Pacing at Western States 100 this weekend
Hi,
In the ultrarunning world, this weekend is our Kona - the Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run. I did not get a slot this year, but at the lottery I met a woman, Amy Dodson, who did get in, and became friends with her and her boyfriend Jon Beeson. Side note - it turns out they are legends in the paratriathlon world - with multiple world championships to their credit. Here's a write up about Amy: livestrongblog.org/2010/04/23/amy-d...100-miles/
As you can see from the link - not only is Amy an amputee, she also lost one lung to cancer. She's an amazing woman - and about the nicest person you could know.
Western States has a race update page, so if you are interested, you can track Amy at: ws100.ultralive.net/webcast.php She's runner 172.
I'm scheduled to be pacing her the first 30 miles...but that's somewhat up in the air since one of the pacer team had to pull out yesterday due to a death in the family. So there's half a chance that I'll pull a second shift as well,or that my shift will be extended. I'll try to get out a #workworks tweet or two as the day goes, but most of the race is in nowheresville, so phones don't work too well.
Mike
Comments
That is the cool post of the week! Good on you, Mike! Can't wait to hear all about it.
Wow Mike! That will be great.! I was part of my friend Alli's team in 2003, a wonderful experience!
Lots of activities this weekend to keep track of this weekend
Thanks for the kind words everyone!
@Shannon - I'll try to look for you at Michigan Bluff - I'll be wearing an EN hat during the race, and I'll keep it on (if it's not too stinky
). Oh...and a gentle nudge...it's for EXACTLY this reason that EN encourages folks to post a picture of themselves! With out it I'll be wandering around "Shannon? Shannon? Have you seen Shannon? Are you? No? Do you know where she is?"
OK, nudging aside, thank you SO much for volunteering, and I hope that I meet you without having a medical reason for us to bump into each other!
Mike
Just checked status, looks like Amy dropped at mile 38, stopped at 10:37:xx
Very tough course
Bust
I'm writing this from home on Saturday night. Readers Digest Version - at an aide station without a published cutoff time, race officals 60 miles away radioed in and instructed the safety patrol to close the course for the two people at the station (including Amy) and one runner 15 minutes ahead. The runners and pacers were then driven back to 'civilization'. Amy was very disappointed, confused, and yet, as is her way, smiling and encouraging the rest of us.
I've been up for 20 hours, 9 of them running and 4 of them driving...so I don't have the juice for writing up a complete report - hopefully tomorrow. In short, we started off slow, per our plan, but were slowed even more by a LOT of snow (hard with the prothesis), a LOT of melting snow = mud and streams (again, hard with the prothesis). So there was much more walking that we would have wanted. But our plan was to bank energy and give away time. By mile 12 or so we had been through much of the worst of the high country, and were behind our planned pace by 20 minutes, and held that for the next couple of aid stations - didn't make up time, didn't lose time, and had plenty of breathing room with the absolute time cutoff.
But in the last section of my first stint, we had both drained our camelbaks with probably 2 steep miles left to go. We slowed considerably, and only made the aide station with 6 minutes until the absolute cutoff. But we filled up her backpack, and I gave her my handbottle filled with sports drink and got her moving with her new pacer. On her way out I grabbed Amy and told her that if she drinks, in 5 minutes she'd wake up. And she did. They crossed (yet another) snow field, the fluid hit her system, and she was back to her old self - and they started cruising, only to get to the next station and were told to give up the timing chip, number, and race bracelet.
No cutoff time missed. No medical personnel making a tough call. No fire or emergency. Just a radio call. Yeah. Frustrating.
I'm hoping to hear more tomorrow, I think Amy and her uber-crew-chief Jon will try to figure out exactly who made the call and why - no one could get a straight answer out of anybody by the time I left for home. The other runner pulled from the aide station was in tears when she got back to her family. Amy and I had passed and been passed with her numerous times (she and Amy shared many laughs sliding down snow covered trails...sometimes unplanned!...on their bums).
But all was not horrible - lets face it, how bad can a race be when you're about to pull into the Registration area and decide to stop and take a picture:
Mike
Beautiful picture!
Thanks for sharing Reader's Digest version Mike. Rest up. let us know when you get more info on Amy being pulled. Is she going to go for it again? Can't imagine being pulled when still within cutoff times
For those interested in ultras and western states there is a good documentary called "Race for the Soul" which follows people during their Western States Journey
A bunch of nice photos from the Sacramento Bee newspaper site, including one of Amy and me (#12): www.sacbee.com/2010/06/26/2852141/3...stern.html
In those first 12 pictures, be sure to look at the ground (especially the tutu pic) - snow, mud, and scrabble..oh, and one nice section of trail too!
Mike
Great pics, Mike. I love the one of Emigrant Gap and down on No Hands. Glad you could get out and experience it! We are very fortunate to have all that in our back yard.
You are next. WS100 musta have given you a big mojo boost. Your first 100 is in just a few weeks. I am very excited for you!
WOW, incredible pics and story. Any info on why Amy was pulled from race???
The official word(s) ended up being "miscommunication", "error", "Somebody broke policy." In the end, someone who wasn't so good at math decided that they knew what was best and decided to make up a rule. Very frustrating.