CCC 100, my chance to crew

Last weekend I had the joy of crewing Kyly for Cascade Crest 100. She is running really well right now and it showed.

The race starts at 10:00am which has it's pluses. You can get some good rest the night before the race which is nice for a change. Mike Burke was there. What stud. He did Waldo 100k the weekend before and he will be doing AC 100 in two weeks!

Anna Bates was to do her first 100. I met Anna and Kyly two years ago at 3:00am running up PCT at the start of Waldo. Anna's headlamp went out and Kyly and I light the trail for her until the sun came up. What a great memory that is.

Kyly had signed up months ago thinking that this would be a great mountanous run. Well, as race day grew nearer information on the race was non-existant. Entrants would try to contact the RD, Markus Dennis, for information and replys didn't happen. Then the week of the race information is posted on the website! I won't vent too much here, but in my own personal opinion I would have been very frustrated with the RD.

Because of lack of communication Kyly just decided to use it as a training run for Rio. She was to do 40-47 miles of the course and drop as Rio is in only three weeks. The race started with 67 entrants in what was going to be a fairly warm day here in the NW. I immediatly set out to be at Tacoma Pass aid station at mile 22.5. I would get there in plenty of time so I decided to go for a run on the trail. I met up with James Varner who drove up from Olympia. He was marking the course on race day!!! With no comunication between the RD and others volunteers were sparce. James and I were only about an hour to hour and a half ahead of the leaders.

Back to the race. Kyly came in looking great. She refueled and I walked her out letting her know what was ahead. She was having a great time.

I then head off to Stampede Pass, mile 33 of the race. Kyly comes in still looking fantastic and she has been passing many. She just gets stronger as the day goes on. I give her a light, (RD instructs that you must leave with one here). She wants her hand held and long sleeve shirt. Kyly it is 85 degrees! I will see her in a litte over an hour. I could give her that stuff later.

She gets to Meadow Mountain aid station in 1:15, mile 40.5. She is flyin'!!! She is now in the top 10 overall! Third female! She is covered with salt. Not her norm. But she looks fantastic. Much better than some that have passed through. She desides to call it a day as her achillies is acting up. I wanted her to do the whole thing. She was just running so strong! But that was not her plan for the day. Bummer, I was having a blast helping. And this was good to see her so often. She is going to jam at Rio! (Kyly in red coming into Tacoma aid station, mile 22.5)

As for Anna and Mike... They ran the whole race together. How great is that? Mike was cramping a bit you can always depend on "Bushwacker."

Anna finished strong. She was really happy, as she should be. This was not an easy race. I believe it has 23,000 feet of gain.

















Bushwacker cleaning the trail dirt off. Anna above rejoycing in her accomplishment of placing 4th female. The NW gang did great. It was fun to see all of them out on the trail. It was a great weekend. I look forward to crewing Kyly in a 100. This a "must" on my wish list.