Western States Endurance Run - June 25, 2022

I’ve wanted to run this race since I signed up for Pine to Palm. After seven years of waiting, my ticket was pulled 120th on December 5, 2023.

My training for this run was solid, although there was a big hiccup. During a workout on April 14, I injured my hamstring and had to cut back nearly all running for about three weeks. You can see the result in this screenshot of my training log below (brown days are walks, greens are runs).

Nevertheless, I was able to get in some good walking during those weeks and to attend the Memorial Day training camp, and I arrived at the starting line prepared to run 100 miles for the first time in five years.

Pre-run

We stayed in Olympic Valley before the run, and welcomed Jamie’s parents, Bill and Jane, as well as her sister Mandi and her partner Carey, who would serve as my crew. Bill and Jane would help keep the kids entertained while I was running. Everyone arrived on time, and we had a pretty uneventful couple of days prior to the start, a good thing.

the run

In the days leading up to the run, I had trouble sleeping, and the night before was no different. I maybe managed an hour of shut eye before getting ready to run. Jamie accompanied me to the start while Jane watched the kids. Carey and Bill joined to see me off.

One of my best running buddies Crispin was in the race this year, too, and he and I connected before the start to make the trek up the Escarpment together. Interestingly, I don’t remember hearing the famous shotgun fire to start the race, but we did start right on time.

Crispin and I made good time on the first climb, not too fast but not too slow. We didn’t plan to run together after this point so wished each other luck at the top and he headed down the trail ahead of me.

I took the next section of the course fairly conservatively. The high country was beautiful but the terrain required my full attention. I got stuck in a couple of conga lines that I should have avoided but all in all I got through it well. I was a bit alarmed at how far behind 24-hour pace I was when I got to the Lyon Ridge aid station but tried to remind myself that there were plenty of miles left to run. I went through the aid station fairly quickly and similarly cruised through Red Star Ridge at mile 15.8. I carried all of my nutrition so only topped off my bottles at each station.

The only thing I remember from this period was being followed closely by a runner who was breathing way too heavily for what I thought was reasonable at that point in the race and talking way too much for my liking. Fortunately, I separated from that noise by the time I got to Duncan Canyon at mile 24.4.

At Duncan I got my first ice of the day and tried out a Gu Liquid energy pouch, which was pretty good. I filled my bottles and prepped for the climb up to Robinson Flat, mile 30.3, where I would see Mandi and Carey for the first time.

I enjoyed the section heading to Robinson, feeling like I had a steadier cadence that I had felt in the high country. I splashed through Duncan Creek, not knowing it was a good photo opportunity.

On the climb up to Robinson, I passed my neighbor Terry who was running the race for the second time, albeit with a 17-year gap between starts with lots of other ultras in those years. We wished each other well, and I arrived at Robinson feeling pretty excited to have covered the only part of the course that I had not been on before that day.

At Robinson, Carey and Mandi got me out quickly. I swapped my pack for two handheld bottles, added ice to my bandana and sleeves, resupplied my nutrition, and ate most of an ice cream sandwich before heading up the trail for Miller’s Defeat. I was later than I had hoped and behind 24-hour pace, but I was feeling pretty good.

I settled in to a good cadence on the way down to Miller’s Defeat, mile 34.4, and was in and out of the aid station quickly, filling bottles and adding ice as needed. After that I had to stop to pee as I was doing pretty well on my hydration. I was paying attention to my pace fairly closely and was not losing any more time against 24-pace. This pattern repeated through Dusty Corners (mile 38) and then lost a little time heading into Last Chance (mile 43.3). I was feeling pretty good except for my feet weren’t terribly happy, not bad but not great.

I made the descent to swinging bridge with relative ease, covering it faster than during the Memorial Day training run. I dunked nearly my whole body in “The Grotto” after the bridge. While this cooled me off, it also put some gunk in my shoes that bothered me on the hike up to Devil’s Thumb (mile 47.8). This ascent was long and tough as expected and when I got to the top, I decided to change my socks. This took me a lot longer than expected. The aid station crew hurried me out as it was pretty hot. I left will full bottles and iced down. I made the descent to El Dorado Creek (mile 52.9) in what felt like the hottest part of the day up to that point, which was confirmed by my watch. I had made it to 50 miles under 12 hours, and although I was still behind the 24-hour pace listed at aid stations, I still held out hope for a silver buckle.

My time through El Dorado Creek felt slow, and I had to haggle for a bit more ice in my bandana. As I left, my feet were hurting and my right calf was tightening up. My hike up to Michigan Bluff (mile 55.7) didn’t feel as good as the hike up to the Thumb, but I got it done.

As I cruised into Michigan Bluff, I was excited to see Carey and Mandi. The climb had been in the shade, and I was actually feeling a little cold at that point. They got me sorted with my glasses cleaned and on the trail to Foresthill where I would see them again and my family for the first time.

I found the section between Michigan Bluff and Foresthill pretty trying. It wasn’t too hot, but my feet weren’t feeling great. Once I made it to the bottom of Volcano Canyon, I felt a bit more energy on the hike up to Bath Road. I wasn’t able to run any of Bath Road as I had hoped, but I did get a wonderful surprise of seeing Jamie at the intersection with Foresthill Road. She ran with me the half mile into the aid station, which was a highlight of the day.

I arrived at Foresthill (mile 62) still off the race listed 24-hour pace but had a sliver of hope that I could pull it off. I was delighted to see my kids, Bill & Jane, and my sister Jerae and her husband Kevin, who happened to be visiting Northern California this weekend and made the trip up. It was wonderful to see everyone, including Joanna and Phillip, friends from my running days up in San Francisco. I tried to get in and out as quickly as I could, getting a big restock of nutrition and my lights for the nighttime. Jamie was able to run down Main Street until the California Street turn with me. It was hard to say goodbye to everyone, but I was happy that I had made it to this milestone in the race.

