Western States 100 - A Crew Perspective

Last weekend I had the experience of a lifetime! I got to go to the Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run to crew for my friend, Lori. I first heard about this race about 4 years ago, shortly after I ran my first marathon. I wasn't even a trail runner at the time. But something really intrigued me about running Western States, and ANY ultramarathon, for that matter. Ever since I heard about WS100, I have been hooked on the idea of running it myself one day!

So when I heard about the possibility to crew at this race, I immediately jumped on the chance! I've known Lori for a little over a year, through the SoCal Trail Headz, our local trail/ultrarunning club. Not only would I get to help out someone I really admire and respect, but I would get to be a part of this legendary race! She said that if I came up to help crew, I could get a feel for the race, and get an idea of how to organize my crew for when I do the race! So I said, why not? I'd be an idiot to turn this opportunity down!
The plan was for me, Lori's sister-Lisa, and Lori's niece-Karen to crew, and Lori's brother Craig, was to be her pacer for the last 38 miles of the race. Now I had never met Lori's family before. As soon as I arrived at the cabin, and met Lisa and Craig, I could immediately tell why Lori was such a cool person! And then I also met Lori's husband, Bob, son Trevor, and niece Karen. They were all great people! Lori's family treated me like family, and I had a blast hanging out with them all weekend!

Me, Lori, and Lisa at the starting line! The race started at 5:00 AM the next morning!

On Friday, we went to Squaw Valley for race check-in. That's where Lori picked up all her race swag--Montrail backpack, race shirt, Polartec fleece, WS100 hat, and a hemp shirt. These hundred mile races always have really nice gear for the runners!

After that she had to do some basic medical screening. They took her weight, blood pressure, and heart rate. At various checkpoints throughout the race, race officials will check these again to make sure the runners are not gaining/losing too much weight, etc. If they are more than 5% off their starting weight, they could be pulled from the race. After she finished checking in, we grabbed lunch and then headed over to the pre-race briefing. There were so many well-known trail runners there! It was kind of like a Who's Who of Ultrarunning!

The meeting was kicked off by Tim Twietmeyer, of all people! He is the only person to have 25 sub-24 hour finishes of this race! Currently he is serving as the president of the Western States Endurance Run Foundation. Once the runners were briefed, and the meeting was over, we headed back over to the cabin.
Now I have to say, you know you're at a runner's house when their bookshelves are lined with books about running, and the magazines on the side table are Ultrarunning Magazine and Trail Runner Magazine.

Hey! I have some of those books!













Hey! I subscribe to those same magazines! (And I have the same Ikea side table, too.)



Lori has talked to me about her brother before, and how he was a two-time WS100 finisher. He has also ran over 60 ultras! With all his experience in long races, Lori was so lucky to have her big brother pace her for the last 38 miles, and on a course with which he was familiar. In his two finishes, he earned both a silver and a bronze belt buckle.

The silver buckle is for a sub 24-hour finish. The bronze buckle is for finishing in 24-30 hours.

So for Lori's pre-race dinner, she wanted pizza. What else do you think a runner would eat the night before running 100 miles??? After dinner, she went with her hubby and son to go stay in a hotel in Squaw Valley at the starting line. Meanwhile, back at the cabn, Lisa, Craig, and I watched the movie, "A Race for the Soul," about the WS100. Then we went to bed. I thought about getting up early and going down to the race start, but decided I would be better off getting a full night's sleep, since I was likely to be pulling an all-nighter the next night. And I wanted to be well-rested so I could be a better crew person for Lori!

In the morning, Lisa and I went to the Robinson Flat (mile 29.7) aid station. We were expecting to see Lori around 12:00. Craig entrusted me with his fancy camera and told me to take lots and lots of pictures! I didn't realize I was going to have so much fun just taking pictures! I took a picture of almost every runner I saw come into the aid station! It was pretty cool! Here are a few of my pictures. . .

Simon Mtuy from Tanzania (We had the pleasure of his company for one of our Dawn Patrol runs last year! He was in the US a few weeks before WS100 '08, which of course, was cancelled due to fires. He is a friend of Sue, of the Trail Headz.)

Tracy Moore. I see him at a lot of races in SoCal.

Nikki Kimball, WS100 First Place Female, 2004, 2006, 2007

Michelle Barton, another talented runner and member of the Trail Headz!

