Monday, June 29, 2009

Western States 100

Gail and I went down to Auburn to check out the Western States 100 Trail Race. We had a blast hanging out and the Aid Stations and getting a bit of a run in. The temperature was 97 degrees at the Forest Hill AS and over 100 down in the canyons. It was a rough day to try and do a 100 mile run. Kudo's to the 280 or so (out of 400 starters) that finished the race in under 30 hours.



Forest Hills AS




Notice the sign


Early posting on the wall of the times. Go Oregon!


Zack ended up in the top 5 I think.


You gotta get your weight checked at most AS.


Drop bags laid out nicely.


More early runners coming in. This AS was at
the 100k point. (62 miles)


Sean Meissner of Sisters. He was having a
rough time here with gut problems.


Most the time you would see his feet flying.
The heat was taking its toll on everyone.
Sean was about in 45th place here.


Gulp gulp gulp...ahhhh! At this AS the runners
would pick up their pacers.


WS trail sign near Rucky-Chucky.


Mile 72 and ya gotta cross the American River
The girls would be up their necks in the early
part of this crossing.


Who is that girl!!! Go Detour. I had to hold her
back from crossing the river.
The wet area is how high the river is normally.
The get the damn up stream to lower the flow
for just this day of the race. Pretty cool!



There is gator's in that river!!!!



AS volunteers spend up to two hours
in the river assisting the runners.
The busiest time is around 2 AM.
These pix were around 8pm



Gail and I running back up the canyon. It
doesn't look steep but we climbed over 1,000
feet in about 2.3 miles. Temps over 90 here.
She is so awesome of a hill climber!



Fat Boyee is pretty happy. Out on
the trails running at the greatest
Ultra of them all. Some day folks,
some day.



We got to the finish line just as Hal Koerner won
the race in around 16 hours and 25 minutes.
We hung around for another couple hours and
watched 15 or so other runners come in, including
the top 3 women.
Gail and I both said this was the most fun we
have had in a long time. Good job to all the runners
who even started this race.

2 comments:

Sarah said...

I can't imagine running in that kind of heat! Sounds and looks like a great trip. Neat that you were able to catch the top finishers coming in.

saschasdad said...

Fat-Boyee and Gail, Thank you so much for making the trip down to cheerlead for everybody. That is so awesome! I really did appreciate your cheering at Foresthill - despite what my mood was. You guys are awesome! I'm glad it was the most fun you've had in a long time. I always say that WS is easily the coolest sporting event I've ever been to. I look forward to cheerleading for you when it's your turn to run there.