June 2025. The Sierra Nevada turns summer into heat.
One hundred miles, from dawn pines into the noon canyons.
The air shimmers above the trail.
Xiang Fuzhao returns to Western States for the third time,
racing it for the second.
This time, her teammate Meng Guangfu runs beside her.
The lens follows her through canyons and ridgelines.
She pushes on, aid station by aid station,
reeling in one women’s elite after another.
A silver medal is never a solo arrival.
It is water handed over, words of encouragement,
two runners sharing one pace.
At the moment she crossed the line, she understood —
“The fastest pace is the one you run together.”