WSER Training Camp
Course previewing and daydreaming
This is my third time spending a few days in Michigan Bluff, running on the Western States course. The first time was before Canyons 100k in 2022, then the official WSER training camp last May. This round is quieter. The trails are a little wetter. Timing didn’t work out for me to be at the race-organized training camp in May, so Anthony and I came out to do our own thing. The course is growing on me.
When I picked up Finn as a pacer last year at Foresthill during Western States, I remember we had gone about two miles and we were surrounded by burned trees and dead grass, baking under the sun on Cal Street. The only sound had been breathing for a couple minutes, then Finn broke the silence with a, “Wow dude it’s beautiful out here.” I thought he was joking and I called him on it, but he somehow seemed serious. During training camp last year, Jeff Colt had made a similar comment as we crested the hill that brought us into the Pointed Rocks area, with tall yellow grass covering the field. Did these guys actually think this course was cool? They’d been to Chamonix, they live in nice areas with mountains, how could the hot, dead, dry, monotonous Western States trail get them excited?
I’m starting to get it now.
The first 50k or so from the start at Palisades to Robinson Flat I’ll admit is actually nice. You get some miles along a ridge with great views and it feels like what I picture when I think of ultrarunning. After that, there’s a lot of dirt roads, dusty singletrack, burned forests, and sweaty suffering as you go dip down to the river and climb back up over and over again. Are you sold on it yet?
We’ve had a similar conversation a few times now this weekend as we’ve run these trails, and we’ve concluded that there’s something special here. It’s hard to put a finger on, but what we’ve narrowed it down to includes: flowiness, competition, and memories. Over half this route has some of the more pristine, flowy, smooth trails I’ve seen. It’s hard to find truly cruisable terrain like that, and it makes the miles go by quickly and takes away the challenge of having to mentally engage in foot placement decisions. The competitive field is obviously deep, and it’s fun to race against the best ultrarunners in the world and see where you land.
Most importantly, I had underestimated how fun it would be to now run these trails with vivid flashbacks of specific race events playing in my mind. That little uphill? That’s the last place I saw Finn. That pothole in the dirt road? The brown and white snake was in there. That tree? Where I caught Jon. Where Jacob started playing that song. Now that I have a concept of how running Western States feels at different points on the course, I can visualize while I’m running how things might be playing out during this year’s race and how I might be feeling. I can push a little on an uphill and think about who I might be closing on.
Western States still isn’t the most scenic course, but that’s not what Finn or Jeff said. It makes you feel something. It’s beautiful.