RICHARDSON SECURES HIS SUB-24 HOUR AT WESTERN STATES

RICHARDSON SECURES HIS SUB-24 HOUR AT WESTERN STATES

Kate Dzienis • Jul 30, 2019

Contributed by Doug Richardson, AURA member

Western States 100 Miler, 29-30 June, 2019

The Selection and Prep

It is fair to say that I was surprised to get selected to run this race. Firstly, in Australia there were only two races each year to qualify for WSER – now that has been elevated to three. I did UTA100 in 2017 and Blackall 100 last year. You have time cutoffs in those qualifiers in order to gain your selection points or lottery tickets as the WSER system goes. One lottery ticket per person per year, and you can only accumulate those tickets if you keep running an eligible qualifier each year.

Never did I think I would get into it and I was banking on being in the lottery for a few years to boost my chances and hopefully get a group of friends to run it with me if we were chosen together. 

Word got around that I was selected and coach Gary Mullins from TRT and I sat down over a coffee and a Bourke Street Bakery pastry or two, and nutted out some plans. This was all happening also when my Achilles on my left leg had caused some major concerns in the past eight weeks and I was not really running. I had plenty of time (six months) up my sleeve, so it was great to get the issues out of the way. 

I joked with Gary over our coffee that I will need someone to fend off the potential bear, rattlesnake and mountain lion attacks during the race as they have been sighted in the past on the trail and race and although rare, are noted as risks to the runners. Then the joke became more serious when I asked if he was available to pace me for the final 38mi of the race as per the rules. He jumped at the chance, and now all that was required was to do some training off the back of an injury and then book the trip.

I did no sessions at all of pace/intervals or tempos because (A) coach said so and (B) coach said so. 

Fast running will not help with Achilles injury recovery; you need to stay disciplined. Overall though, you could argue that I did not do an abundance of kms each week, and I must say I really liked that approach especially for us old timers approaching mid-40s!

We gradually introduced hills, which I enjoyed, and seemed to go better uphill than down. Trail runs were long and easy paced. Trips to the Blue Mountains, Six Foot track course, Kedumba and the usual St Ives Garigal National Park became my local staple for trails. 

Gary and I fly out of Sydney to San Francisco direct on the Monday afternoon before the race (Saturday). With the time difference we effectively landed in their local time which was before the Sydney departure time, so it felt like we used the flux capacitor. Minimal sleep for me, so Gary elected to drive to our destination of Auburn, which is where the race finish is. 

The drive is two hours normally with no traffic, but getting out of SFO Airport during peak hour means the trip was close to four hours with freeway gridlock in sections.

Race plan or time goal? Well initially, I was thinking for a sub 24-hour silver buckle achievement, but in all honesty, I simply wanted to experience the event and finish with a buckle (bronze) which meant beating home the 30-hour cut-off. 

Twenty-four hours would be a dream goal, but it was not really at the forefront for me. My plan was taking it easy for the first 80mi and see what I had to give for the final 32km.

Race Day

Usual sleep of race nerves, but I got perhaps 5 to 5.5 hours which is a win for me. Awoke at 3:30am and replied to some of my overnight messages, got the running gear on, taped the feet, had some muesli, strolled down to the start registration area and got the race bib. It was chilly, about four to six degrees so I had arm warmers, t-shirt, buff around the neck and gloves on. I had my hoodie on until about five minutes before race start. 

Jim Walmsley, Camille Herron, Clare Gallagher, Brittany Peterson, Tom Evans and Ryan Sandes were all there on the front line, me to the far left, Brittany next to me, and Jim a handshake away. 

Courtney D was back amongst some other runners. Camille, I think had track spikes on. The rifle to start the race was closest to me of course, but it wasn’t that loud when the countdown from 10 seconds was complete.

