Races
Western States
Olympic Valley to the Auburn track. Emigrant Pass first. The canyons after. Thirty hours. A silver buckle if you beat the sun.
The mountain
Five a.m. at the west end of Olympic Valley. Four and a half miles up to Emigrant Pass at eight thousand seven hundred fifty feet. Then the old miners trail west: high country, Duncan Canyon, Last Chance, Devil's Thumb, El Dorado, Michigan Bluff, Foresthill. At seventy-eight miles you ford the Middle Fork at Rucky Chucky. Cal Street. The track at Placer High. Climb more than eighteen thousand feet. Drop nearly twenty-three thousand.
The work
Canyons in June can go past one hundred ten. The high country can sit near twenty. You train heat, long descents, and a river you do not practice. Foresthill at sixty-two is not the end. Almost forty miles remain, much of it in the dark.
Race morning
Last full weekend in June. Twenty aid stations. Crew is banned at a long list: Lyon Ridge, Red Star, Last Chance, Devil's Thumb, and more. Pacers after Foresthill for most people. Two lights. The lottery is December. The permit is three hundred sixty-nine starters because of Granite Chief Wilderness.
Watch outs
Going out on the high country. Sitting down in the canyons. Missing the river line. Treating Cal Street like a victory lap. Sub-twenty-four is silver. Sub-thirty is bronze. After that the track is closed.