Crewing Les at Run Rabbit Run

I am so proud of my wife. She has done some great things over the past couple of years as she has entrenched herself into this sport of ultra running. She has placed high at both Lake Sonoma 50 and Speedgoat 50k as well as crushing her first ever 100 mile race with a course record down at the Bryce 100.

This weekend we were able to celebrate our twelfth anniversary in a very unique way, her racing 100 miles while I crew. Sometimes it can be very challenging to let her go off on these adventures while I chase her around from aid to aid through the middle of the night and hope that I catch her at all spots on time and deal with the emotional roller coaster that she is going through out there as well. I want to be super happy and supportive as she competes so that she feels no burden or pressure. I am pretty successful at this, but sometimes it is hard when she is so distraught. However, it is great fun to watch her compete at a high level and do amazing things!

This year Leslie decided to get into the 100 mile game. With coming up short out at Lake Sonoma and not getting an entry to Western States she opted for Bryce as a backup, but that wasn’t enough as she wanted to compete on a larger stage. She then signed up for the elite wave at Run Rabbit Run, the largest prize purse ultra in the U.S. and one of the prestigious 100 milers. This would be tight competition and it would be a lot of work to get a slice of that prize purse. Leslie was committed to go top 5.

Being an elite race Fred & Paul (the race directors) decide to do a few things differently, such as
Noon start so that every racer must run through the night
No pacers, except for a small 3 mile road section through town, twice