The Western States Endurance Run is Back
And this time it's personal.
Reader of the Week is Andrew Kersh because it’s his birthday and this is the best thing I could possibly give my big brother. Congrats, Andrew.
Stephen: Alright, Ryan. It’s happening again.
Ryan: I'd like to stop you right there. We're starting this newsletter with a story. Who is telling the story? You. Your prompt? A photo. This photo:
SK: If you can believe it, this is from the 2019 Western States Endurance Run. I had just finished and then immediately began vomiting. I was taken into this Civil War-era field hospital where this nice lady kept an eye on me for the next 4 or 5 hours while I faded into an even stranger hue of green. I had to provide a urine sample for drug testing, but between the vomiting and dehydration, I couldn’t piss! So I was there a while, under my beige blankets.
Sometimes, a friend would pop in, take a photo, and leave. Which looks like exactly what you did.
RS: Thank you for sharing. I did pop in to take a photo and I couldn’t stay long because of the chorus of dry-heaving coming from every cot in that tent. A truly twisted sport.
Also, It's important for our readers to know that you finished in 7th place in a very fast time.
The reason I dropped this photo is because we're going back to Western States this week.
SK: And this time, we aren’t leaving.
RS: That’s right. We are moving to Western States.
I'd imagine that you and I have two different responses to the words "Western States." You gave us a little background, but why don't you tell our readers what Western States is and what it means to you.
SK: Western States: The two words that get an American trail runner hornier than anything in the world.
Western States is the iconic 100-mile trail race in North America. The history of the event coupled with the legacy of athletes who have competed there, make it a proving ground in the sport. Everyone, besides some European people who choose to look down on our beloved race, wants to run this race. Part of the allure is how difficult it is to be on the starting line. With only 380ish spots, you either need to be top-10 in the previous year’s race, win a Golden Ticket at a competitive race leading up to States, or gain entry through the lottery — which as lotteries go is notoriously difficult.
*Will add a bit about what it means to me*
[Editor’s Note: Steve never came back to add more about what Western States means to him. But if I (Ryan) had to guess, I would say it means a great deal to him. To me it’s a race, a job, a nice place to see some friends. But for Stephen, I would assume it represents a great deal more: the beginning of his professional ultrarunning career and also, probably, his Super Bowl. A North Star for his training. A place where he’s had a lot of success surrounded by his best friends, while also barfing a ton. I’ve asked him about it on camera a few times and he cries every time like a huge baby.]
[Second Editor’s Note: Jokes on you, Ryan. I actually came back 90 minutes before this thing was scheduled for publishing to add a bit of context about how Western States has, and I mean this sincerely, changed my life. For now, we can leave it at that.]
RS: We love Western States. Between you running it and Rabbitwolf getting hired to do content there, we've spent a lot of time on that trail.
SK: Weeks of our lives have been spent between Olympic Valley, California and Auburn, California.
And as hard as I’ve tried to not get hyped up for this year’s race, it’s nearly impossible to not get excited to head out there and bask in the glory of this dusty little trail race.
RS: Should we do a quick timeline of our shit before we talk about what we're doing this year?
SK: Please. Timeline our shit, man.
2019
RS: The only reason we were there was because Stephen was running. Sorry that's a lie. I am now remembering that Ciele paid us a marginal amount of money to take some photos because Stephen was wearing a Ciele hat. You can see it in the below photo. It might look like Steve's got an enormous head but that's because that hat is packed with ice. Tell them about the ice, Steve.
SK: Ice and TOPICAL COOLING MODALITIES are extremely important at Western States. You have your crew tuck it just about everywhere they can and you leave aid stations looking like a damn train conductor.
RS: Also, sorry to blow up his spot but this is the year our dear friend Paul was pacing Stephen from miles 62 to roughly mile 80. Stephen dropped him. Rolled into the aid station alone while all of us asked “where’s Paul?” Turns out Paul was 20 minutes down the trail. This is what he looked like when he finally found us:
2020 - NO RACE, REMEMBER?
2021 - Steve Rides Again
RS: Here's a nice little video we made for Adidas Terrex about you and your teammate Ruth Croft. You managed to get 7th again, Ruth got 2nd, and me and Kirk Warner had the time of our lives following you around in a minivan.
SK: 2021 was the hottest I’d ever been in my life. I would once again end up in a medical tent for many hours after the race.
2022
RS: I don't think we went in 2022.
SK: I WENT!
RS: That's right. You sent me to Eugene for US Championships where I contracted covid.
SK: I went and once again hired friend of the company Kirk Warner. We covered the adidas TERREX squad who had a banner day that culminated with Ruth Croft winning the whole damn thing.
RS: Does that movie exist anywhere?
SK: I have it on a hard drive, I think. It was taken down from the internet for reasons unknown.
RS: Hear that kids? Sometimes you do stuff and it never sees the light of day. Who cares!
2023-2024 RWC Conscientiously Objects to Making Content
RS: What were we doing? Why didn't we go to the race?
SK: I assume we just weren’t asked in 2023. I went in 2024 to pace noted Norwegian and teammate Petter Engdahl. So really, I’ve only missed one year in the last five runnings of this thing.
2025
RS: And that brings us to 2025. While Steve was on paternity leave, me and a different Kirk (Kirk Horton) cooked up an idea that no brand wanted to buy (yet!), so we decided to produce it ourselves.
The focus of our efforts this time will not be elite athletes running for Adidas Terrex, but on the volunteers and community organizers around the race. We've lined up a bunch of very nice people to talk to and are looking forward to once again being in Olympic Valley for another Western States.
SK: We’ve been having our little pre-production meetings and chatting with some of these volunteers ahead of time and I’ve got to say, I’m fired up. I think this film might get a five or six minute stand ovation at Cannes next year.
Is this a “passion project”?
RS: Good question, Steve. I guess since we're not getting paid and we thought it would be nice to do, that by definition it must be a passion project. Even if your end goal is a standing ovation at Cannes.
What do you think?
SK: 100%. And the deeper we get into it, the more passionate I become about the story. This race extends far beyond the 30 elites and the only reason this race even matters is because of the work these community members have also done, unpaid.
So, it feels fitting to be doing this because we like making films on interesting things. And not get paid a dime.
RS: There you have it. Rabbitwolf Creative: doing it for the love of the game. See you at States.
SK: We’ll have merch so find us and we will give you stuff.
A FINAL EDITOR’S NOTE
Here’s that film from 2024. We saved it from the dusty hard drive to show to you, our fans.
Okay thank you. See you next week.
Good one and great idea! Enjoyed the reminiscing and seeing the videos.
I gave this post a 7-minute standing ovation alone in my living room.