Western States 100 miles - June 23-24 2015 - PR of 2 hours and 20 mins

26:21 hours was the new PR. It was a tough race yet again but he improved his time from 28:43 from 2014 - an improvement of 2 hours and 20 minutes! Like always, I dropped Shavi at Tahoe the night before the race. He stayed in the hotel and was ready dark and early. The first picture of him at Escarpment (around mile 3 which is tough uphill) was sent by a friend.

Sandeep and his family came on the day to stay with us. Sandeep and Rahul helped me with crewing Shavi. We first went to Duncan Canyon's at mile 24.4. The parking was not too bad even though it was quite limited. It was surely dusty out there. We saw him at around 10.25am. Carrying his favorite wooden chair and bags filled with his stuff, we walked closer to the aid station and waited for him. Shavi cleaned his feet as it was getting quite warm there. After Shavi left, I ran after him to give him his sunglasses and while running down the hill there, I tripped and fell. Ugh. Thankfully Sandeep was there who took the sunglasses from me and ran after him to deliver it to him and he succeeded!

Picture at Robinson Flat (mile 30.3) sent by Keith who was out there crewing him before pacing him.

After Duncan, we had some time to kill as we reached the next aid station Dusty Corners (mile 38) pretty quick..I took a short nap in the car. Benefit of not driving by myself but it worked out better that way as I had not slept much last night and the next night was also going to be sleepless. The parking at Dusty was a bit farther. We had to walk a little bit but not too bad. We saw Shavi there. He looked good.

Next, I went to Michigan Bluff while Anu and Charles brought Waaris over to Foresthill where I also joined after seeing him at Michigan Bluff. Waaris was quite little and it was hard to manage his nap times on the way but we both survived. Michigan Bluff is little bit of a strenous walk as parking is limited. Carrying a 2-year old with his chair and bag to the shuttle from parking would not have been an easy thing. So, I had gone by myself. Sandeep and family also came at Foresthill aid station. It was like a party!

Keith and Kuni were pacing him this time. Kuni picked him up at Foresthill when we saw him around 8-9pm.

Next, since I knew that Waaris was being taken care of by Charles and Anu, I decided to go to Green Gate aid station which was quite a walk but I had Dasie (Kuni's wife) with me. The drive to Green Gate wasnt easy either and neither was the parking situation but Dasie was an expert. Keith was also with us as it was the time to pick Kuni and drop Keith. Shavi was surprised to see me as I was not planning to go to Green Gate. Cell signal is limited at Green Gate and it was pitch dark. Headlamps were needed there along with mosquito repellant. Alicia (Keith's wife) tried to go at all aid stations that she could. Kuni, Dasie and I came back from there after picking Kuni and dropping Keith. Next I came home and then went home to pick Waaris, Anu and Charles for the finish line. We ran him in at the Finish line tracks at Auburn High School.

What a great journey! Sleepless nights to commitment to endurance - this race tests the runners and his family for this all and more. Well Done, Shavi on your 2nd WS.