Chris Myers (@halfasianchris on instagram) put in a monstrous effort at at the Western States Endurance Run over the weekend, completing the 100 mile race in 14:17:39, for an amazing second place finish! He tailed Caleb Olson, beating big name Kilian Jornet and running the fourth fastest time ever in the process! Afterwards, we were fortunate enough to have Chris answer some of our questions.
_What’s hurting the most right now?
"My legs are pretty wrecked. Walking down stairs feels awful but I’m getting better day by day."
_What was the hardest part of the race?
"Continuing to move fast after the river was really tough. It’s all terrain where you can move fast, you’re just fighting fatigue and muscle breakdown and it becomes a lot more of a mental battle. Pushing past your comfort zone is never easy."
_At any point did you feel like you’d have to stop - how did you push through that?
"I never felt like I had to stop and walk, but there were many times in the last 20 miles where I really wanted to slow down into a more comfortable pace."
_What was your favourite part of the race? Did you have a strategy and how well did you manage to stick to that?
"I liked the section between dusty corners and devils thumb, mile 38 to 48 or so. It’s where me and Caleb broke off from the pack and ran away with the race. We worked together up and down those two canyons and put a lot of time into the competition. The strategy in a competitive race like that always changes as it progresses. It became a let’s work together for as long as we can scenario and I was happy to work with Caleb until I picked up my pacers."
_How important is the mental part of a race like that?
"The mental aspect is so important. I was in second place at mile 70 and was thinking about how nice it would be to quit even though it made no sense. It’s hard to keep going when it’s hard. I was satisfied with my place in the race, I just thought it would be nice to have it be over when I wanted it to be. But staying mentally strong for another few hours was what I needed to do and it ended up working out well."
_How did the gear hold up?
The gear held up great, no issues that I could detect! I’ve been training in the vests for a while and they’ve worked out perfectly ever since I got them.
_Give us some thoughts on the CIMORO x CM x PF&H vest you were wearing?
"Having 4 vests was so vital. I was able to pack swap almost every aid station. As a result I had some of the fastest transitions out of anyone. Based on my moving time, I only had 11min of stopped time during the race which boiled down to around 30 seconds per aid station. This is huge since those seconds add up to minutes by the end of the race. The packs were easy to swap and use which made my race super simple and I could carry everything I needed with me with plenty of extra by the time I’d reach the next aid station."
_Are you already thinking about the next race? If so, when and where is that?
"I’m racing CCC [Courmayeur/Champex/Chamonix] in August and looking forward to it! Hoping to have a nice pack for that race as well!"
We wish Chris the best as he moves on to his next race!
02-07-2025
