WSER 2025 at Last Chance

For the 14th year in a row (not counting the cancellation of 2020), I volunteered at the Last Chance aid station at the Western States Endurance Run, a 100.2 mile run from the Lake Tahoe area to Auburn CA. The buildup to the race is always fun - last minute sign requests, late details about ice and water needs, watching the wait list to see if just one more friend can get in - it becomes a huge focus.

This year was a bit different, as I spent the weekend before the race in Colorado with my ailing mom. There was some doubt whether I would even get to go to WSER this year. On the Wednesday before race day, my mom passed away peacefully in her sleep.

My flight back to CA was later on Wednesday, and after a lot of discussion, I decided that flying back as planned was the right thing to do, and driving up to Last Chance was also the right thing to do - I needed a distraction and the Last Chance aid station has a knack for making things better. 

The minivan with a car-top carrier for the first time.

One difference this year was that I would have a couple of people riding with me. I take a lot of stuff up to Last Chance - tables, coolers, chairs, the signs - and in the old days, I would stop in Auburn at the WSER warehouse to load up with a thousand pounds of ice. This year, as has become the norm, there was an ice trailer dragged to the Dusty Corners aid station (the one before Last Chance), so now I just stop in Auburn to pick up some jugs of water.

Which meant I ended up with some bonus room, and since parking at Last Chance is not plentiful and carpooling is strongly encouraged, I had some company for the drive.

Mango "helping" me with the signs.

A few Last Chance details that may be helpful to know:

• It is at mile 43.3 in the race. The generally dreaded hot and steep canyons are next.
• Last Chance is an old mining ghost "town" - actually a wide spot in the "road" - with old mining bits and pieces scattered around. There is no or very little cell service. You are a long ways from everything.
• Bits of the "road" actually become part of the course, so you have to get to Last Chance by about 9 AM on Saturday (most camp there Friday night, which is what I always do) and you can't leave until the sweepers come through (about 5:30 PM). 
• There are no pacers or crew allowed - we get the runner's full attention!
• It is the best of all the aid stations.
• But wow, there are MANY mosquitos thanks to a nearby spring.

The Friday night campfire is a fun tradition. By this time, the mosquitos are mostly gone.

In the old days, it was an actual wood-based campfire, but those are no longer allowed, so this propane campfire is used instead.

Lots of stories are told, previous races recounted, and snacks are eaten.

On Saturday morning, before the road gets closed, myself and three others jumped into the minivan to go get our ice from Dusty Corners. The trailer is normally fairly accessible for us, but this year it was put in a more convenient location for Dusty Corners, but not very convenient for grabbing our ice - a human chain was required to get the ice (60 16-pound bags) from the trailer to the minivan. 

Traditionally, early on Saturday morning, a group of runners heads from Last Chance to Swinging Bridge (towards Devil's Thumb) while another group heads from Last Chance to Dusty Corners via Pucker Point. The group that ran to Dusty Corners got the bonus duty of helping form the chain to load the van.

You can see the ice trailer in the background.

All loaded - some got the coolest seats in the van!

After getting the ice to Last Chance, it's time to get the finishing touches in place, followed by the pre-runner meeting.

Last Chance has three aid station captains, but sadly this year, one of those captains was injured and unable to make it - we missed you Bonnie! Eric and Peggy took up the slack though, so all still went smoothly.

Most of the Last Chance volunteers. 

The action starts…

At 10:46, the runners started arriving and we got down to business. It was already pretty warm, so none of the leaders skipped the Car Wash (what we call the area where we use sponges, sprayers, and watering cans to soak the runners while shoving ice in their hats, arm sleeves, neckwear, and other surprising places).

This feels so much like what being on a NASCAR pit crew must feel like, except, as quick as possible, we cool off the runners and send them on their way, hopefully with no bonus gas.

The rest of the day was spent like this - it would be interesting to know how much ice the average runner carried with them when they left (probably a pound or so). I've heard that it does not last long though - within a mile or two it's mostly melted and well before they get to the next aid station, Devil's Thumb, they are back to being completely dry.

About a half mile before the aid station, there are volunteers that radio down to us, letting us know the numbers of the runners that pass so that the drop bag people can have the bags waiting for each runner as they arrive. 

