Sitting On The Edge
It’s slightly after 10 p.m. and Kaci Lickteig is in tears, sitting on the edge of the American River at the Rucky Chucky Campground, 78 miles into the Western States 100-Mile Endurance Run. Last year, she’d finished just before 11 p.m., winning the women’s race by a margin of almost an hour. But this year has been rough, and the front of the race is far out of her reach. A raft comes to take runners over to the other side of the rushing river where the race continues, but she doesn’t get on. It ferries a group across and then returns to Kaci, but she still doesn’t want to get in. She’s exhausted. On the other side of that river, there’s still 22 miles between her and the end of this race. Or it could all be over now. Then Stephanie shows up.