Yesterday I added another race to the must-do list.
After the disappointment of the cancellation of the 35th running of Western States last year due to forest fires, the atmosphere seemed particularly electric amongst all. No more was that more apparent than at the start line, where 445 runners and twice as many crew members gathered to see the runners off under the break of dawn. The Kimball-crew was a mixed bag of nervous-energy and contained-excitement for what was to come, and as a rookie to this event, I added to that the feeling of the unknown.
Having decided to spend the morning having breakfast with my extremely gracious hosts Ingrid and Kip at their home in Squaw Valley, I decided to catch up with the rest of the Crew at Michigan Bluff, the 57mi marker. Upon arriving, I learned from the rest of The North Face contingent that, for a number of reasons, our charge, Nikki, had the worst start to an ultra that she has ever experienced. Without being able to hold down any food or fluid, and the temperatures rapidly climbing into the 90's, she was in a terrible mess by the time she came into contact with her crew for the first time at Robinson Flats, the 30mi marker. Waiting patiently at Michigan Bluffs and with the computer connections down and no cel-phone service to keep up to date, we had no idea what we were going to face when she came in. We had already learned that a number of the top runners on both the men's and women's side had dropped between 30 and 38mi, underlying just how tough the conditions were very early on in the race. I was having my doubts as to if I'd even get the chance to run my part of this famed course as the faster runners slowly made their way in. The good news was that on the men' side, we had 3 TNF athletes in the top 8, and one more in the top 20; all looked very strong coming through the halfway mark.
So it was to the relief and excitement of all that our 3-time defending champion, although way behind on pace and obviously very rattled, came into the 57mi checkpoint at a run and with a fire in her eyes. Wanting to know exactly where the competition is a great sign because it means you're still in an attack, as opposed to survival, mode. After a brief stint at the check station and continuing on, we raced to the cars to get to the first pacer-station only 5 miles away where I was to pick her up and run with her through mile 80. I've gotten to know Nikki quite well over the years, which is one of the reasons I had the honor of pacing her, and we immediately fell into joking conversation to keep the mood light. It's sometimes tough to fill 4 hours with talk of stories and candid conversation, but not having spoken much in the past few months we were able to do plenty of catching-up to keep the attention off now 70mile-tired legs, and on everything from motorcycles to what constitutes a Montana-Triathlon. Ask me about that one later; that is a story for another time! In the mean time, unbeknowst to us, our boys continued to move on up the field and take advantage of the fast-starters who were beginning to come back.
As sometimes happens in these types of runs and although extremely fatigued, Nikki showed signs of getting stronger as the run progressed. When we met up with Molly, her second pacer who would take her through to the finish, I'm pretty sure it was her dragging my tired-ass up the hill to Green Gate with an increasingly apparent spring in her step. Moving into the night after leaving Green Gate to catch up with the two runners at the 93mi marker, the tiredness of all was starting to soak in. After much waiting, alternating between coffee and hot chocolate and enjoying the warmth of the evening having left the droves of mosqitoes to feast on the runners still down by the river, Nikki and Molly finally came through the final crew station just after midnight; well after the usual finish time for her on a good day and still with 7miles to run.
Despite finishing strong and both making up time on the girls in front as well as gapping those behind her, Nikki achieved a pretty strong PW, or personal worst, for the race. Ironically though, it's sometimes the tough races that force you to show the most character and resolve, and this was no exception. There was plenty of opportunity, and frankly, understandable reason, to drop as many others did. Once the short-lived tiredness fades, pride-of-character will emerge and show this to be a triumph over adversity rather than a disappointment because it's often in our apparent failures that we learn the most about ourselves. Nikki Kimball is one tough cookie and a true competitor and I, for one, am glad I was able to play a small part in todays victory. The men's leaderboard displayed the triumph of three elated runners, Kaburagi, Jez and Leigh having eventually finished in 2nd, 3rd and 7th respectively with Michael ending up well deserved 15th having raced World 100km Championships just a week ago.
Although I'm a far cry from even thinking of running something like this, I know that the day will come when I'll make the transition from crew-member and pacer to runner. I hope I enjoy the savage nature of the event every bit as much I anticipate that I will.
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