Craig Thornley,Western States and Friends

"Great minds have purposes, little minds have wishes."
– Washington Irving

  Last Saturday, Sue Smyth put on a ride and tie in Cool, California. It was neat, seeing old friends at this event. In fact, former ride and tie partners, Tom Christofk and Dan Barger where there. They were quite the team when they competed. In fact, Tom, and his wife, Laura, were two of the players that influenced my moving from the Bay Area to Cool. For more about Sue, Tom and Dan, I refer you to their TV interviews: Sue http://youtu.be/8PkfK6fpWBY;   Dan http://youtu.be/jm1X7pWZg-8and Tom http://youtu.be/E7pVe44sqSA.

I also talked with Gunilla Pratt a serious ride and tie competitor from Southern California about being interviewed, along with   Veterinarian, endurance rider and ride and tie competitor Michelle Roush. Look for their interviews this fall.

On Sunday, Tony and I ran from Forest Hill to Drivers Flat, the middle day for the Western States 100 mile ultra-run. It was good for Tony, and you can check his Strava running time. For me, I didn’t do well with the 90+ degree temperature change. And, I knew it was going to be hot. So I ran with a heart rate monitor. Because of the warm weather, I wanted to monitor how I was doing in the heat. I knew that would be a good thing since I don’t do too well at this point in the heat. Sure enough, my heart rate was raised more than I would’ve liked. Aside from a high heart rate, I started to lose my voice, which is another symptom.

Craig Thornley (     http://youtu.be/e-BmOb2bw5k)race director for Western States caught up to me about the 17 mile marker or so. Concerned about my condition, I asked him if I could get a ride to the bus. He told me that I could ride with him back to Drivers Flat. So at that aid station, I drank Coke, cold water and placed ice under my cap. It took quite a while for my resting heart rate to subside, but it did.

At the first aid station, Western States legend Tim Twietmeyer was helping out the runners. For more information about Tim check out his TV interview (http://youtu.be/wr2v3D4JreU). Also at the aid station was Ann Trason another legend. This woman was the ultimate women’s runner as she owned this hundred miler. I’m pleased to announce that she’ll be interviewed this fall as well.

At the second aid station, Meghan Arbogast female phenom was helping out. See her TV interview:  http://youtu.be/bgKMyPbkJJg.  At the top of Drivers Flat, Dan Barger was helping out. I told him that I would meet him at ALT aid station some 84 miles into the run, like I did last year.

On the ride back to Forest Hill, I sat next to a young woman who ran the Boston Marathon last year as well as this year. Luckily, she had finished her run before the explosion last year. This year she said the support for the runners by the spectators was phenomenal and she enjoyed herself like no other marathon.

Be sure to keep moving, laughing, smiling, loving, bonding and appreciating.

PS Another female running phenom Mo Bartley also ran http://youtu.be/Xi0D3EPHmx8. This post is really about phenomenal people who happen to be ultra-runners. To enhance your understanding, watch their interviews.