The day before the day before WS100

I arrived in Reno last night after a 22 hour journey yesterday and drove up to Truckee from there. Truckee is 8 miles down the hill from Squaw Valley resort which is the start point of Western States.

This morning I parked near the start line and hiked the first 4 miles of the course. I have to say I am in awe of the surroundings. It is 80 degrees here without a cloud in the sky and it almost feels like I'm on holiday. The lingering snow pack that everyone keeps talking about and that has forced the re-route away from the traditional course this year, is clearly an issue. The slope begins 5 yards in front of the start line as the course winds its way up the mountain following a gravel road. There are plenty of twists and turns under chair lifts not unlike UTMB but just before the 3 mile point the course turns into thick snow. Making progress is hard going in that stuff, it's slippery so powering uphill is pretty hard. Apparently we will be on the snow from 3 - 13 miles but I'm not that worried about it, if anything it might be slightly less impactful on my shin.

The views from the top are awesome back over Squaw Valley and Lake Tahoe in the distance. I walked back down the hill from the summit to the top of the escarpment where about 60 people had gathered for the flag raising and a couple of the WSER board members gave us some goo advice and history from the course.

View from just below the top of the first 4 mile climb

Back tonight for the Grand Slam meeting then again tomorrow for registration, medical check in and a bunch of other stuff. It is GREAT to finally be here.