Running with Elke

Today we did day 1 of Western States training weekend in Auburn, a small town 30 miles east of Sacramento.  Western States 100 is the oldest hundred miler in North America (at least).  It's very prestigious.  To qualify you have to complete another 100 or a 50 miler in under 11 hours.  And after that, the chances of getting in through the lottery are about 12%.  So many ultra runners start their year by traditionally submitting their WS lottery forms.

Auburn claims to be the Endurance Capital of the World, or so the banners say around town.  Well, today that was proven to be true.  Hundreds of runners congregated for the WS training weekend, which is open to everyone, not just WS participants.  It consists of a 30 mile day on Saturday, today, and 20-milers on Sunday & Monday.

The original course of the 30 mile day was diverted because one aid station site was inaccessible due to snow.  So Elke, our new friend whom we met at Mt. Diablo, invited us to join her and her running buddies to run a different route, since she didn't like the new diverted course.  We happily accepted.  We were also joined by Annette, Elke's friend whom she paced at WS last year to a successful finish.

Well... the run today was almost as much chatting and hanging out as running.  We kept running into other ultra runners even on our diverted course.  And Elke knew all of them!  At one section we couldn't run for 2 minutes without stopping to catch up and hang out.  And at one point we ran into some friends we've met at Mt. Diablo.  There were ultra runners EVERYWHERE! 

Apparently Auburn has a really strong ultra community.  Even the county DA is an ultrarunner (and of course Elke's friend).  We've met a few legends.  One guy, Bill, easily in his late 60s, has done the Leadville 26 years in a row.  Another guy, Tim, has finished WS in <24 hours some 20+ years in a row and running.  And we saw the guy who started it all!  WS was originally a horse race.  And some 40 years ago this guy had a problem with his horse, so he asked if he could just run it... and he won!  And so the Western States 100 mile Endurance run was born.  He was an old, bearded, gnarly old guy with ripped legs like the incredible hulk.

Running with Elke was really really fun.  She's very positive, social and experienced.  And it looks certain that she'll pace us for the Wasatch, which significantly improves our chances of finishing.  That'd be amazing.  We had lots of good conversations and she gaves us lots of tips as well, particularly not to dawdle at aid stations, like I tend to do. 

The run itself was gorgeous.  We spanned 3 canyons, going down and up, down and up, down, and then all the way back.  The forest was lush and the canyons so deep and beautiful.  And each one had a river on the bottom.  There was a river crossing in the beginning which required some wading, so it was running on wet feet. 

My knees acted up quickly, since they're not fully recovered from Silver State.  Luckily Elke gave me some Aleve, which made it OK most of the way.  It took us about 9 hours to do 32 miles, but considering the terrain (this is the hardest climbs during WS), being social butterfiles, and not trying that hard (we need to save something for tomorrow and Monday!), this is not bad. 

On the whole it was great fun, we've met lots of cool people and enjoyed being part of the community.  Apparently we're gaining a little bit of fame as Elke has been talking about our crazy plan.  We had people come up to us with "OMG you're THE COUPLE."  Everyone here thinks our idea is really cool... compared to most folks in the outside world who think we're crazy.