The G Running Diary

More Non-Running at WS: 7/2/04

Previous  |  Next  |  Index

Saturday morning we got up at a leisurely 7:00 am, or something like that. Our breakfast stop was Starbucks (becoming a habit now), where we got drinks and sandwiches. We passed through Foresthill and stopped to see if anything was going on. They were setting up, but had no information about how the race was going. So we went on to Robinson Flat, which is about an hour farther down Foresthill Road.

We reached the first parking area and were directed to park. A school bus would come along to shuttle crew people to the aid station. We were carrying a little cooler of sandwiches and a bag of other things Steve might need. It was exciting to come into Robinson Flat. There was so much activity, and runners kept running in. I thought about the 24 mile journey they had already been through, and how they must be feeling about what was to come next. We were there at 10:45 am. We figured the earliest Steve might arrive was 11:00 am. The cutoff was noon.

Steve arrived not long after 11:00 am, and to our relief, was looking good. We got him to sit and eat a sandwich and drink an Ensure. He mentioned getting a little dehydrated, so we told him to keep drinking water while he was there. Everything was positive, so we sent him off with ice in his bandana. That was good.

We hung out to see more runners come through. We wondered if we'd see any come in right after the cutoff, but it didn't happen. So we headed off on the bus. It was a very well-run aid station, and the dismantling proceeded quickly. After wandering around for a bit, we headed back through Foresthill. We needed to go back to our room and rest to prepare for the night, but it was just too exciting. We realized the leaders would be coming through Foresthill soon, so we stayed for a while. We bought some snacks to keep us going. We looked at the updates on the runners, which were posted on a board.

Pretty soon, around 2:30 pm, Scott Jurek came through. There was a rumour that he wouldn't be leading, but he was, and he looked great. The next runner, Dave Mackey, was a few minutes behind. Scott was all pumped up. The crowd of people cheered him and he whooped back. He didn't really stop, but got his bottles switched out, picked up his pacer, and continued on. It was impressive. Dave Mackey stopped for a few minutes, and then carried on too. It would be a while before the next runner. So now we could go rest.