placer high

placer high. placer high in auburn is where the finish line is. the runners run through town, enter the track, and run a lap to the finish line. it's a really sick finish. when we arrived, they had just opened up the

•food line. free burgers and a bunch of other stuff for everyone (take that acg). checking the live tracking, hans troyer was leading the race. he

basically was leading the race all day, fully locked in on course record pace, until tragically, he dropped. so that meant puppi was in the lead, his debut 100 mile attempt, on track to win and set the new cr. we dozed off for a lil nap and were awoken because the new leader of the race, vincent bouillard, was approaching the streets of auburn and would enter the track soon. the track got crowded, this time thousands of people (i think?). the crowd exploded, and there he was, the winner of the western states endurance run and new course record holder with a fucking time of 13:46:15. the previous record was held by none other than jim walmsley from 2019, with a time of 14:09:28. it was a boss time, was held for six years, until now. everyone knew that sub 14 was going to happen and here it was, with the winner. and if that wasn't crazy enough, here comes puppi in second place with a fucking time of 13:51:08. the six year or was now broken by 2 people who ran under 14 hours. but wait, were not done. here comes ryan montgomery in third with a fucking time of 13:53:55. three runners running 100 miles (not flat miles either, this is a mountainous race) under 14 hours is just nuts. and to make things even crazier, thomas cardin enters the track, finishing in 14:07:58. four runners (4) had now defeated jim's six year course record, and were now the 4 fastest runners of the fastest race in the west. shortly after, zach miller, the peoples champion (& my favorite runner) came in 5th place. it was all very exciting to watch go down, the crowd was ecstatic. we needed to take a break from it all, so we hit the free food line for round two (just snacks, were not greedy) and waited anxiously for the real race (the womens race) to enter the track. all day the women were battling, staying in close packs, real racing. but there were two (jenn lichter & riley brady) who were going back and forth, leading the race all day, and soon enough, there she was, jenn lichter hit the track. and if you thought 4 men running under the previous course record was enough, heres one more because jenn won the race with a fucking time of 15:28:05. one minute faster than the previous cr held by none other than the goat courtney dauwaulter. i think it was the loudest moment on the track all night. and shortley after, riley zoomed by with a wild look on their face (almost like a zombie, in a good way) getting second place. it was a very fun time, and i had a smile on my face the entire time. going off part adrenaline, part re-branded cold brew (thanks acg), we were able to stay up until about midnight to watch more runners make it to the finish until calling it a night.