With just 30 days to go, nine rabbits are in the midst of their final block of training before likely the biggest day of their year, for some even their entire lives: the Western States 100 starting on June 23rd at Squaw Valley. rabbitELITE Adam Kimble is one of those runners and he checked in recently after an unfortunate, but minor injury forced him to scratch from the last pre-WS100 race on his calendar.
Last Saturday, I woke up at 3am on race morning. I was scheduled to run the Silver State 50-miler, my final tune-up race before the big dance, Western States on June 23rd. Three days earlier I had rolled my ankle at the end of a trail run with my friends, and the swelling and pain had not yet subsided. On one hand, I really wanted to run the race. There was strong competition and I love running the trails around Peavine in Reno.
On the other hand, this was very clearly a “B” race, and the importance of the race paled in comparison to Western States. So, I was left with a tough decision. Run the race on a semi-injured ankle with the hope of having a great race, or sit this one out and keep my eyes on the June prize. I knew in my heart what the right decision was, and after speaking with some close friends, they agreed. There was no successful performance that warranted risking my health for June 23rd.
So, I got up on race morning and prepared as I typically would on race day. This time, however, I showed up at the race as a coach and spectator, rather than a runner! I was able to watch some of my Run on Dirt athletes and coaches compete in the race, and it ended up being a truly great day. It was hard to watch everyone else run on some of my favorite trails while I sat on the sidelines, but it was a great lesson for me to learn as an ultrarunner: sometimes you must make sacrifices for the races that mean the most. But in the end, the sacrifice will always be worth it.
Follow along with Adam and eight other rabbit runner's quest to tackle the world's oldest 100-mile trail race in just one month. Look for more stories from our athletes, new trail specific gear releases, live race look-ins, pictures and be sure to check out our Instagram/Twitter/Facebook feeds and our blog for all things Western States in the coming weeks.