The next section to the river on Cal street gave me some trouble. I lost more time on 24-hour pace to Cal 1 (65.7) and did ok to Cal 2 (70.7). I lost more time getting to Cal 3 (73). My feet were really starting to be uncomfortable, and I was walking more than I wanted to, going slower than expected on downhill sections. I was able to muster a descent pace heading to Rucky Chucky (mile 78) where I would see Mandi, Carey, and Jamie again. I arrived an hour and 20 minutes later than expected and realized that a silver buckle was not in the cards for me this day. I got a nutrition restock, ate some ice cream sandwich on the near side of the river and then said goodbye to everyone before heading into the river crossing.

The river crossing was more challenging than I expected with lots of slipping and sliding on the rocks. My feet really hurt, and I was cold. Suffice to say, I did not enjoy it. I climbed myself out of the river bed on the other side and decided that since I was not going to be able to finish under 24 hours that I would take some extra time to get new socks and clean up my feet after everything was soaked in the river. This took what felt like forever, but I was glad I did it. All of the downtime also meant that I stiffened up a bit and it took a bit of effort to get going on the climb up to Green Gate.

After getting through the Green Gate (mile 79.8) aid station, I really struggled to find a running cadence on the way to Auburn Lakes Trails. I feet were really hurting, and I walked a lot. I was confident that I would finish, but it was challenging to move forward with any good pace.

At Auburn Lakes Trails (mile 85.2) I did my usual refill and headed for Quarry Road. Some time during this section on the descent towards Quarry, I felt a popping sensation on the ball of my right foot. It burned really badly, and I knew that I wanted to avoid that happening to the left. I felt that if I didn’t manage this pain that I might find myself unable to finish, which I wasn’t going to accept. I really gave in to walking at this point and my pace to Quarry Road was very slow, 27 minutes slower than 24-hour pace for the 5.5-mile section.

I was in a pretty low mood at Quarry Road (mile 90.7). It’s an awesome aid station, and two Western State legends, Hal Koerner and Scott Jurek, were there. Scott’s book Eat & Run played a significant role in me becoming and ultra runner, and I’ve read Hal’s training guide. He’s also the race director for Pine to Palm. I tried to think of Scott’s mantra, “sometimes you just do things” to get myself going, but it was tough.

Leaving the aid station, I hiked most of Quarry Road and then the whole ascent up to the Highway 49 crossing and on to Pointed Rocks. With the state of my feet, running was incredibly difficult. The 24-hour mark had come and gone, and the sun was starting to rise. I crept my way into Pointed Rocks (mile 94.3) aid and saw Mandi and Carey. I still was feeling pretty low and knew that I needed to get out fast so that I could be done with the pain. I ate another half of an ice cream sandwich and crept back out of the aid station towards No Hands Bridge. This was a descent to which I had been looking forward, but it was excruciating. I wasn’t able to run any of it, and it felt like it took forever.

I arrived at No Hands all by myself in the daylight. I had been looking forward to making it to this point for so long but with the state of my feet and now tightening right calf, I didn’t feel any happiness, which in and of itself made me unhappy! I pressed on, hiking across No Hands and trying and failing several times to start running on my way to the climb up to Robie Point. A runner named Chad, who I had met a training camp, passed me during this section with his pacer, and I wished him well. I hadn’t seen him since the high country, but I was happy to see him getting a finish. After passing a few folks out for a day hike, I made it to the climb to Robie Point, which actually felt ok.

At Robie Point (mile 98.9), Jamie was waiting for me to run into the finish. She could see I wasn’t doing all that well, and I said we’d probably walk most of the way. She hiked along with me, mostly in silent support. I felt oddly down during this portion as I had hoped to be so happy in getting to mile 99 at the top of the final climb and then making my way down to the stadium. I tried to run a few times, but the feet would not have it. We crossed the white bridge and made our way down the road to the track.

Getting through the fence and onto the track made me feel good for the first time in many hours and miles. I was determined to run this last part, and the soft track helped a bit.

I heard cheers from Crispin, who had finished well under 24 hours, and Julia, who had crewed and paced him, and this lifted my spirits further. As I turned the corner to head for the home stretch, I saw my kids with their grandparents. Upon reaching the final straightaway, they joined and ran along with me, my son keeping pace, and my daughter falling in behind with Jamie.

I saw that the clock was 26:59 and a few seconds and pushed a little harder to slip in under the 27-hour mark. I crossed the finish line on a high from getting to cover this stretch with my family. While not the time I wanted, the experience of running the very end of this race with them was magical.

My Finish

Post run

After finished, I realized pretty quickly that I needed to get to the medical tent to see about treating my feet.

They were in pretty rough shape. The bottom layer was separating from the middle layer, which was causing the pain. My right big toe was blood blistered and swollen like I haven’t seen before. For the brave, you can click here to see them (password: thiswillbegross).

epilogue

At the lottery in December, my name was actually pulled twice. Once in the regular lottery and once in the raffle. The raffle entry was for the 2023 race. I knew I had entry into that edition during my entire training cycle and during the race. I tried to not let it affect me, and I really don’t think it did. I resolved that I wouldn’t actually decide about whether to run again until after the race, but it only took a few hours before I decided that I would. This year was an amazing experience, and while I didn’t finish in the time and manner in which I had hoped, I loved it. That said, I hope to come back at get that elusive silver buckle, and if not, just enjoy the experience of participating in this remarkable race once more.