Each runner gets a greeter that will stay with them as they make their way through the aid station.

The ham radio team - the lack of cell service means these people are our only real contact with the outside world. 

Georgina's Last Chance Buffet. So much good stuff for the runners to eat as they pass through.

Looking back on the aid station (that's the Car Wash that's closest, on the right of this shot - the medical team was between us and the buffet). 

The Last Chance exit team, tracking the runners as they leave towards the canyon.

A "me being dense" story. 

As runners come in to the aid station, runners can get ice in their drinks, but if they want ice for general cooling, they need to come to the Car Wash. So Jill made a sign saying "Get yer ice here!" and sat it out where it was easily visible. I decided that what the sign was lacking was arrows, so I added them. 

Pointing the wrong way.

So we had to move the sign, add a "T" to "here" and made the sign still work. (We soon realized that, for some reason, the runners were not really very keen on reading any signs at this point - they really just wanted someone to point them in the correct direction.)

While breaking up the ice with a hatchet, Jill was not glaring at me for adding bad arrows to her sign. Probably.

And that's about it. 

Occasional screams of delight could be heard as the runners got cooled off.

Well, except for my streak of dental issues. 

Dental issues?

Last year, on race morning, while eating my breakfast of yogurt with granola, I had a tooth crack. It was painful and made it really hard to eat anything.

This year, while packing things up after the aid station had closed, I grabbed a handful of peanuts and tossed them in my mouth, and on the first bite, a cracked tooth I had (different from last year) actually fractured. Again, very painful to try and eat with, but unlike last year, with a bit of effort, I was able to remove the bit of the tooth that had split off, which at least made it so I could eat. 

Next year I vow to just drink Ensures and eat nothing crunchier than a marshmallow while at Last Chance.

Some stats!

Last Chance ended up with four runners entering the aid station after our cut off, but for the first time in a few years, all runners that got in before the cut off managed to get out in time.

• There were 369 starters, and of those, 23 did not get to Last Chance.
• We had 94 runners come in to Last Chance from 4:00 PM on. 
• 4:20 PM is considered to be the 30-hour finish pace. (5:25 is when we close.) Of those 94 runners, 56 would end up finishing. Of those 56 finishers, 45 finished in the Golden Hour - from 29:00 to 30:00. Eight finished in the 28:00 hour and an astonishing two finished in the 27:00 hour Those two really made up a lot of time!
• Note that there were four runners who completed the course but finished after the 30 hour cutoff - technically a DNF, but still very impressive.
• Of the 35 runners that came in from 4:00 to 4:20 (ahead of the historical 30-hour finish pace), 29 finished!
• Of the 59 that came in after 4:20, a respectable 27 finished. (Of the 10 that came in during the 5:00 hour, we still had two finish!)

The wait list.

The wait list was pretty remarkable this year. When the lottery is held, enough names are drawn to fill the race's 369 spots. After that, 75 more names are drawn to fill out a wait list to fill any spots that may open up before race day due to a runner dropping out for some reason. Usually, if you are in the 30s of the wait list, you are right on the edge of possibly getting a shot to run. (Note that many on the wait list that get offered a spot will decline for a number of reasons, such as not having enough time to get ready.)

William Dai was number 53 on the wait list, a number that almost for sure was too high to get in to the race. The kind of number that makes you strongly consider making other plans for that weekend. William did not make other plans, and a few days before the start, got offered a spot! That was so cool - he parlayed it into a fine sub-24 hour finish!

The last of the wait list to get in the race was number 65 (who managed a golden hour finish). Next on the list was number 73, and was likely at the pre-race briefing on the Friday before the race, carefully watching to see if anyone was going to be a last minute drop!

The signs.

As normal, I made a number of signs for runner friends and friends of runners. I also put up a few signs that others made. I made a separate post about those - click here to see it.

The sign I made for William, who got in from the wait list and managed a sub-24 hour finish.

Also, click here to see a YouTube video of all the signs as well as a walk through the aid station before things got hopping.

OK, now that's really about it.