Start to Lyon Ridge at Mile 10.3

Obviously, I was not going to do anything stupid in the first massive climb of some 2500 feet that lasted about 4mi. I settled into a power hike up the hill that averages 12% gradient. I saw many people go by and I settled into a rhythm and then heard an Aussie accent behind me and introduced myself to young Aleks from Manly and we basically hiked the entire peak together. Snow came into the equation soon and it was great to hike on the hard-packed ice and get into a slow trot on the flatter sections. Clumps of crowd support were still lining the pink flagged route and when we cleared a ski lift terminal it became steep and rocky minus some snow and Majell an Aussie from team Salomon was taking snaps.

The dry rocky section was soon over and then it was pure hard packed snow all the way to the top (now I know why Camille had track spikes for this section!).

Once you ticked over the climb, the terrain suddenly changed to dry sub-rocky single track for the descend, but with sweeping vistas of tall forest trees and rolling hills and valleys.

Within a matter of minutes we came to another long section of snow. You had to climb tiny snow walls or look for the best footmarks to get you through. I think I had about five to six spills over the next 12mi, but it was fun. The field was sort of spread out now, but you could easily be within five to 10 metres of the next runner. 

I arrived at the small first aid station of Lyon Ridge in 2hrs 31 mins. Apparently the 24-hour time guide had runners arriving at 7:10am so already I was 21 mins behind that pace.

Lyon Ridge to Red Star Ridge at Mile 15.8

I was about 21 to 22km (13mi) in and I started a normal small climb when suddenly, the adductor muscles on both quads tightened sharply and was I in a great deal of pain and trouble. I tried to stretch out and even walk a bit, but no easing of the stabbing knife feeling was happening. My goal of sub 24 hours pretty much went out the window in my thoughts, and now I was in a semi-panic looking to just focus on sitting down relaxing and push on to the next aid station. I had no tonic water at this stage either, but I did spray magnesium oil on the adductors. Nothing was helping. Eventually the sharp pain went down, and I could walk again until I was comfortable enough to get back into a slow trot.

I arrived at Red Star Ridge at 8:56am, 36 mins down on 24-hour pace. 

Red Star Ridge to Duncan Canyon at Mile 24.4

At Red Star I took some time to compose myself and focus just on moving forward. I asked the medic for any tonic water, and he offered some acid tablets (no not the hallucination type) and asked if I had been driving electrolytes which I positively replied but declined on the tablets. 

I had some fruit and took on a couple of gels and Clif chews, then moved forward to the next aid station, but knew it would be a long stretch of 8.5 miles.

My progress again was slow as I was very mindful of getting the cramps back again so soon, so I power hiked some inclines and took small steps on the runnable sections.

I arrived at Duncan Canyon at 10:45am, now 45 mins down on 24-hour pace. Losing further ground due to the easing back of the pace after suffering the cramps so early in the race.

Duncan Canyon to Robinson Flat at Mile 30.3

Duncan Canyon aid station was buzzing with music, Elvis dress ups, plenty of food and aid station crew. As the heat was building, we were lucky enough to go across three creek crossings and one was at least knee deep. Unfortunately, the water crossing meant I’d be getting some blisters or friction further into the race. 

There were still some small snow clumps heading into Robinson Flat at Mile 30 and here is where I met my crew for the first time (Gary and Raki).

I was still feeling good though with great energy levels. Gary asked about my mental state, and I said I was great it was just the leg cramps that were causing the grief.

I arrived at Robinson Flat at 12:16pm, now 46 mins down on 24-hour projected pace.

Robinson Flat to Millers Defeat at Mile 34.4

The single track had ceased for now and we were on running on dirt roads with a downward slope most of the way. Not overly pretty vistas but I could hear hunting rifles go off in the far distance. I can see how the elites would be nailing this, but I was not about to burn the rockets or ruin my race. This section was fine, and I had no issues with any further cramps here and made the Millers Defeat aid station in good time and apparently, I made back two mins from my 46-minute deficit.

I arrived at Millers Defeat at 1:09pm, now 44 mins down on 24-hour pace.

Millers Defeat to Dusty Corners at Mile 38

Again, this section was wider than single track, more like fire trail and again with a downward bias. About a mile before the aid station I suddenly lost the head drinking nipple off one of my flasks.  That meant I would be down to one flask for a while if I did not attend to the matter, so I looked on the trail desperately and spent a good minute or more trying to find a tiny item on a large fire trail. 

