WESTERN STATES 100

Elissa & I before the start.
photo by Pam Everett

I owe a huge thanks to my wife, mom, dad, brother Danny, Tommy and Pam who spent many hours crewing and pacing me all day.  It was also very cool to cross the finish line and see my aunt and a bunch of cousins there cheering me on, I'm a lucky guy.

Mom & Dad at the finish after crewing all day.
photo by Stephanie Deveau

It was smooth sailing for the first 65 miles.

Early on.
photo by Stephanie Deveau

After 70 miles the heat got to me, I threw up a couple times and soldiered on to finish 30 minutes shy of my goal.  Of course I would have liked to finish in the top 10 instead of 12th, but so goes it.

Tough Tommy pacing me from Foresthill on.  Couldn't ask for a better pacer.
photo by Pam Everett

I've got to give it up to my buddy Jesse Haynes for finishing top 10... again.  This was the 6th time we've raced together and I've always just barely finished in front of him.  We shared some early miles together and after passing him, looking back I could see that he was within minutes of me for miles.  I knew he wanted to end my little winning streak and he did, blazing by me at mile 70 en route to passing a couple other runners to finish 10th place.  Furthermore, since he doesn't post on FB much, tweet a bunch, or post selfies on the regular, hardly anyone filling out the irunfar predictions gave him the time of day (even though he finished 7th place here last year).  Way to prove yourself... again.

irunfar reader predictions

Another friend that I've trained with a lot and raced with 8 times now, Dom Grossman, and I shared some early miles as well.  Surprisingly, he was struggling a bit around mile 25 and I passed him, thinking I'd definitely see him again before too long, but he ended up have a rough day.

I've got a lot of respect for those whose races fell apart, but kept running anyway to finish what they started.  Dom, Nick Clark, Jorge Maravilla, David Laney, Mike Aish, my good friend Mike Chamoun, and others all fell short of finishing when they wanted, yet they pushed through disappointment and pain to cross the finish line.

I am stoked to have run a 100 miles under 17 hours.  Even though I fell a little short of attaining my goals, I am not letting that take away from the great experience I had.  The overwhelming love and support from family, friends, fellow runners and volunteers is humbling and running 'States' was an awesome and unforgettable experience.  Thank you all!


Gear:

Hoka One One - Stinson ATR, newer lighter Stinson's were great for the many miles of descending here at WS.

Drymax - Lite Trail Running socks, kept my feet in great condition.  Didn't have to change socks or shoes once during the race.

Rudy Project - Zyon sunglasses.