, Steve. He was pretty cool!! He is young and seemed interested in what we were doing there. He helped us out several times and hung around and watched some runners come through in the middle of the night. He also went to get a milkshake at about 2am and didn't come out of his trailer the next morning until we were starting to wrap things up! Guess he has a different schedule than I'm used to.

Let's see... what else? Our first runner wasn't until about 12:30am. All day, it seemed 3 guys had been hopping back and forth for the lead. OUR first runner was Jerry Garcia (hehe). He had passed Brandon on his way to us. They were about 2 minutes apart. Dom was behind them by 15-20 (?) and asked who was leading. He said that Jerry REALLY wanted it. I already assumed this - I knew he'd run it several times and never won. This year, he DID!!  They finished in the order we saw them actually. Well, those three anyway.

Later, the first female came in. She had slowed down from her earlier pace, but she'd led the whole way (as far as I remembered from Twitter that morning). She was running "solo" but ran with Jorge Pacheco. When they got there, he said he wasn't having a good day and I encouraged and thanked him for taking care of the #1 female. He seemed to appreciate that I appreciated that. Jorge has won the race several times; this was her first race so I'm sure she was grateful for the company of someone who knew every detail of the trail and such!

The night wore on. Not too much excitement. Only 9 runners finished in under 24 hours. Jorge and Rachel (above) were the only 2 "sunrise to sunrise" finishers (they get a special buckle for finishing before the sun came up on day 2). We had SEVERAL "slow" runners according to the system. As always, they showed up, walking but able to go on.

We got down to the last few runners. I was radioing them to the station before us as they'd already broken down their computers. Yay for radio time :) We knew who we were waiting for and in what order we might expect them. Sure enough, it didn't happen in that order! I can't remember his # of course, but the Texas guy moved to last, well behind the others, apparently with blisters. We started to warn the aid station folks that they might want to think about how to transport him out since he probably wouldn't make it in time (according to the system's algorithms), not to mention being in blister pain. Sure enough, he came running in. And out. He then passed someone else and finished with 8 minutes to spare!! Go Texas!! The system was lagging at the finish line so I actually thought at the time that he'd passed several people. I was so excited I cried (note, I'd also been up all night). I still think it's AWESOME that he found the oomph to obviously RUN the last 5 miles!!

In the end, all 114 runners who came through Millard finished the race within the allotted 33 hours. That always makes me feel like we did our jobs well.

Oh yeah, the AC100 REALLY likes to make me cry. Here's this year's tearjerker story:
Runner #10 was Andy and Runner #12 was George. Andy was actually running with both bibs because George was in a hospital bed kicking cancer in the butt. Yes, BOTH #s were recorded at each aid station. George got his 10th finish. THIS IS THE HEART OF ULTRARUNNING!!!! I LOVE THESE PEOPLE!!!!

Western States 100 Miler 2017

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...

Mt Disappointment 2016

Dad and I were invited to help with radio communications at the Mt Disappointment Endurance Race on July 9. Dad had never worked this particular race before but we were both familiar with parts of the course, and in particular the location we would be working. You might remember from this post in 2013, we spent several years working the aid station at Shortcut Saddle for the AC100 race. Well, that's where they wanted us for Mt Disappointment!!

Mt Disappointment has three races wrapped into it - 25k, 50k, and 50 miles. We would only see the 50 mile runners. When we looked a couple days before the race, there were 43 entrants who hoped to go that far. Okay, kind of a small group, but it'd be fun and I'd get to play radio and spend the afternoon at Shortcut!

This race actually uses part of the course from the AC100. For the 100, runners get to Shortcut at about mile 66, cross the highway and go downhill for a while. Well, for Mt D, they came UP the hill, saw us, and then more or less went back down the hill, but on a different route. Let me explain in pictures, maybe.

 The other side of the street is where the AC100 aid station "city" sets up. You can almost see where the trail comes up (or maybe I can see it cuz I know it's there?!) That crosswalk was for our crews, but that's where the runners would cross for the AC100. We were basically sitting where the hams sit for the AC100 (go back and read that other post!!).

This is the aid station for the Mt Disappointment. The runners came up the trail right there on the right. They'd get their bottles filled and such and then head out right past us.

That's our setup there. So the runners would go up that dirt road and down and around and off on another trail. We were at mile 42 so they had one more stop and then on to the finish! (side note: I walked up that hill 4 times to my own personal bush ;) )

That's Dad :) Doing radio stuff. This was kind of a unique race. Well, for a lot of reasons, but for the radio part especially. Several of the other hams at other stations were also affiliated with the AC100, including the guy who created their computer tracking software. So, just for fun, we set it up and used it. Only 3 stations had access to it which caused some interesting hiccups, but it was still nice to have it. We only called in the first few runners, first female runner and then the last few. But because the finish line people didn't have access to the computer info, they called regularly to see where runners were. Like I said, hiccups. But I enjoyed getting to talk on the radio and be helpful!