Luckily the next runner behind me eventually came past and he found it within seconds, so another set of eyes did the trick.

Upon approaching the aid station, I was moving well in good spirits and I saw Paulo from the aid station so I high fived him and then when I arrived at the aid station I refuelled with gels and fruit. 

As I was about to leave the aid station an older gent asked if I was ok as I was trying to stretch my quads. I said yeah just the usual adductor cramps for me and then I looked up to see who I was talking to and it was the one and only legend of WSER, Gordy A! He even gave me some stretch tips, so I gave him a big thanks and a pat on the back (the guy is huge) and off I went.

I arrived at Dusty Corners at 1:48pm, now 38 mins down on 24-hour pace.

Dusty Corners to Last Chance at Mile 43.3

This section was dominated by overall declines and open running on mainly fire trails. I arrived at Last Chance at 2:42pm, now 37 mins down on 24-hour pace.

Last Chance to Devils Thumb at Mile 47.8

I exited Last Chance and you see all the support signs for certain runners giving encouragement telling them not to worry about the upcoming canyons and heat. I was certainly not feeling the heat at this stage, but let’s be honest it was only about 25 to 26 I would have thought. The upcoming stage though had the fire trail section ceasing and it was a big drop down with quad bashing and single-track switchbacks and then a massive hike up.

Sure, it was hard work on this climb, but I felt comfortable, confident and I overtook perhaps eight to 10 people on this section. 

I arrived at Devils Thumb at 4:02pm, now 32 mins down on 24-hour pace, so apparently, I took a further 5 mins off!

Devils Thumb to Eldorado Creek at Mile 52.9

The aid stations were now a bit closer together and rightly so as this is the hottest part of the day. The next section I guess I will remember for a very long time. I remember a race report saying it is certainly hard on the quads down to Eldorado Creek and it is the hottest part of the course.

I was about perhaps a mile out of the aid station where the trail was open fire trail. On either side of the trail tall pine trees had been cut down but there was plenty of bush and build up either side of the trail. 

I first heard a strange sound and thought nothing of it. Then I heard perhaps the same sound three or four more times in quick succession. The sound was not something you hear every day, it was a roaring sound, like the old lion in the centre of the circle at the start of those movie features. 

I kept looking for anything on the trail up ahead. I could see a female runner ahead about 80 yards or so and then another guy way past her. I quickly looked back, did not see a thing but again heard the sound coming from the bushes on the left. I am 99% certain it was a sound of a lion (cougar/mountain lion) so there was no way I was going to stop or slow down and in fact I sped up quite quickly to try and catch the people in front just in case there was more to unfold. Luckily enough the sounds abated as I was travelling further on this section. 

I later chatted with the female runner when we were running together about five miles further on and she was a local who did not dismiss the idea that it was a mountain lion. 

The track down to Eldorado was a bit like the descent from Last Chance but a bit rockier and not overly technical.  The aid station at the bottom is well stocked and more ice applied as the climb up Michigan’s Bluff was next. 

I arrived at Eldorado Creek at 5:10pm, now 30 mins down on 24-hour pace.

Eldorado Creek to Michigan Bluff at Mile 55.7

Similar to the Devils Thumb climb put perhaps not quite as steep and spaced out over a longer climbing distance, but rest assured these two climbs are the toughest on course after 45 miles plus under your belt. I arrived at Michigan Bluff at 6:01pm, now 21 mins down on 24-hour pace.

Michigan Bluff to Foresthill at Mile 62

Michigan Bluff aid station is situated on a paved road so both sides of the road were rather crowded with crew and general onlookers giving out cheers.  Some of the Aussie crews were there supporting their runners and gave me a loud cheer as did many locals saying I was looking strong. I arrived at Foresthill at 7:28pm, now 13 mins down on 24-hour pace.

