Best mom ever*

 *Note that there are MANY best moms ever - it's a massive tie.

My mom, Firma Lucas neé Boxler, was an extraordinary woman. She was always bustling with energy and pretty much always had to be doing something. I suspect she made more than one quilt in her sleep.

She was born in 1936, in Garden City, Kansas, on the exact same day as Robert Redford! 

Twins separated at birth? The internets don't seem to think so.

She was raised on a farm with three brothers, which likely had a lot to do with how resourceful, tough, and determined she could be. 

Mom with her parents and three brothers in 1970 or so. She was the second-born child.

Second-born children can be a bit goofy.

One interesting thing about growing up on a farm was that it gave her a life-long love of chicken wings. The farm hands would all get the best parts of the chicken for dinner, and she would get the wings. (And feet, but I'm not going there.) 

For the rest of her life, her favorite part of a chicken were the wings. Heaven help a restaurant if they had chicken wings on the menu but actually served "boneless" chicken wings - she was generally easy going, but this would potentially require police involvement.

In 1955 or so, she met my dad, Gary Lucas, also from Garden City, and in 1956, they got married. (You can read about dad here.)

Mom and dad bravely cutting the cake.

In 1957, I was born, the first of their four kids.

Mom's first words to me; "don't even think of touching my chicken wings!" My first words to her; "Robert Redford would let me have his chicken wings!"

In short order, my brother and sisters were born.

From 1970. The part of the picture showing my brother and my pants has been cropped off to spare you the 70s. You're welcome.

Fun thing (well, maybe not for mom) was that Liz and Lance, the middle kids, were born in the same calendar year (Liz in January and Lance in December), which might explain why a (relatively) large amount of time (16 months) went by before the youngest, Bonnie was born.

When you picture growing up in a small town in Southwestern Kansas like Garden City, you likely think of acres of flat land, lots of cows, much wind, and tornados.

And you would be correct. We had all of that. But mom and dad still managed to make it a fun and interesting place to grow up. 

For one thing, there were a number of lakes and reservoirs where we spent a lot of time camping and fishing.

OK, maybe the weather could be a bit challenging at times, but we were still out camping and fishing!

That's more like it.

And sometimes, we would catch a LOT of fish!

Camping involved a Starcraft tent trailer - all six of us could sleep in this thing!

Mom probably cooking chicken wings on the grill. 

Mom and dad both became Scout leaders. Slightly oddly, there were a few times that Lance and I would go along on Girl Scout camping trips ("just stay out of the way and don't get eaten by a bear" we would be told - we would then spend hours looking for bears to torment). It was worth it to get to sample the wares during Girl Scout cookie drives though. 

Once us kids were old enough to be trusted to be on our own for a few minutes, including walking back and forth to school (wow - I just checked and that was 1.3 miles each way, but not uphill both ways since, well, this was Kansas), mom needed something more to occupy her time. So her and dad bought the Wrens Camera and Gift Store, and she ran that. (Dad and a buddy had bought the Garden City Ice Company several years earlier.)

And to make things just a bit more interesting, she started singing four-part-harmony in a quartet called The Prairie Pipers, part of Sweet Adelines - an a cappella (Italian for "all our instruments are broken") barbershop singing organization for women. This actually had an influence on my musical tastes, since it made me appreciate and love listening to songs with harmonies. Granted, we're talking The Beatles, The Hollies, and Herman's Hermits, and not the hardcore a cappella stuff like "Hello My Baby," but still, harmonies!

After a while, our camping adventures grew to include trips to Colorado, and eventually we found a place called Fun Valley in South Fork, Colorado. We loved this place. There was so much to do, between the fishing (naturally), tubing, miniature golf - all it was missing was a roller coaster. 

Nestled in the Fun Valley trees.

This got mom and dad thinking that maybe it would be fun to set up a campground like this, and the perfect place to do that would be on the other side of Wolf Creek Pass in Pagosa Springs. 

So in the summer of 1972, they packed us all up and headed to Pagosa Springs. No more Scouts. No more Sweet Adelines. No more tornadoes. No more flat land. Just mountains, trout streams, maybe a bit of snow in the winter, and, well, a lot less air to breathe since we were at about 8,000 feet.

Sadly, that was the summer of a big gas crisis - long lines and shortages (and gas over $1 per gallon leading to many pumps showing half the cost) led to a lot fewer people taking long driving trips. It scared off the banks, and in the end, the idea of starting a new campground did not pan out. After a few years running the Wayside Grocery and Texaco, they realized that that kind of business, similar to the campground if it had happened, required your attention seven days a week, making it hard to get time to go fishing. So dad started working at the bank and mom started working at Gambles, then hit her stride managing the greenhouse at Ponderosa Hardware.

