Carrie Meng is chasing a Western States silver buckle—training for 18,000 feet of vert from pancake-flat Florida. See how she’s getting race-ready as a flatlander!
“I was on the Western States trail, training to run Western States myself – as the assistant race director of the run and it was a very surreal moment,” she said. “I kept asking myself: How is this actually my life?”
It was a moment Meng never saw coming. She hadn’t even run a qualifier, or a 100-miler, until 2024. For years, she talked herself out of attempting a 100-miler because she was so intimidated by the distance, never mind one of the most iconic and historic 100-mile races in the sport of trail running.
“Western States wasn’t even on my radar because it felt so far out of reach,” she said.
But when Meng was offered a coveted spot on the Western States start line, she jumped on the chance. Because Western States is way more than just another race to Meng.
“There’s nothing like it in racing,” she said. “And it’s not something you can explain; you have to be there in person to feel it for yourself.”
Meng has felt lots of Western States magic through her role as the (first female!) assistant race director. Now, she’ll get to see how it feels to make the storied journey from Olympic Valley to Auburn, with over 1,500 volunteers helping her along the way. The WSER Board of Directors gave her an administrative entry to the 2025 running so she can get a runner’s perspective of the course.
She knows it might be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, considering some runners have to wait nearly a decade before the lottery rewards their patience (not to mention she’s usually a little busy on race weekend). So, she’s determined not to squander her spot and make her race count.
She not only wants to make it back to the track at Placer High School before the 30-hour cutoff – her crew will be under strict instructions to not let her quit unless she faces hospitalization or a similar emergency – she also wants to earn herself a silver buckle with a sub-24-hour finish.
“The safe thing would be to keep that goal to myself, but I’m going for it.”
She knows she needs to log some of the best training of her running career to earn herself a buckle – silver or not.
There’s just one small challenge (outside of the many standard challenges of preparing for a 100-mile run) – she lives in pancake-flat Florida. The biggest hill near her house is the bridge over the Intracoastal Waterway, which offers a whopping 64-feet of vertical gain.
“I’ve done repeats on the bridge when I’ve trained for races like the Boston Marathon, but you just can’t train for sustained climbing and descending on such a small bump,” she said.
So, when Meng learned she would get a chance to run WSER, she started looking for creative solutions to help her get ready for the 18,000 feet of vertical gain (and loss) on the Western States course. The only other 100-miler she’s done was The Long Haul 100, her qualifying race for WSER, which had just 4 vertical feet per 16.7-mile loop and didn’t raise the same concerns about vertical training.
Her first stop was YouTube to peruse treadmill reviews.
“I’d never owned a treadmill before but I knew it would help me do the two things I can’t do in Florida, that I definitely need to do for Western States – climb and descend,” she said.
She found herself persuaded by a few convincing reviews for the new Wahoo Fitness KICKR RUN treadmill. So, she added her name to a preorder list and put down a deposit. The KICKR RUN treadmill stood out as the best option because it offered all of the features she was looking for, and then some.
It promised a quiet ride; easy-to-use control paddles to seamlessly adjust the pace and grade; and, best of all, a generous vertical range from a -3% decline to a 15% incline, which would enable her to train for the many climbs and descents between Olympic Valley and Auburn. The KICKR RUN also offers course simulation features, which enable athletes to prepare for specific trail segments, as well as a lateral tilt option, which strengthens the vital stabilizing muscles that trail runners need for uneven terrain. Plus, Meng was familiar with the brand and trusted they would make a durable product that could go the distance with her.
“I knew if I was going to invest in a treadmill, I wanted something I was going to have for a long time,” she said, adding that she’s excited to have the KICKR RUN for any and all vertical training in the future. Meng may live in Florida, but the mountains hold a special place in her heart and she’s thrilled to have an easier and more accessible way to train for big climbs and descents
When it was delivered last fall, she set it up in a room with all of her other fitness, strength, and recovery equipment. She appreciates that it serves as a visual display of the goal she’s chasing – and what she’s willing to do to accomplish it.
“Sometimes training can be really hard and you don’t feel excited or energized to do it. But whenever I look at my treadmill, it reminds me of the commitment I’m making to run my best at Western States and it’s very motivating for me.”
WSER isn’t just another race for Meng. She joined the WSER team in 2023 as the assistant race director and it immediately turned into a dream job – that feels like way more than a job.
“The Western States magic is a palpable feeling that sucks you in,” she said. “As soon as you feel it, you just want to be there and be involved. There’s nothing else like it.”
It wasn’t her plan to pursue a position with WSER, mostly because she didn’t think it would ever be an option. When she stumbled upon a Facebook post looking for an administrative assistant for the organization, she quickly submitted an application, even though she wasn’t really looking for that kind of role. Because it was Western States.
When the WSER board saw how qualified she was, they promoted her within a few months to the assistant race director position. Meng has been directing athletic events for 18 years, including founding her own company in Florida, and has an incredible amount of experience across all realms of race directing.
She’s now race director Craig Thornley’s righthand woman and helps with everything from the first permit to finish line cleanup. She’s involved with all three pillars of the race organization, including the run, research efforts, and trail stewardship.
She’s the first woman to fill the role – and joined the organization when Diana Fitzpatrick was serving as the first female president of the Board of the Directors. After spending nearly two decades in the male-dominated field of race directing, Meng loves being part of a shift toward seeing more women in these roles.
“To be the first woman holding this position for a race with the stature of Western States is an incredible opportunity. I feel like I’ve been building to this moment for my entire career.”
At first, she was nervous about joining the team of longtime Western States veterans, but from the moment she started, she immediately felt welcomed and understood the hype around the Western States community.
Meng is balancing her many assistant RD duties with her training, so it’s fitting that she officially kicked off her training while she was sporting her assistant RD hat at the WSER lottery weekend in early December. She used her off-hours to get out on the course every day she was in Auburn.
And when she got home, she started her Florida-based training, which includes working with a coach, doing regular strength work, prioritizing recovery and nutrition, and logging those treadmill climbs.
At first, she did shorter, straightforward hikes on a gentler grade. And now, she’s worked her way up to weighted hikes at the highest incline, where she puts a 15-pound kettlebell in her backpack and cranks the treadmill up to a 15 percent grade.
She saves some of her favorite podcasts and music for her treadmill hikes to make the time more exciting. One of her current favorites is very fitting for her training – the Some Work All Play podcast, where co-host David Roche shares updates about his own Western States training (including the miles he’s doing on his new Wahoo Fitness KICKR RUN treadmill).
“I’m loving training,” she said. “I feel stronger than I ever have and I know both the hiking and the strength training are doing a lot for me.”
Meng is going to give her biggest goal everything she’s got. But regardless of her finish time, Meng sees the race as a celebration of all of the months that she’s putting into her training. And she knows Western States is going to feel like a big party from start to finish, full of that WSER magic she knows and loves.
“The Western States community is a huge and supportive family and I know I’m going to feel incredibly cheered on from start to finish,” she said. “I can’t wait to experience Western States as a runner.”
Best of luck to you Carrie! WSER, as you well know, is an awesome race and amazing experience. The treadmill sounds like a solid addition to your training regimen. From my ultra experience at AC and WSER, down hill running and quad strength are an absolute necessity. While many runners find the climbs daunting and slowing, the repeated long, steep downhills are absolute quad-killers! Make sure you work on those quads! Good luck!