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| Packed in like sardines! |
Ram got drawn for Western States on one ticket! This is something that is pretty much unheard of these days but we were excited for him. Shaun and I have been doing a lot of training runs with him because it they also served as training runs for our race, the Bear 100 in September. Western States puts on a training camp weekend every year over Memorial Day. This is great for people who are in Western States because gives a final weekend of long runs and allows runners to experience different sections of the course. We decided to just do the first day of training camp which covers from Robinson Flat up in the high country all the way down into the canyons and ends in the town of Foresthill. This is roughly a 50K section of the course. It has a lot of downhill but also a few long sustained climbs out of the canyons. Shaun and Ram had a plan to extend this training run and make it a 50 mile day. We were going to leave a car at Drivers Flat parking area so we could continue past Foresthill and continue on from where everyone else was stopping for the day. Jessica and I were hanging out for the weekend at a nearby casino while Shaun and Ram were making it a day trip to do this training run.
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| View from Robinson Flat |
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Off we go!
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| Views from the high country |
I met the guys at Drivers Flat early to drop off my car. We made our way to Foresthill which is where everyone was meeting to get the pre run briefing along with shuttle buses up to Robinson Flat campground. The buses were actual school buses and they made us sit two to a seat which is tight on room even for children! It was a long uncomfortable ride to Robinson Flat, in fact the road leading up there has steep drop offs on the one side and it was a bit terrifying being on a big rattle trap riding up there. We were definitely glad to get off the bus and stretch out our legs along with checking out the incredible views! There is a little climb out of Robinson Flat and then begins a nice 13 mile downhill section. Ram had a nice wipeout as soon as we started the downhill section. Then a few miles later while flying downhill I tripped and landed on my water bottle and a little manzanita bush in the trail. That fall was one of my most spectacular wipeouts. It actually left a bruise on my back which took a few months to go away. Not long after my fall Shaun slid on the trail and went off the edge! He slid down a steep embankment and had a pretty difficult time climbing back up to the trail. We were on a roll, pun intended! Then not long after that Shaun's chronic ankle pain which is normally manageable became excruciating and he couldn't run or even walk! We were in the middle of nowhere in a canyon and I don't even think a helicopter rescue could of helped him in this location.
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| Shaun's epic slide down the embankment |
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| Caption this photo! |
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| More awesome views |
I had some KT tape and we tried to apply it to Shaun's ankle but unless the skin is clean and dry that stuff will not adhere correctly so that didn't work. He took some ibuprofen and then a really nice lady who was coming by had an ankle brace that she carries with her for emergencies and gave it to Shaun. That was super nice of her and Shaun gave it a shot. It allowed him to walk at a comfortable pace. Eventually the ibuprofen kicked in and Shaun was able to run again and we continued our downhill section into the bottom of the canyons. During this time I started to feel a quad pain that had been slightly bothering me for a few weeks. Ram was feeling pretty good though and on the climb up to Devils Thumb he dropped us like a bad habit. The sun was out in full force by this time and really zapped Shaun and I on our way up that climb. Then as we came into the aid station they had set up for us near Deadwood a volunteer came running out to us in order to fill up our water as far away from the aid station as possible because there were bees everywhere! I have never seen such a swarm of bees in my life. They were crawling all over us and the volunteers and flying / buzzing all over the place. We were just trying our best to get our water filled without bees going into our water bottles or bladders. It was crazy and I felt so bad for the volunteers who were just hanging out in the swarm all day and I am super appreciative of them all! They told us not to put our hydration vests back on until we got far away from the aid station to make sure no bees got trapped between our skin and the vest. Ram was waiting for us a ways up the trail and we were almost laughing about what a horror show that was.
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| Nature doing some bragging! |
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| Nowhere else I would rather be |
We were all feeling pretty worked due to various reasons and when we got to the Michigan Bluff aid station with about 6 miles left to Foresthill we decided after the next section we would call it a day at mile 31. As much as we wanted to do the entire 50 miles it would of been a long sufferfest which would end up being counter productive for training. Also, it took us a lot longer to complete the first 31 miles then we anticipated so we would of been out there pretty late for an additional 19 miles. That would of been a very tough two hour drive home for Shaun and Ram. I was very relieved those guys were ok with calling it a day and we could finally sit down and enjoy a little food and rest. It was a lot of fun being able to run on and see a section of the Western States 100 course. If I ever get into Western States I think I would sign up for all three days of this training camp and it would be a perfect last weekend of longer training runs and you could do it with aid and a whole bunch of other ultrarunners which is really cool!
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| My wipeout bruise. This got a lot worse in the following days. Small price to pay for a great trail run with friends! |
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