The Journey

"It is only through work and strife that either nation or individual moves on to greatness. The great man is always the man of mighty effort, and usually the man whom grinding need has trained to mighty effort."

- Theodore Roosevelt, April 27, 1900





I’m terrible with dates so let’s just say that it was November 2011 (considering that was when they held the lottery drawing for the Western States 100 even though I know it was at least a few weeks later), Michaela had come to a very difficult decision… did she want to attempt to run her first 100 mile race? Up to this point she had only logged one 50-mile race on her running resume and was still getting her mind wrapped around the idea of running that far. Truth be told, she and I had both worked the mile 99 aid station at Robie Point for the Western States 100 run the previous June, so we had seen firsthand the inspiring and terrifying reality of that run. There were people coming through there that looked like they were out for a Sunday stroll and there were others that looked like they had just been hit by a mack truck, which had decided to reverse and drive over them again for good measure. Needless to say, both the good and the bad made lasting impressions with us and left us both very “intrigued” by the idea of running that far, even if it still seemed like a semi “pipe dream” at the time.

But that dream became a hard smack in the face when Michaela was presented with the opportunity to run the race. Typically any runner that wants to run the race needs to put in for a lottery and it could take many years for them to be admitted, but due to the running gods looking down on her, she was granted access to a coveted auto-bid thanks to her employer and friends (each aid station is run by an organization/family that has one auto-bid every year and Fleet Feet happens to run the Robie Point Aid Station). She had already qualified for the race by running a solid 50-mile race earlier in the year and if she passed up the opportunity this year, who knew how long it would take for her to have another shot...but was she really ready to take on everything that comes with a race at this distance? That was the million dollar question, as she had recently seen our good friend Kirk to through the entire process of training for such an event (and having a great race by the way).

We talked it over for what seems like a few weeks and eventually she decided that she wanted to give it a go…and off we went! I’m going to compare certain points in these past few months to reference points in the map of the WS100 course (read it from right to left so mile 100 is on the far left of the map).

The Beginning

The big decision to do the race can be viewed as the equivalent to her going up the Escarpment at the beginning of the race. It’s the start so everyone is cautious but once you get up to the top, it’s all downhill from there (in a manner of speaking obviously). Once Michaela made the decision and fully committed herself to the run, the time for second-guessing was over and the time to train had begun. I've heard that when you climb the top on your first Western States you can see for miles in every direction and that's equal parts beautiful and terrifying (to see how far you have to go). I hope that when she gets up there she takes a minute to soak it all in and appreciate just how far she has come in this journey.

  

Michaela and I are blessed with an overabundance of very knowledgeable friends and she immediately enlisted the help of Kirk and Julie Fingar in her training plan. They spent a great deal of time planning this out in a manner that would get her body and mind ready for the task without getting her injured along the way (we know lots of people training for this event that have dealt with a variety of injuries and their races are still in question at this point, even though we wish them the best and hope to see them at the start).

As part of this planning process she outlined a 5-week window (basically all of May) where her weekly miles were going to be extremely high, including very long days on her Saturday runs. As her mother Rachael is now retired, she volunteered to come out and help us with Landon (and a variety of other things) during this time period, which has been a tremendous help and we are extremely grateful to her for that.

The First Challenge

I’d say that everything was going pretty smoothly in her training until one day she went out for a group run with some friends that are notably faster than us. She will admit to it being a mistake trying to keep up with them and the result was an injury to her knee. Crap! Let’s say this was equivalent to the first real climb out of Duncan Canyon to Robinson’s Flat…this was her first test, how was she going to handle it? I’ll admit there were some “freak out” moments where she questioned if she was going to be able to get back into it. Her weekly mileage dropped considerably and during this stretch our bank account was mysteriously plagued by a multitude of weird charges… “cryotherapy? What the hell is that?” I’d say…. “why do we have this ultrasound machine in our house?” or “who’s stationary bike is in our living room and how did it get here?”…all good questions I thought. Well, Michaela elected not to let her injury slow her down, and instead tried literally every known remedy that I’ve heard of to get back out on the trails. It took some time, but in the end it worked and she was back running and healthy and really didn’t fall behind in her training.

Hitting her stride

This gets us to the steady descent towards the canyons (from Robinson’s Flat to Last Chance), where we start to pick up a head of steam. During this stretch she had taken on an extremely hilly Lake Sonoma 50 mile race, the Miwok 100K (which was generally noted to be exceedingly difficult this year), and stayed on her training program fairly religiously. After seeing how she ran and finished both of those races, I was extremely proud of her and feel like she really started to hit her stride (pun intended).

The Hardest Part

The next stretch of the course from Last Chance to Foresthill School (also known as “The Canyons”) is generally considered to be the most difficult section of the course…just look at those climbs! Anyhow, I’m going to say that the month of May is a great representation of that part of the course as her mileage continued to climb up and up, her body became extremely fatigued, and the emotional highs and lows of this endeavor finally started to take its toll. First, let me just say that while I wasn’t running as far as she was (by a healthy margin), I did go out and run those canyons with her the past few weeks and can say without hesitation that the trail system there is some of the most challenging I have ever run on so I can feel her pain, to a much lesser extent. I’m not going to sugar coat things too much, so I’ll just say that the month of May was a challenge for us all as this type of training requires sacrifices from everyone involved, not just the runner and the spouse, but also the kids, and friends and family. It really was great to have Rachael there to help lessen the impact. It is definitely nice to know that the “hardest part” of her training is now in the rearview mirror!

The Home Stretch

Which brings us to the “taper” and the last 38 miles of the race. Most people say that if you run a smart race to Foresthill and can still run from that point, you’re going to do well. With my very limited knowledge of how to train for something like this, I have to say that I think Michaela has run a very smart race up to this point. She has listened to her coaches and prepared as best she can. She has fought through injury and adversity and still has her health (and most importantly, her mental focus). Her long weekend runs are in the books and she can now spend her time getting her body and mind rested and recovered and ready to go for June 23rd.

This has been an amazing experience for me as I’ve lived vicariously through her in her training. I’m not ready to say that I will definitely run a 100 mile race, but I’m getting closer to making that decision. I just hope that if I ever do decide to attempt such a feat that I can show the determination and desire that my amazing wife has shown me these past few months.

I know you’ll do great Michaela. I can’t wait to see you enjoying your time on the course, running with you, and watching you cross that finish line. I love you!

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For everybody else, the race starts in Squaw Valley on Saturday, June 23rd and she will most likely finish sometime in the morning on Sunday June 24th at Placer High School. You can find lots of information about the course here: http://www.ws100.com/

There will be a website that will post runner updates on the day of the race so you can follow along remotely if you like here.
There will also be many people coming to experience the race first hand. It really is a fun and memorable day if you can make it out. When I’m not running with her I’ll be available via text (phone service-permitting) if you want to know where to go. We hope to see you out there!