Ryan Ploeckelman co-hosts Ryan and Gretchen in the Morning on Q108
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMqm2fdXtds
The video you just watched is of 70-year-old Gunhild Swanson finishing the Western States 100 mile Endurance run with just six seconds to spare before the cutoff time of 30 hours. That’s right: A 70-year-old woman finished one of the toughest races on the planet with just seconds to spare.
The Western States Endurance Run started off as a 100 mile horse ride from Squaw Valley, California to Auburn, California until 1974 when rider Gordy Ainsleigh found himself with a lame horse unable to make the ride. So Gordy did what any crazy person would do and decided to run the course by himself without a horse and was the only runner amongst the horse riders that year, and at that moment the sport of Ultra running was born.
The course of Western States goes through numerous mountains and canyons in some of the most extreme conditions. Runners can experience snow at the top of the first climb and temperatures of well over 100 degrees in the canyons. The elevation gain over the course of the race is over 18,000 feet. To put that into perspective the Boston Marathon has an elevation gain of just over 780 feet.
My good friend Travis Esterby ran Western States last year and told me it was one of the toughest races he has ever done. I had a chance to go out and run some of the course with him and it is an all-around amazing race. It is the Mecca of Ultra Running, with people coming from all over the world to try the course.
You have to qualify to run Western States and all qualifiers go into a lottery for a very few number of race slots. I have qualified for the race but have not been lucky enough to run it yet, but it is something I would like to do at some point.
Because it started off as a horse race it is a tradition for finishers of this race to win a belt buckle for crossing the finish line in Auburn.
This buckle is one of the most coveted prizes in all of ultra-running.
What Gunhild Swanson did this past weekend was nothing short of amazing. Be inspired by Mrs. Swanson when you go out for your run today. You can do incredible things if you put your mind to it. Be like Gunhild!
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