It was a very nice distraction being up at Last Chance for the weekend. It's always inspiring to see all the amazing runners going through a tough course. But it's also inspiring to see the equally amazing volunteers that give up their weekend to hang out there and do just about anything to keep a runner motivated and ready to go. 

A huge thanks to the Steven's Creek Striders for running this aid station and continuing to let me be a part of something so cool!

That's it - move along…

WSER 2025 - The Last Chance signs

For a number of years now, I've been making and putting up a variety of signs at the Last Chance aid station for the Western States Endurance Run. It started with a few for a couple people I knew in the race, and has grown to be around 50 signs total, including several that are made by others.

One question I get is who gets a sign? Sadly, there's not an easy answer to that. 

• First, there are obvious people that I know. This year had few of those.
• Second, there are people that I think are fun or somehow otherwise worthy of a sign. You'll see those below - it's hard to define who these people are, and it can depend on whether I have time and materials left over to put them together.
• Third, there are requests from friends (or sometimes friends of friends). This is a growing category - I encourage anyone that knows about these signs to contact me if you would like one next year. I just need to know something that would be inspiring or embarrassing to put on their sign. 

There are also a lot of signs that are general purpose and apply to everyone. If you would like to see a walk-through of all the signs in place, click here to see a YouTube video. 

In any case, here we go, in no particular order.

Signs I made.

A small note about the signs I make - I generally only use a first name don't include a bib number. I really don't want anyone to feel disappointed by not seeing a sign for them, so a tiny bit of my brain chooses to believe that maybe, just maybe, someone will see a sign that's not actually for them, but think it could be. I know, that's pretty unlikely, but keep in mind the runners have been going for over ten hours by this point, and thinking clearly can be a bit of a challenge.

This is an example of a sign I chose to make even though I don't know this person. His story was amazing though - while serving overseas, he had a large chunk of a leg blown off. He was the first above-the-knee amputee to attempt WSER. (He ended up making it 70.7 miles before having to drop.)

Mandie is a prolific sign requester, and she requested this one. (Jeff finished in the 22:00 hour! Mandie knows fast people!)

Another Mandie request. Chris apparently has a mustache that bugs her. (Chris finished in the 20:00 hour! Even more amazing, two weeks later, he ran and finished the Hardrock 100!)

Another example of someone random person I made a sign for. Greg was the only person with 512 lottery tickets, which means he has been qualifying and entering the lottery for ten years and finally got his chance this year. (Greg finished in the 27:00 hour.)

William is a friend that was number 53 on the wait list. Normally, if you're that high on the list you'll not get in, but this year was different, and William not only got in, he finished in the 23:00 hour, earning a silver belt buckle!

Another Mandie request. Mandie showed me a picture of Tara after she had fallen into a cholla cactus at a previous race. Fortunately, there are none of these along the WSER course. Tara is also from Durango CO, which is only an hour from my hometown of Pagosa Springs! (Tara sadly dropped at mile 73. The important thing though was that she got to see her sign.)

Peach requested this - Ken is a local guy but I don't know him. (Ken finished in the 28:00 hour.)

Janette requested this one - Nathan was part of a group that could not find the ninth book at the Barkley Marathon this year. He also got in with 256 tickets! (Nathan ended up dropping at mile 62.)

Ben is the brother of Sam of Brazen Racing fame. Twice Ben has gotten in via the raffle (as opposed to the lottery). Sadly, Ben had failed to finish in his three previous attempts. Happily, he nailed it this year, finishing with 12 minutes to spare!

This was the first year that I wasn't able to make a sign for Kaci Lickteig - she was not among the starters for the first time in ten years! I mentioned to her how sad this made me, and she asked if I would make a sign for a fellow Nebraskan friend of hers. (Mindy finished in the 28:00 hour.)

I don't know Karl very well, but I know Simone Flowerrunner, so I wanted to make him a sign. (Simone always wears a wreath of flowers in her hair when she runs.) (Karl finished in the 25:00 hour.)

As a sponsor of the race, Brazen Racing gets an entry. This year, that entry went to Amy, who often works at Brazen's medical tent (and she has worked at the Last Chance medical tent!). (Amy finished in the 29:00 hour.)

