Western States- Getting Engaged!

Pre-Race

I am going to open my blog with the most memorable running experience I've had so far.  Craig ran Western States in 2010 and I paced him from Forest hill on.  This is the guest article that I wrote for his blog about getting engaged mid race

Start of Western States 2010

Craig showed up at Foresthill in the dark escorted by two of our friends.  I’d been waiting for Craig since 2pm, seeing as how it was now 9:30pm I was totally ecstatic! We took our time at the aid station and Craig even flirted with the volunteers. They wanted to know if he really had just run 62 miles to get there.  They had a hard time believing him he was in such a great mood.  

Craig looking great after 62 miles!

Our friends sent us off into the night at the bottom of the hill.  It was now just us!  We we’re off, but not for long.  We took the opportunity to pee as soon as we got off concrete.  Three minutes down the trail I realized I left my flashlight back on the ground.  So back up the trail I scampered trying not block any oncoming runners.  Once back with Craig I decided to adjust my ponytail holder and whack it snapped apart.  Telling Craig about the missing flashlight was a must, but telling him about the broken ponytail holder seemed ridiculous. In any other circumstance I would have whined to him about my tough luck.  But at that moment I realized what I was doing and what I was helping him accomplish.  I stepped out of my norm and began to think about him and what I needed to do for myself to take care of him.  He definitely didn’t need to be worrying about my hair.

And I’m glad I didn’t tell him.  Craig can be a pretty quiet guy so when he was just giving me yes, no, and the occasionally grunts I thought OK this is how he wants to run it.  I can do that for him.  When we got to Cal 1 Craig wanted to sit down, when he started staring at the guy with the IV and a blanket I didn’t get too worried, but then he asked for his own blanket.  I got him one, thought “Oh $#%# here we go!” and calmly told him I’d wake him up in 5 minutes. I was dying inside.  I wasn’t sure what he needed, but he has always been so levelheaded I decided to just watch him and do what he asked.  I had all these doubt scenarios running through my head- he had looked so yearningly at that IV bag.  4 minutes and 55 seconds later Craig popped his eyes open wanted food and off we went.  I was so relieved. 

That it turns out, was the lowest-low he had for the rest of the race.  He took one more nap, but that wasn’t until after the adrenaline rush of his engagement proposal! 

Where's we got engaged

At mile 75.99 I said to Craig “Look out at the river it’s so nice!” Craig kept running and said “April thank you so much for doing this with me I love you!”  Then he stopped and turned to face me.  Hoping that I knew what was coming next I said, “Hold on get off the trail.”  Two runners went by and I said, “Yes Craig?”  That’s when he asked me if we could spend the rest of our lives together!  Of course I said yes!  We did a little happy dance and then kept running.   About 1 minute later I said, “Did you really just ask me to marry you?”  He said, “Yep!”  I said, “Can I scream?”  He said, “Nope.”  And off we went to Rucky Chucky! 

Rucky Chucky was totally surreal.  I wanted to announce to everyone that we’d just gotten engaged, but there were so many people, so many lights, a glow stick trail, huge boats, pumping music and people with way more energy than Craig and I! Plus it was drop bag time. I got Craig settled down in a chair and went in search of food.  When I came back he had a blanket and was being entertained by a girl projectile vomiting 2 feet from his feet.   I tried to convince him to move but he didn’t want to stand up.  5 minutes later with the 2nd nap over Craig moved chairs; she on the other hand continued to puke.

Done and Done!

With the river crossing over the rest of the race fell into a rhythm: run, encourage Craig, walk, aid station, try to get him to eat something, do it again.

The rest of the race went pretty smoothly.  I have to say that I’ve never felt so connected to someone than I did pacing Craig.  Maybe it was because I saw him train for this race and knew how much it meant to him.  Maybe it was because we got engaged in the middle of it.  Maybe it’s because I was responsible for someone else which made me feel important.  Whatever it was there is no word to describe pacing Craig at WS.  It was amazing and I’m ready to do it again next year.  You in Craig?