“As Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (former Liberian president and first woman head of state in Africa) said, ‘If your dreams do not scare you, they’re not big enough.’”īurke was assisted during the race by a crew of four, including a pacer who accompanied her on the final 38 miles of the course. “A hundred miles is commonplace for many of the runners here in southern Oregon, but I never dreamed I’d be among the ranks. “It really is incredible what people can do when they put their mind to it,” Burke said.

She worked with a running coach – Molly Schmelzle of Running Rabbit Endurance in Ashland – to prepare for the race, and said the experience helped her gear up both physically and mentally for the distance. But a jump to the 100-mile distance is difficult for many, in part because it requires running through the night for all but the fastest runners. “The hardest thing about the race was waiting for it to start,” Burke said. “Squaw Valley was a very intense place in the days leading up to the race. You can feel the energy, anxiety and excitement radiating off everyone in Olympic Village. It was actually very overwhelming.”īurke has run more than 15 previous ultramarathon events, ranging from 50 kilometers to 100 kilometers (62 miles). Runners traverse snowfields atop Squaw Valley and some of the other peaks along the course, and often contend with 100-degree temperatures in the canyons of the American River. on Saturday, June 29, at the base of Squaw Valley Resort – just northwest of Lake Tahoe – and runners gained a total of 18,090 feet and descended 22,970 feet before finishing on the track at Auburn’s Placer High School. A handful of runners competed alongside the horses each of the next few years, until the 100-mile run became an independent event.

Western States was launched as its own event in 1978, though its roots go about six years deeper, when seven soldiers from Fort Riley, Kansas, participated on foot in the Western States Trail Ride. The endurance run is a cornerstone event in the Grand Slam of Ultrarunning: the five oldest and most prestigious 100-mile trail races in the U.S.

Forest Service to 369 runners, and 5,862 entered a lottery to run in this year’s race. If they enjoy and focus on the process of learning rather that the outcome – the grade at the end of the term – then they will be happier and more fulfilled with their education.”īurke, a criminology and criminal justice professor at SOU since 2008, earned her entry into Western States by volunteering at several previous years’ races. “Building up to a race, there are marked improvements in fitness that should be celebrated. I can’t help but think of my students with this analogy. “It just so happened that everything went so smoothly for my race, but that’s not always the case. “Anything can happen on race day – injury, illness or other unforeseen events,” she said. “The big take away from this experience is really believing in and enjoying the process rather than measuring success based on the outcome,” she said – acknowledging that’s an easy thing to say after finishing the race (50 runners didn’t).īut Burke said her long months of training for the race, and then enjoying the miles as she navigated the Western States course from Squaw Valley to Auburn, California, affected her more profoundly than the euphoria of the finish line. She not only finished her first 100-mile race, but the race just happened to be the “granddaddy of them all” – the Western States Endurance Run.

SOU faculty member Alison Burke compared her feat to the experiences of her students after she recently achieved any ultramarathoner’s dream.

Western states endurance run