Foresthill to Peachstone (via Dardanelles) at Mile 70.7

I arrived at Foresthill about 7:20pm or thereabouts.  You can meet your crew on the road section before the aid station within 100 yards either side of the timing areas so I met Raki and Gary and changed shirt and got rid of excess baggage in my vest. Gary could join me for pacing duties right until the end of the race from here; it was still light, so we had a good 90 mins ahead before the headlights needed to turn on.

I spent a good five to 10 minutes getting all new gear and restocking with food. Gary and I took off from Foresthill through the long wide street past the school and there were plenty of people cheering on. We then turned left onto California Street before we hit the trail, an initial fire trail. We began chatting and were following a runner and his pacer about 100 yards ahead of us. Time went by and then we hear a yell from behind us…”Hey runners, you are going the wrong way!” 

Yes, indeed it appeared we were and missed the right-hand turn. Great, I managed to navigate 62mi without a hitch and now Gary gets me off course within in five minutes! Haha.

To his defense we were simply following the runners in front but that is a lesson to us all, follow the course markings and not the runner in front. 

During the next section to Peachstone (Cal2), we finally turned on our headlamps. The trail was amazing, single track, runnable and a few ups and downs. 

I arrived at Peachstone at 9:21pm, now only 1 min down on 24-hour pace, but remembering I was not aware of splits other than Foresthill where I thought I was just slightly ahead.

Peachstone (via Ford’s Bar – Cal3) to Rucky Chucky at Mile 78

The trails here were initially single track under the headlamp and dark night sky where the stars were clearly shining above. At the aid stations from here on in including Ford’s Bar, I had a very quick sit down and Gary and I both tried to massage the quads and calves to ease the tightness so that no cramps would come back for the duration of the race. It was painful having it done, but I think the practice worked so that is something I will try and utilise for future races.

At this point Gary mentioned to me I was 30 mins ahead of 24-hour finishing pace. 

We eventually got to the aid station at Rucky Chucky; Raki was there like a great crew would be and I had some soup on offer from the aid station. I arrived at Rucky Chucky at 11:06pm, 4 minutes ahead of 24-hour pace.

Rucky Chucky to Greengate at Mile 79.8

We had to descend some stairs to get down to the river’s edge. I got in the life raft (we were crossing the river in boats this year) as the water level was too high as they could not dam off the river given the snow that was melting and overflowing the dam. 

I sat in the raft and thought Gary was next to me as we began being rowed by the race organisers across the river.  But turns out Gary had not hopped into the same boat as me and was still on the shore, but luckily another boat was empty, and they rowed him over at the same time and in fact somehow beat me over by a few seconds. We then began the power hike up the hill to Greengate.

I arrived at Greengate at 11:42pm, 3 minutes ahead of 24-hour pace.

Greengate to Auburn Lake Trails at Mile 85.2

Gary had done a small section of this trail on Wednesday and said it was like other sections, single track but runnable, so we basically tried to run as much as possible. I think we were moving okay here, again my sight causes me to slow down a little especially on descents at night on slightly uneven terrain. 

I kept massaging my quads with my thumbs as I put my hands on my legs when walking hard up some inclines. It kept the cramps at bay luckily. 

I arrived at Auburn Lake Trails at 1:05am, exactly on 24-hour pace.

Auburn Lake Trails to Quarry Road at Mile 90.7

A similar section to the previous but with a slight downward elevation into the Quarry Road aid station, but again single track. I recall going past a bench named Betty’s Bench or something similar. It was a memorial bench built for where a female runner was out on the trails training by herself years ago and was sadly attacked and killed by a mountain lion. I didn’t mention it at the time to Gary, maybe he would have told me to run faster if I had. 

The aid station was down ahead, the descent burning my tight quad muscles and I could feel them giving way at any time. There was a loud band playing at 2:30am here. I didn’t like this aid station probably because of the noise, my quads were in agony and I guess I was getting a bit grumpy. I probably needed more food and Gary told me we lost a fair bit of time by potentially overstaying at aid stations to get the legs right. I had a lot more Coke here and cheese toasties and away we went. 

