Western States 100 Mile: Millers Defeat to Last Chance

Along this segment there were several warning signs. Most were related to mining rights. I felt a little alarmed that there might be a person coming out with a shotgun...and my tiny bottle of pepper spray would likely not do much good.

Luckily I moved quickly through this section and did not try my hand at mining in this segment!

In fact I did try to read the various warning signs because I figured they could warn of hazardous animals, unspent munitions, nuclear (or other toxic) waste which I would need to be on the look out for!

I go through Millers Defeat pretty quickly. I know the DNF line is very close to me. My friend Melanie H had sent me a tiny printout of the aid stations and 30 hour suggested pace as well as the absolute cutoff. I am within 30 minutes of the cutoff. This is quite disturbing, but I am hopeful I will be able to pick up the pace now that I do not have to worry about any more snow.

Knowing the aid station cutoff is very soon, while at this aid station I ask if anyone is going home after volunteering. I am not sure my question was well understood because I was just trying to alert my husband to my status. That I was running along and doing fine but my SPOT was elsewhere. In fact I was really hoping my husband might have the sense to realize since I was moving but my SPOT wasn’t that he could give me his bulkier and older SPOT. Unfortunately it sounded like the volunteer I spoke with was not going anywhere with internet or phone service. This bummed me out a bit. I just hoped my family/crew had been informed of my status. In fact not having my SPOT did suck a bit of energy from me. I was worried about various disasters befalling me. And since I would not be able to help myself I imagined it could take hours (or maybe up to a day as in my husband’s case) before I got help if something tragic happened. Time for another self pep talk!

The next miles were spent trying to move quickly and efficiently. Here we were on a jeep road that was pretty nice in my opinion. I could move solidly forward without having to worry too much about my footing. And we were in the woods so it was not too hot when running with purpose. The one highlight of this section was the “Mining Claimed” area that indicated the land was claimed. I found this rather amusing and was curious what kind of stuff was being mined. I also was curious where the mine was but clearly had no time to explore.