Kyle, another familiar face from a lot of SoCal trail races

Ultramarathon Man, Dean Karnazes

As the runners entered the Robinson Flat aid station, the volunteers took the runners to get weighed, refilled their water bottles, and brought their drop bag to them. The whole idea was to get the runners through the aid station as quick as possible.I was so excited when I finally saw Lori come around the corner! She was all smiles as she was 29.7 miles into the race! I was glad she seemed to be doing good, but said she was getting blisters and needed to change her shoes and socks.

Go Lori Go!

Lori was on a 27 hour pace when she left Robinson Flat. After she left, Lisa and I headed back to the car and went to meet Craig, Karen, Bob, and Trevor at the hotel in Auburn. We hung out there for a while until it was time to meet Lori at Michigan Bluff (mile 55.7).

Lisa and I, and other crew/family/pacers waiting at Michigan Bluff.

When she arrived at Michigan Bluff, she wasn't doing quite as well as she was when we saw her earlier. We expected this, of course, since she had almost doubled her mileage from when we saw her earlier! Basically, her stomach was in knots. She spent very little time in that aid station, and was on her way.

We headed up to Foresthill (mile 62). Craig, Trevor and I hiked down Bath Road to meet Lori. It is one of the few places on the course where crew or anyone can go meet their runner and run part of the course with them.

Trevor kept us all entertained during the hike up Bath Road!

Lori was in and out of Foresthill and off into the night. Lisa, Karen and I then headed over to the Green Gate aid station (mile 79.8). Since I had the camera, I hiked down to the Rucky Chucky river crossing (at the American River). I had a special night lens on the camera and took some really cool pictures of the runners and their pacers crossing the river at night!

Lori and Craig crossing the American River around 2:15 AM.

They had a rope across the river for the runners to hold onto and race volunteers wearing wetsuits stood all night long in the cold water helping runners get across the river without being swept away in the current! I didn't even notice until I saw these pictures that there were green glowsticks in the water too! I sat down at the river crossing for about an hour before I saw them come across!

The look on her face says, "And I PAID to do this!"

So when they finally got across, I quickly packed up the camera and hiked the hill up to the Green Gate aid station with them. She was still having blister problems, but she's pretty much bulletproof. After a quick shoe and sock change at Green Gate, she and Craig were off again.
Lisa, Karen, and I drove up to where we would later meet the shuttle for Highway 49 aid station (mile 93.5). Since we had a little time, we took about an hour nap in the car. Around 5:00 AM, we were awake again and gathering our supplies to head down to the aid station. I was still having fun with the camera, so while we waited, I continued to snap shots of the runners as they came through.

Craig, Lori, Lisa, and Karen at Hwy 49 aid station. With just 6.5 miles to go, she was doing great!

Once Lori and Craig left Hwy 49, we quickly drove over to Placer High School in Auburn--the finish line!
Lori met Bob and Trevor about 1.3 miles from the finish line (Robie Point). This is another section of the course where the runners could run with family members. It was so exciting to see them run into the stadium!

Then she ran around the track and crossed the finish line! Woohoo!

That's her hubby, Bob, in blue. Trevor is running behind her. Such amazing support!

Rock on! Yeah!

I felt pretty emotional as I sat in the stadium watching the runners enter the stadium and finish the race. I cannot even imagine what they endured over the previous 100 miles, but simply looking at their faces, you could almost see the story. This year was a tough year for the race. Temperatures reached 112 in the canyons. A lot of elite runners dropped out of the race. There were 399 starters and 238 finishers.

Lori finished in 28:28:52. She was #157 overall and #14 in her age group. What an amazing accomplishment! Just being there taught me to respect the 100 mile distance. To spend that much time on your feet, you have to really know what you're doing. You have to be properly trained. You have to know your body and what kinds of things could go wrong. You have to know when to eat, what to eat, when to take salt, when to drink water, how much water to drink, proper footwear, etc. When do you walk? When do you run? How do you know when you're pushing yourself to the point of harm? How do you know when your pain is simply fatigue? I feel like I have so much to learn!

I will never forget this weekend. I will never forget this family! I had such a great time and they treated me like I was one of them!
After a 3 hour nap in the hotel, I decided to get on the road. As I drove away, I was thinking, "City of Auburn, peace out. Next time, I hope to arrive on foot!"