Here's the thing about this race. We got there a little after 11am and left about 8 or 8:30. We saw 25 runners!! TWENTY FIVE!!! That's really not very many at all. And three of those dropped there. Two with heat exhaustion and one because he didn't make it within the cutoff time. That guy showed up with another runner though. Weird moment for me. We knew we were waiting for one more, number 153, I think. The finish line people had JUST ASKED about #154. He had dropped at the station before us and we assumed he was in the car with them on their way out. Nope, he'd kept going, unofficially, with his cousin that we were waiting for! I still don't quite understand how that happened but we were able to clear things up for the finish line since they didn't know where he'd ended up! We then sat there and waited for their ride to come get them.

Even though it was a small race, I enjoyed myself immensely! Radio, drama, runners, Shortcut... it was a great day!!! In an after report email, the race director mentioned not doing the 50 miler again. I don't blame him. But I'd do it again!!

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. 

AC100 2015

(note: you might want to read this post from 2013 before reading today's, if you don't know much about ultra runs!! It has terms and history and stuff)

This year's Angeles Crest 100 mile endurance run set out to be a record year in terms of numbers. Due to a little glitch at registration (registration opens at noon the day after the race and fills up in just a few hours), there were 238 runners registered to race. It is usually capped at 200. Sixty-six didn't show to start on Saturday morning. With about 170 on course, we could have seen almost double last year (74 finishers), by mile 95. We didn't. It was hot! Skies were clear and it was beautiful, but it was  hot.

A cool aspect of this year's overnight at Millard Campground is that we had all the same volunteers back from last year! I guess we showed them a good time :) So it was our regular Aid Station Leaders Bob and Jeff, plus returning were Steve and Lexi (father/daughter) and Irene and her 8yo daughter Coco, plus they brought 12yo Sam (Irene's nephew). And, of course, Dad and I. A few more showed up the next morning.

Lead runner, Erik Schulte, ran in at exactly midnight. He had been playing mouse with Michael Carson for many miles, but Erik ended up the victor. Last year's winner, Ruperto Romero came in shortly after the first two left. Then we saw NO ONE for about 2 hours!! And who was 4th? The first female, Ashley Nordell! She had led the women's race most of the day. The second woman was 8th in. This is not a man's sport that women think is fun - women COMPETE!!

We had a steady stream, every 15-20 minutes until dawn or so when it was more like every 5 minutes. At several times during the late morning, we had 3 and 4 runners there at the same time. Made for a busy and fun morning. So did the fact that the software kept disconnecting us! We always got it back up and running. Except the last time I hit the wrong button (though it's usually the right button) and all our data left us - just us, not the main database, luckily! But we dealt with it and all was well.

Late in the morning, we heard over the radio about a downed runner. Apparently he had fallen, hit his head, and was lying in a patch of poison oak. That's what you call a bad day! He got to the next aid station and refused medical aid and set out, toward us. The gentleman was none other than the legend Jussi Hamalainen, who had finished this race every year it was run - 27 years! You might recall a story about him from last year's race posts. Well, he didn't make it to us. Search and rescue types happened upon him, crawling down the trail. He got in the vehicle and rode to the finish. The hard part, for me, was that I had to be the one to put in that he'd dropped out!! The aid station before us, who technically was where he dropped, had already closed up their computers!! Oh well, it added to the memories of the weekend. I really hope he's okay and that we see him next year!!

There were other memorable runners, of course. Here are a few:

#143 lives in Fort Worth TX!! He'd also taken some time getting to one of the other aid stations, so I asked him about it. He stopped and took a nap :)

#223 was the last person who left us for the finish. She didn't think she had time but we assured her, based on the few people before her, she totally did. And she did!! She finished with almost 15 minutes to spare!!

I can't remember his number but Hugo left us thinking he could do it in 24 hours but it was going to be close. He did it! #107 behind him did not. 24:08 is still a really good time though!!

#149 took 3.5 hours to get to us from the previous aid station. We started asking runners after about 3 hours and one said they'd seen someone taking a nap but the pacer said all we well. When he finally got to us, it was obvious he was hurting. He stayed maybe 5 minutes and went on. He finished!!

Actually, my track record is such that every runner who leaves my aid station has finished. I'm proud of that! (it helps to work the late aid stations!)

Oh, #114. He'd been last into the last couple aid stations. He left the one before us with almost 20 minutes before their cutoff. Before he got to us, we'd been told he would drop and his family was waiting for him at Millard. Sure enough, he came in looking very tired, past cut off. His family looked happy to see him though.

There are so many others. We saw 98 runners this year - 2 dozen more than last year! Every one of them has a story. First 100 miler, first AC100, aiming for a PR or 24 hour, and I can only imagine the personal stories of why they do this. It's not easy (I'm assuming cuz I can't run a block) but they do it anyway. My favorite runners are the ones who show up at mile 95 looking like they rolled down a mountain, but smiling and laughing like they're having the times of their lives. I sure know I enjoy my time at AC100!!

As usual, Dad and I got home and collapsed. Tomorrow (Tuesday), I must leave paradise and drive back to the furnace that is TX.