Mom always had a green thumb, and loved fooling with plants and gardens. 

I remember mom being so thrilled to have found these chairs at a garage sale, and turned them into planters.

Grandkids (and great-grandkids) loved this pond she had in the backyard. No fishing allowed.

Pagosa was a bit of a challenging area to try to grow things since you could have very nice weather in March followed by a shocking amount of snow in May. Mom loved explaining to people that moved here from say, California, how no matter the temptation to get your tomatoes started in April, you had better wait another month or you will get to start them again a month or two later.

Eventually both dad and her retired and once again took up camping, although this time it was in a nice fifth-wheel setup and they didn't have to share it with four whiny, smelly kids. They would go to Arizona and even Mexico with that thing.

The camper was often used as a bonus bedroom when we would visit.

Another thing that mom got into in a big way was making quilts. This included small, fun ones for the grand and great-grandkids as well as many full-sized ones. Her creativity knew no bounds.

One thing that mom started doing was taking shirts and making pillows out of them. She made these for her brother Jerry's family when he passed away. I have one she made from one of my dad's favorite shirts - it triggers memories every time I see it.

Mom and dad went so far as to buy a "long-arm" sewing machine specifically designed for quilts. It was as big as a compact car and dad mastered it, and the quilt making process really picked up speed!

Maybe my favorite thing mom created - when we were in Hawaii, she saw something like this and decided to make one. It's stunning!

Another thing they got seriously into were the lenten fish fries for the church - specifically, making the coleslaw. A LOT of coleslaw.

When you have to build a foot-high frame around your dining room table, you are making a lot of coleslaw!

Note that mom and dad shredded all of this by hand - and they did it once a week during lent. Their small dog Cookie loved this time of year since he got to clean up any that spilled onto the floor, and Cookie loved cabbage and carrots!

One last thing worth mentioning was that mom and dad got seriously into garage sales. If there was such a thing as professional garage sale shopping, they would have been all over that. The paper would come out on Thursday and they would study the listings and map out the most efficient way to hit them all. They found some bargains, and some "bargains." But mostly they got out and spent a morning talking to people all around the area.

A funny thing - when our daughter got married on Kaui, mom and dad went over with us for the wedding. They had never been to Hawaii before, and were excited to see the beaches and eat poi. (I'm making up the poi bit - nobody is excited to eat poi.)

We were driving along the coast, admiring the amazing views on our first day there, when they spotted a garage sale. So their first real Hawaiian experience was digging through a box of knickknacks in someone's driveway.

In 2015, dad passed away and mom was on her own. She did extremely well for a number of years - the COVID period was not fun for her, but she managed to not catch it while living at home. (She did catch it last year at Pine Ridge - she was determined to help another woman who had it and, well, you can guess the rest.)

In 2023 she had gotten to the point where living alone was not wise, so she moved into Pine Ridge - an assisted living facility in Pagosa Springs. (I referred to it as Club Pine Ridge. I actually had a letter returned since nobody there knew where Club Pine Ridge was.) 

She did reasonably well there - she missed being at home, but she mostly liked being around people, although it took a bit to get used to being around others all the time.

Mom in the picnic area at Pine Ridge, holding onto a hat of dubious origin.

In June, after a short period of serious illness, she passed away in her sleep. She was just short of turning 89.

She lived a wildly full and impressive life. It was astonishing to walk with her through a store and have so many walk up to her, talking about some tree she had talked them into planting, or her walking up to someone to explain how to grow the best tomatoes. Or make the best pasta. Or coleslaw.

Our family in 2011.

One thing I always loved was how much fun she had with her grandkids, great-grandkids, and great-great-grandkids (the word "step" never crossed her mind - they were all hers and she was determined to spoil them all). If there was a family gathering, once the food was cooked, she would be out back with the kids, laughing and joining in whatever game they were playing.

I'm pretty sure mom instigated this.

A watermelon seed spitting contest. 

For the last couple of years, I would write mom weekly or so letters. My last time visiting, just before she died, one of the women that works at Pine Ridge saw me with her, and lit up. "You're Allen! I feel like I know all about you!" It turned out she would spend time with mom, reading her my letters and looking at the pictures. It was so cool that someone would take that time to do that with her!

At the end of each letter, I would draw a dumb cartoon seagull, based on the ones that often appear in my current favorite comic strip, Wallace the Brave. Often I would try to draw them doing something relevant to the letter's contents.

I didn't say they were good. And I suspect seagulls can't actually spit watermelon seeds.

Mom gave so many of us a staggering number of fabulous memories! 

She's going to be so missed.

That's it - move along…

PS: Here is a link to a slideshow I put together for her service.

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.