This was a request by Andrea. Wednesday is a German short haired pointer dog. I am not an artist, but I gave drawing Wednesday a shot. (Sam ended up dropping at mile 24.4 and didn't get to see his sign.)

Kiran got this year's Last Chance/Steven's Creek Striders entry (each aid station gets a spot). I apologize for the very bad yoga pun. (Sadly, Kiran dropped at mile 34.4 and did not get to see his sign.)

Sign made by Theresa.

Theresa found out from one of her friends that I do this sign thing, and contacted me about a sign that she wanted to make. The funny thing was that I was considering making a sign for this person, and she ended up doing it for me! Sort of! (I added the wait list bit at the top.)

It's not often that a bonafide rock star runs a 100 mile race, but Ben Gibbard, of Death Cab for Cutie fame, is not a normal rock star. Theresa included many fun references to various DCfC songs in this sign. (Ben finished in the 27:00 hour.)

Signs Oscar made.

Oscar knows some of the same people I know, but he knows a LOT of others that I don't know. It's become a tradition that he makes a set of signs that I post up at Last Chance.

Oscar (not the sign making one) finished in the 27:00 hour.

Michael finished in the 23:00 hour.

Eileen finished in the 20:00 hour!

Jenni was one of those that finished after the 30 hour cutoff.

Ken's second sign, with the same pun as mine. (Ken finished in the 28:00 hour.)

Brett finished in the 29:00 hour.

William's second sign. (William finished in the 23:00 hour.)

Megan finished in the 23:00 hour.

Laura dropped at mile 52.9. Importantly, she saw her sign.

Carolyn finished in the 26:00 hour.

Michael finished in the 23:00 hour.

And that's it! 

If you watch the video you can see the generic signs I posted, mixed in with these.

Click here to see my main post about the 2025 WSER event.

That's it - move along…

PS: Let me know if any of you want your sign. 

The inaugural Mace Ranch parkrun in Davis

First, some California parkrun history

Six months ago, California, the most populous state in the US, had one parkrun - Byxbee parkrun in Palo Alto. Idaho, the 37th most populous state and famous for potatoes and a reptile-filled river for jumping motorcycles over, had more parkruns. 

In November of last year, the Ryan Bonaminio parkrun in Riverside opened. Idaho was getting a bit nervous. In April of this year, Brea Reservoir parkrun in Fullerton opened. Idaho shook its head and brought up the jumping motorcycle thing again.

And now there is a fourth parkrun in California - the Mace Ranch parkrun in Davis! California has passed DC, Pennsylvania, Maine (!), and Minnesota, each with three parkruns, and joined Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, Illinois, and Massachusetts as the states with four parkruns! (The two states with five, Ohio and Michigan, are getting a bit nervous. Florida and Texas (with six each) and Washington (with eight) claim to be cool with all this going on in California, but secretly worry that their days of supremacy are numbered.)

(Note: A certain group of you, you know who you are, have already started writing nasty comments on this post, reminding me about the Crissy Field parkrun - the OG of California parkruns - that was unable to restart after the pandemic shutdown. Below is a graphic showing a timeline of the California parkruns.)

You should be able to click/tap this to see it bigger.

Now, the star of this post, Mace Ranch parkrun!

Getting a parkrun started in Davis has been in the works for a long time. After a false start or two, it's finally real, all due to the persistence of Event Director Lesley. As a city, Davis has long embraced adding bicycle and hiking paths, making it a natural for a 5K event - all it took was someone willing and able to jump through all the necessary hoops to get it done.

Mrs Notthat and Event Director Lesley talking about ice cream. Probably.

The course is a single out-and-back that starts/ends in Mace Ranch* park. The first and last quarter is on paved trails that are well shaded (that will be more important later this summer). The middle half is all on a gravel trail that has scattered shade, but also has many entertaining bunnies.

*I know I know, it's hard not to try to make a joke about how only in California would a parkrun be named after a ranch that raised fields of self-defense products. I've been assured that Horatio Mace's ranch (I made up that first name since I couldn't find out his real name) was a very normal ranch back in the old days. Probably had lots of cows, chickens, and a small herd of tofu as required by California law.

