The G Running Diary

WS: The Finish: 7/8/04

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It was really hard to drag myself out of bed. I felt like I hadn't slept at all. I thought of Don and Steve running all night, but it didn't guilt me into getting up. I was still tired. After rolling around for a bit, I got in the shower, packed everything up and headed toward Placer High School. I think it's funny that every time Don and I go there, we find it by accident. As I drove down the road and made a turn, I saw the little white bridge and knew I was on the Western States course. Then I saw a couple runners. I was so excited for them I didn't even know what to yell out the window. I drove slowly and waited so that I wouldn't run anyone over, and then went to park up above the stadium. I got a good space, gathered up the footbox and my bag of stuff, and headed down the stadium stairs.

The day was warm already. Norm was announcing runners as they arrived on the track. It was exciting to see. It was somewhere between 7:00 and 8:00 am by the time I got there. John Vonhof had recently set up the foot care area, with a canopy, chairs, and table, plus all kinds of medical supplies. It looked like we had everything we needed, including customers. For a while they sort of trickled through. We got really busy later on, as people wanted treatment right before the awards ceremony started. Anyway, John and I reviewed how to handle various problems and what tapes would work best. This was different from Foresthill, because here the goal was to give the runner the best advice and treatment to start healing. At Foresthill I had to patch them up in the best way to get them through the river crossing and to the end of the race. I was happy to see that some of the people I'd helped at Foresthill finished! One guy I had helped came to see me after finishing. He had blistering problems on the balls of his feet. The tape job I did for him had worked! But, he had to add duct tape after the river, so that foot didn't look as good as the other one. He was happy though.

We told most runners to expose the blisters to air and soak their feet in Epsom salts that night and twice daily following. We avoiding lancing blisters unless it was completely necessary, and gave lots of advice about treatment and prevention. John told people about treating nail fungus. There were definitely some ugly feet. With two of us working, we could have little breaks to get food and go to the bathroom, and John had a little cooler of sodas, so our basic needs were taken care of.

I started noticing the time. The last time check I had seen on Steve was 3:30 am at the Rucky Chucky river crossing. Since that was the same time as Don and I crossed in 2002, I expected to see Steve and Don at about 10:00 am. But now it was past that time. 11:00 am was the race cutoff, 30 hours. I had a sinking feeling that Steve might come in right after the cutoff. That would be bad. I was surprised I was so nervous, but it is a hard thing to sit and wait.

Time was running out. I kept looking at John as we were working on feet. I was worried. Finally, with not much time to spare, I heard the words. Steve is on the track! I dropped what I was doing, and went over to be in front of the finish line, to cheer him in. Don was waving his arms and yelling. Steve looking like he was giving it every last tiny ounce of energy he had left. He was leaning and looked like he'd been through it. But he made it! 29:54. Everyone gave hugs, and Lisa Henson and I looked at each other and started crying. After three unsuccessful attempts, this was a big deal. I was so proud of Don for getting Steve in. Don said he would never pace again.