I headed up to Squaw/Foresthill/Auburn the weekend of June 27 to spectate and cheer on runners at Western States.  My hat is off to all runners for enduring the heat as I was sweating my butt off just sitting on the sidelines.

I am definitely no G-Tach, but I did bring along my point and shoot.  I added the photo album to FB and it can be found Here. If you are in any of the photos feel free to hit me up in the comments below or through FB if you would like me to email you any originals.

However (!) after quickly browsing the photos I added, jump over to spend a big chunk of time going through Glenn Tachiyama’s Western States photo set.  (Warning: these photos F’ing rock).

More high-quality photos worth taking your time going through are in Gareth McKay’s great album Here.

There was a lot of inspired running on display, and this list is by no means all-inclusive.  I am sure that every runner has an amazing story of their adventure from Squaw to Auburn.  Here are a few of my takeaways while watching the front-runners come through Robinson Flat and Foresthill aid stations, as well as the first 15 runners coming to the finish:

• Koerner is so freakin strong. Every time he passed he seemed cool and composed, and looked in great shape at the end.
• Jez Bragg was a riot, seemed to be the most psyched finisher in the top 10.
• Anita Ortiz winning in her first ever 100 miler (after qualifying for WS in May by running 2nd at Miwok which was her first 100k)
• 2nd-4th places finishing within four and a half minutes of one another (apparently an all out battle out of Hwy 49 aid? Fun to watch the finish from the stands to see who would break onto the track first)
• Kaburaki setting a new Masters Record (16.52.06)
• AJW rounding the corner to the finish line as Ballesteros came sprinting around the track (23 seconds separating the two, really exciting to witness)

For a full list of fun links from this year’s WS100, jump over to this great post on irunfar.

Runners, hit me up in Comments if you would like an original copy of a photo or if you have a personal recap from this year’s WS 100 that you would like to post on the site.

Congrats!

-Brett