Western States Travel and Pre-Race Fun

Travel went fairly smoothly on Thursday, with no flight delays, no lost luggage and an easy meet-up with Mom and Dad in Reno to pick up our rental car and drive into Squaw. Sam and I had a nice view out the window looking over the surrounding landscape on the way in. Without a lot of vegetation, the contours of the hillsides and the coloration of the soil/rocks was very visible and was neat to see.

After picking up the car, we drove into Truckee and met up with Irene and Dana for dinner and then hit the grocery store before driving into Squaw proper. The whole drive was beautiful. There is just something about these western mountains that is so majestic!

Gorgeous views driving into Squaw

Our home for the week

Friday morning, due to the time change and despite going to bed fairly late eastern time, we were all up early and I headed out for a short shake-out run on the bike path that snakes from the resort through the valley. It was overcast and chilly but that didn't mean the views weren't pretty! Felt pretty good and was happy to not feel the effects of altitude too much. (3.2 miles)

Turn-around view

Mule's Ears

Then it was off to race registration! Things were very organized. All runners went through the line and efficiently answered race survey questions, checked their basic intel, got their photo taken with their bib number, got their ID bracelet, and got their swag bag filled before exiting through the Western States Store. Being superstitious, I declined the purchase of any WSer gear for myself but Sam did get a Western States t-shirt and Ryan, Dad and Dana all got WSer trucker hats 😃 We then meandered around the expo before Ryan headed off to change for the pre-race Uphill Fun Run.

Official race photograph for ultralive.net tracking

Sam quickly scooped up the Western States trucker hat that was part of my swag bag. It does look cute on her though! 😍

So amazing to have my family with me! I am a lucky lady! 💗💗

While Ryan was running, I spent some time getting all my gear organized and once he got back to the condo, we headed into the village for lunch. Lots of people milling around and not just runners! The ski area is still open with access higher up the mountain and there were lots of skiers and boarders walking around too. An interesting juxtaposition and lots of activity!

Kris met up with us at the tail end of lunch and we all walked over to the pre-race meeting together. It was fun to see the top men and woman introduced, and hear a bit about the course and snow conditions. Then it was back over to the start area for a few photos beneath the official Western States start/finish sign.

Counting down the seconds, minutes and hours to the race start!

😂😂

So happy to have Krisser come join us for the weekend to crew and cheer! 💖 So special!

Per my pre-race tradition, it was pizza for dinner and then off to bed early with a 3:30 am alarm set! Almost go time!!