What a weekend #WS100

Here he is starting on the first mile of 100. I was really honored to be able to share in such an epic time of this families life. There was so much going on. There are so many things that have to be in place to have a successful race of this magnitude. His wife  

(my best friend) took great care in making sure all his nutrition was taken care of during the next 30 hours. He made sure she knew where to go and what was going on by making a great book for her all the important stuff was highlighted. His mom and daughter where so supportive . It was just awesome to see them all work so well as a team that had one goal in mind that goal was to make sure they did everything in there power to make his race easier. Of course Jef had to run the entire thing but I am sure he felt the love and support of his team. They all 100 percent wanted him to have the best 100 mile race. That was awesome to see. So where do fit in I got to pace him. It was a great experience. 

There is nothing easy about running Western States.  The course looks brutal and the first 50 miles will kick your ass. When we saw Jeff at Robinsons Flat I thought oh man he he does not look good.  His wife said to me "this is only mile 29" . She took care of him and then we he left we held hands and prayed that all would be ok. Then by mile 38 when he saw his mom he seem to be doing way better.  It was just crazy to see all these people looking so bad. It was super hot and muggy. At this time of the day no one looked happy. It was even hard getting to see your runner at the air station at this time of day. 

I met him at Forrest Hill mile 62. It was 10 pm and I took a 2 hour nap in the day so I felt ready. I was super nervous just because hello its Western States and I wanted to do a good job. I wanted to be the pacer he needed me to be. I just kept praying for that. I wanted to be strong and after my experience at San Diego I figured staying up late was not my thing. I was fine and I was myself and we didn't talk to much but we kept some communication going. I was so impressed because Jeff never complained not once. He ran 80 percent of the time because we had to make up some time. I was trying to keep up with him. I was not going to tell him that but his hike was my jog. It was so cool watching the sun come up and watching Jeff start to move with a spring in his step because now we knew he was going to make it and he did just that. He finished his first Western States 100 mile run. In 29 hours and 29 minutes.. It was a beautiful thing to watch. 

Running is the greatest metaphor for life because you get out of it what you put into it.  Oprah 

It was an amazing weekend . I love my friend C more because I got to see her shine taking great care of her man. I will forever be inspired by Jeff's performance. I feel so grateful for the opportunity to pace such a good friend. It was worth the 20 hour drive. So friends there is no dream to small you just have to start. Congratulations to #teamhooker .