The Hills of Western States

I saw a prototype Brooks Trail shoe the other day that used the Western States’s elevation profile line in the design. The line will be a scribble to most folks…but if you’ve ran from Squaw Valley to Auburn before, every slope, apex and low point has meaning. Climbs that signify progress towards the finish. Hills that make or break you.

Twice before, I ran just about every step of every uphill. The climbs are seared into my brain. Conversely I felt like I ran the downhills poorly—hesitantly—and I don’t have vivid memories of those.

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve learned the error of my ways and have walked nearly every uphill in all my 100milers since 2015. During the same time, I’ve gotten more confident on the downhills. Will my slower uphills in 2020 and hopefully faster descending lead to about the same time through the canyons?

Will all the excitement make it impossible to not run up to the Escarpment mere miles from the start line? I can see myself running some of that first climb…there’ll be so much adrenaline! But I cannot fathom running much up into Robinson Flat, Devil’s Thumb, Michigan Bluff, and Forest Hill.

In training, I still run most of the uphills and have never developed a speed hike. It’s either run slow, or walk really slow. There are a few climbs close by that I can hit regularly that feel pretty comparable to the climbs up to Devils, Michigan, and FH: The Tiger Mt K3 trail up to West Tiger 2; the climb up to Squak’s Central Peak from the Issaquah community center; and the climb up to Wilderness Peak (via Wilderness Cliffs) on Cougar Mt from SR-900.

In 2010 I was doing pretty well up to Forest Hill—running in the top 10. Every climb I felt like I was gaining on folks ahead of me, every descent I heard footsteps closing in on me. One of the sets of feet kicking up dust behind me was Andy Jones-Wilkins, a savvy Ultra veteran—and ws100 super star and strategist. He passed me shortly after Forest Hill and ended up Top 10. I’ll be lucky if I can mimic his strategy of pushing more on the downhills.

Fortunately I signed up for The Canyons 100k in April. I signed up to run this course on the Western Stares Trail because I assumed I wouldn’t get picked in the lottery 🤔😁 It’ll be the first time I’ve run the historic canyons since 2010. I’ll be able to get a feel for walking the climbs, pushing the downs—in Hokas no less. The Hoka Speedgoat should make those long switchback rich descents a whole lot easier than the Scott T2C did 10years ago!

#7inSquaw