I arrived at Quarry Road at 2:30am, apparently now 5 minutes behind on 24-hour pace.

Quarry Road to Pointed Rocks at Mile 94.3

We were trying to calculate the pace per km needed here to be safe for sub 24 hours. We budgeted on 9-minute kms as by Gary’s calculations we were still slightly ahead of time but only just. Every time his watch chimed, I asked what the last km was, 8:24 or 8:10 would be the answer sometimes and then I was happy we could bank that time as it was less than the allotted nine minutes. 

We got off the slightly inclined dirt road and entered single track half technical climbing. Wow, I thought, here come some 11 or 12-minute kms as I was not budgeting for this incline! 

The kilometres were ticking over and yes there were some 11 or 12’s. We were now really pressed for time, but I was going as fast as I could up those climbs. We arrived at Pointed Rocks with 6 miles to go (10km) and Raki was there to greet us saying you guys better start hustling under 9 min per km pace until the finish.

I arrived at Pointed Rocks at 3:32am, now only 2 minutes behind on 24-hour pace.

Pointed Rocks to No Hands Bridge at Mile 96.8

A short 2.5mi to No Hands but we get the shuffle going along. You feel like you are running faster than what the stats show after looking back at it. We arrived at No Hands again ticking off some kilometres slightly banking more time. I did not want to stop here.  Gary was having something here I can’t recall but I said to him come on let’s go. I began walking out of the aid station and the station captain said just walk slowly until your pacer is ready. Gary caught up immediately as we began crossing the famous bridge that was decked out in multi colored lights for the night and we then began to work hard.

There was no timing recording apparently there for me based on the website. We were still moving on the notion of beating sub 9min per km. We were achieving this banking seconds each time.

No Hands Bridge to Robie Point at Mile 98.9

Who put that climb in there post the Bridge and those stairs? I didn’t expect that, but hey when you are at a bridge crossing then surely you are near a river so you need to climb back up. No food since mile 90 so I was almost running on empty other than coke and ginger ale. We eventually saw the lights of Robie Point aid station, and I knew now we had 1.1mi to go. 

Well actually I was told it was 1.3mi as the race is 100.2mi…of course it is! So now we worked out we had 1.3mi or 2.1km in 22 minutes but the next mile was uphill and steep in areas as we had done the social run on Tuesday night (luckily!).

The trail had now finished and it was all paved road so that gave me footing confidence and I ran that hill. Slowly, but no walking now! We passed houses decked out in lights that had been supporting the faster runners but there were one or two houses still with people out the front giving us applause. I reached the white bridge and knew we had to turn left to get to the Placer County High School Athletics track. I could see the WSER foot markings on the road like below.

It was now downhill a little to the school and I could hear Tropical John on the PA with the track lights on. I was nearing the home stretch and now knew I had this 24-hour covered. Gary and I entered the track gate, did a u-turn around some traffic cones and then made our way clockwise around the track for the final 250-metres. 

I could make out John was telling the crowd a little about me and my journey here and I gave Gary a big verbal thanks as we headed into the final 100m. 

Some Aussies gave me a cheer from the grandstand even though it was nearing 5am and daylight again and I crossed the line with arms in the air with pure joy of breaking that 24-hour mark with 5 minutes and 45 seconds to spare. 

Making up that ground after being behind all that time early was such a great thrill for me and I was very proud. I gave Gary a big man hug for his strong pacing and encouragement and drive to get me though. Hey, he may not be a mathematician, but he got me on the pace I needed to be at and we did it mate.

Thanks coach! I am sure I have wet his appetite to enter this beast.

I then thanked Raki for his amazing all night effort driving from point to point and crewing so well. Great work buddy and glad we got to send some time in your hood of ‘Frisco for a couple of days after.

What an event. Within a few hours I wanted to come back again. You don’t often say that after a 100 miler. Thank you WSER for putting on a sensational trail running masterpiece where you make everyone feel special and welcome. Thanks to everyone who supported me throughout my training and of course the race.

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