Leading into States

I received an official Western States 100 update email last week! All good news!!

Training thus far hasn’t been ideal, but not horrible either. Before I get too worried about anything now, maybe I should recall how things went the other 3 times I had leading into States.

2005

This was my first 100mile run. My first run over 50miles. I had won my way into the ‘05 race in early April—10 weeks before the big dance—by winning the American River 50miler. My running all year in ‘05 had been going great; then in late April an injury creeped up on me. I wasn’t sure what it was, so I figured the cautious thing would be to rest. Cross training inside at the gym and stair training outside on Seattle’s great stairways didn’t aggravate the pain, but running did. I feared it was a stress fracture but it turned out to be IT band syndrome. My first time dealing with that so I definitely did not do the right things to get over it quickly. The pain started below the knee on the outside so that’s why I feared a stress fracture in my upper shin bone.

Anyway: I only recall a few actual runs in total all of May and June of 2005 leading into States. Confidence level going in was really low.

Result: 20hr+ finishing time.

2007

This was my 3rd 100 miler having also completed Leadville in 2006 in over 23 hours. Training earlier in the year was going poorly. I was tired and felt burned out from 2006—the year I completed my most ultra races in a single year. In a complete flip flop of 2005, I did not win a race in early April ‘07—I dropped out of my very first race: Mad City Road 100k. I managed 50k and bailed. Then by later April and into May my training was peaking. I had a trip to Boulder and ran what I still believe is my biggest time and mileage totals for a 10day span. (Unfortunately I forget how many hours in exactly how many days I ran, but I remember at the time thinking: that’s almost as much as Anton!)

Anyway: leading into States I was super confident.

Result: 17:30hr finish

2010

This year mirrored 2007, with a rocky start early but faster running later including the Ice Age 50miler in May, where I won a Golden Ticket into States—although I don’t remember if anyone called it a Golden Ticket in those ancient times. Again a trip to Boulder in late May was the high point in my training. This time the Boulder trip was a much bigger milestone however: My wife and I got married at Chautauqua Park on 6.4.10.

Anyway: I hadn’t run a 100 mile race since States in ‘07. I had an Achilles issue that was worrisome since late ‘07. I was pretty confident, but worried, leading into States.

Result: 19hr+ finishing time.

Now:

As I think back on these three years, I’m less worried about my slow start in 2021. If I can get a nice solid May of training, I’ll be confident about my current condition on the starting line. And I’ll be confident about the distance: I’ve completed an 100 mile event in each of the last 6 years (if you count the Wonderland Trail run I did in 2020 as a 100miler, which I do since it took 27hrs.)

So, here I come May! Hoping for the best for all the runners in this year’s edition of the Western States Endurance Run!

#7atStates

#seeyouatstates