The course is essentially flat - the only time you notice going up or down is on the two underpasses. It's worth noting that the gravel bit has a number of small potential tripping hazards - in general they won't cause much of an issue except maybe when you're getting a bit tired and aren't lifting your feet like normal, or are getting distracted by the bunny antics.

A bit of detail about the start/finish area.

There is a fair amount of parking at the next door Early Learning Center. You can't park in the street in the area of the park, but you can if you go past the park into the neighborhood. A cool thing is that a number of locals rode their bikes to the event - seriously; Davis is great for getting around on a bike!

There are two flush toilets with running water in the start/finish festival area. There is also a basketball court in case you want to warm up/cool down with a game of hoops!

Pictures from the first Mace Ranch parkrun event

Mrs Notthat and I, along with about 20 others from the Byxbee parkrun event, headed up to Davis for the inaugural Mace Ranch event.

Most of the Byxbee people that showed up at Mace Ranch.

Sadly, I missed the first bit of Lesley's pre-race briefing since I was sitting on a toilet, but there was laughing indicating it was going well. Also, note all the shade!

There were an amazing 118 finishers at this first event, including an astonishing 73 (62%) that finished their very first parkrun!

The chalk markings were amazing!

Entering the first underpass!

I believe those cones had nothing to do with parkrun, but were there to keep people from getting bonked by a rogue pine cone.

This first quarter of the course is all paved and very shaded - a total delight! You also went past a playground - it was hard to resist taking a timeout to go down a slide or two.

Approaching the second underpass. (Note, I saw two people wearing stocking caps on the course. There was zero chance of snow. Maybe Mike Nesmith [a reference for you old people] is revered here.)

"Hi Brooklyn! Which way do I go?" Shortly after that underpass, you curve around then make a turn onto the gravel part of the course. 

There were several shady bits on the gravel section of the trail.

A fun thing about out-and-back courses is that there is a point where you start seeing the faster runners coming back.

This is a Robert…

… and this is a Robert. The fun thing about these two Roberts is that I believe they are the only people to have run all five parkruns that have ever operated in California! (Being named Robert is not a requirement though. Probably.)

Dorothy and Mrs Notthat heading back. Attentive readers may note that Mrs Notthat's left knee became one with the trail at some point on the way out. (The trail won.) 

A fun bridge to cross!

"Which way do I go?" Gillian at the turnaround! With an umbrella! (Probably for shade - there was almost as little chance of rain as there was of snow.)

After the turnaround point, it was just a matter of retracing our steps. Over the bridge, back onto pavement, under the two underpasses, and across the finish line and into all the fame and glory!

Brian the Wonder Dog and his two minions.

Most of the bunnies wisely chose to hide from us, sadly. This guy was brave though!

"Which way do I go this time?" These trails are popular, and a number of people were pretty curious about what was going on.

Eventually I managed to make it back to the finish line!

Once I was done, I walked back out a bit to meet Lucie the tailwalker coming in. 

Marshal Brooklyn was thrilled to have found her way back!

One kind of funny thing about this spot - this is just after you come out of that last tunnel. There were chalk arrows (granted, they were all pointing out) and cones set up to direct the finishers, but people still seemed determined to go straight here.

Mrs Notthat pointing out that this should really be a bi-directional arrow. (Also pointing out that it was still an amazing arrow!)

And that's about it! 

It was a fun course with enough variety and shade (and bunnies) to make it a blast. Now that the opening day glory has passed, it will be interesting to see how many of the locals will keep coming back. Everyone I talked to from there seemed extremely thrilled to have a local parkrun - I suspect this event will end up doing very well. 

ED Lesley getting interviewed by what I believe was the local media!

It's so great to see new parkruns opening up in California! There are plans in the works for several more - the process can be pretty overwhelming, and you never know when some weird little thing will derail the whole thing, but with people like Lesley and our regional parkrun manager Robert working tirelessly, success is very possible!

Ohio and Michigan are right to be nervous about California catching up to them!

That's it - move along…

PS: Here are links to the things I've written about the three other active California parkruns:

• Byxbee parkrun
• Ryan Bonaminio parkrun
• Brea Reservoir parkrun