Western States pre-race days

We arrived in Truckee a few days before Western States weekend in June, happy to have the chance to acclimate to the altitude.  While we were there, the Broken Arrow Skyrace weekend just happened to be happening.  And our friend Jason was running - cool!

We found him at the start of the VK (vertical kilometer) event, always fun to run into people we know at random running locations.  Thank you Jason for the great picture!

Taking pictures and chatting with his friends before the start:

John and I climbed up the ski hill to watch the competitors take off - this is quite a steep course, if the beginning is any indication:

Lead runners, moving fast and breathing hard:

Hey, I think that's Jim Walmsley!

You're doing great, Jason!  Jim Walmsley's not too far ahead!

We enjoyed wandering around the village and learning where things were, as this was the site of the start of Western States the following weekend.  I think this pose is "well, I made it this far!"

A plaque for the 1960 Winter Olympic Games held at this location:

John and I hiked leisurely up the road where my race would take me in a little over a week:

Our main goal was to watch some of the "Iron Face Challenge" race, which included a via ferrata section.  Sounds like something John might like (if it wasn't sold out when we found out about it).

We trekked over to the spot where the runners geared up with harnesses and helmets:

The start of this event was done a few people at a time in order to space everyone out, so there wasn't a big bunch of people on the lines all at once:

John might be tempted to try this run/climb thing in the future...

Hard to see, but I tried to get a shot of competitors up on the rocks in the middle of the via ferrata course (I bet they had a great view of Olympic Valley):

Back down in the village, I just happened to see Amy Palmiero-Winters at the Iron Face starting line - go Amy!

The Iron Face finish line (the VK finished at the top of a mountain, not nearly as easy to watch):

Enjoying our day hanging out in and above the village:

Tug-E and Olympic Valley:

Hey it's Kip!!  We were thrilled to have his company for the pre-Western States festivities.  Thanks for driving up to Truckee to hang out with us!

On Thursday we did the "shake out" run on the resort bike path, good for keeping the legs limber and also for running/chatting for several miles.

I signed up for a couple medical studies that collected data before/during/after the race, because this is a once-in-a-lifetime experience in all respects.  No one has ever asked for my medical stats around a 100-miler before.  Neat to be able to contribute to scientific studies.

Apparently I was surprised (or just pretending to be) that John was doing his own documentation of the event:

Love the creative signs around what I would come to call the "Pee Study":
 "Don't worry, pee happy"

 "Urine-stoppable"

 "Pee calm and carry on"

 "Urine-vincible"

A backward selfie:

One day closer to starting this race I've been trying to get into for 10 years!

Back in Truckee for an afternoon, where we saw 3 Rivians coming to California:

Welcome!  To the Rivians or whoever/whatever else...

On Friday morning Kip and our friends Wayne and Betsy were getting ready to climb the first hill of the Western States course, with the promise of pancakes at the top - sounds like fun!

They're in this photo somewhere - have a great hike y'all!

Meanwhile, back at the Howie, I had some last-minute race prep to finish up.  Almost time for the big day!

San Jose with Kip and the Bogles!

We were super excited to visit the Bay Area for a weekend in June, where we converged with Kip and the Bogles!

We met up at an orienteering meet, of all places.  Or I guess if you know us, obviously.

It was a fun afternoon running around a college campus and a surprisingly hilly nearby park, looking for checkpoints, eventually coming down the stairs to the finish line:

Dave followed not long later, nice job Dave!

The next day it was over to Monterey to see the Pacific Ocean and the scenic boardwalk.  Hello friends!

Boop!  I love sea otters, even the stationary versions:

It has been a while since we've been near the ocean and enjoyed listening to waves hit the shore:

Lots of walking and talking and catching up:

Harbor seals!  An unexpected wildlife sighting on the nearby beach:

Dave got a better photo:

Getting ready for a fun (and funny) pirate ride/shooter game in the basement of one of the little shopping areas:

Yum!

Hi Marcy and John!

Why, hello Dave and Michelle!

Oh, and it was Michelle's birthday!  We were lucky to get to spend it with her.  Although we weren't nearly as prepared as Michelle and Danny were for John's birthday back in January, we tried to make it special (and yes, she is now officially ageless):

Joining Kip for his daily run - hey, Dave is taking a picture and I don't have my camera with me!

We love escape rooms and will take any opportunity to try one.  This time machine story was great fun, and we did pretty well even though Dave occasionally stopped helping in order to take pictures of us figuring things out:

Let's do the time warp again!!

It was another beautiful day in sunny California, so we drove over to the Google campus and found the new visitor center.  Thank you John for the good idea to check it out:

The store section of the visitor center:

Google put up a bunch of sculptures outside, so we wandered around to admire the creativity of the artists.  This lady is almost see-through:

Side view of the same piece:

This adorable bear is covered in pennies!

A photogenic installation:

More geometric shapes:

This should be a video, because you can spin the big rock and apparently it was worth watching for a few seconds:

Thank you Kip for spending time with us that weekend, and thank you Dave and Michelle for travelling to San Jose to visit us there!  Rock on  :)