Nikki Kimball doesn’t expect to beat her personal record in the Western States Endurance Run this Saturday.

“I don’t think I’ll be running faster this year,” said Kimball, who completed the 100-mile race from Squaw Valley to Auburn in 18 hours, 12 minutes and 37 seconds back in 2007. “I had a pretty fast year.”

Kimball ran a “really, really hard 50-miler” just three weeks ago.

“That’s not a lot of recovery time,” she said. “We’ll see how it goes.”

Her lack of recovery time aside, many runners would consider Kimball to be the runner to beat in this year’s race — especially considering that she’s won three of the last four Western States races. Kimball, however, is mindful of who her chief competitors are — and she isn’t underestimating them.

“Bev (Anderson)-Abbs is always to be feared,” Kimball said. “If anybody doesn’t have a good race, Bev can definitely beat them. Krissy Moehl is one of the smartest racers out there — she runs conservative and can catch runners at the end of the race where she’s really, really strong.

“Anita Ortiz and Jenn Shelton could pop up and have really good races, or they might not. Bev and Krissy run really well, but I wouldn’t bet against Jenn or Anita.”

Moehl, who lives and trains in Seattle, mentioned the same women as contenders for this year’s Western States title. However, once the race begins, her focus will be on beating the clock, not her fellow runners.

“You can use other people to motivate yourself to do better,” Moehl said, “but for me, it’s about the clock, hitting my splits so I have a solid race.”

If there’s something else runners on the Western States course wish to beat, it’s the heat. In past years high temperatures have made the race particularly challenging, but Anderson-Abbs is actually hoping for a sun-baked race.

“My ideal day would be hot, hot, hot — 110 in the canyons,” the Red Bluff resident said. “I live in that kind of heat and that would be a huge advantage.”

Not if Kimball has anything to say about it. Although she lives in Bozeman, Mont., where the nearby mountains have been known to have snow this time of year, Kimball found a way to incorporate heat into her workouts.

“I did some treadmill running with heaters on either side while wearing a puffer jacket,” she said. “I also did some water runs in a hot spring, but it was too hot.

“It seemed like a really good idea at the time, but in practice it was not all that smart,” she added, laughing.

Kimball also said one of the secrets to her success in recent races has been finding ways to keep cool.

“Putting ice in every piece of clothing you have is good — in your bandana, in your shirt, wherever,” she said. “I also cool down in the river during the race.”

In fact, the last time out, Kimball took a brief rest in the river at one point during the last race.

“I spent five minutes hanging out in one of the rivers, and I saw several people pass me on the bridge,” she said. “Everyone who passed me, I passed on the next uphill. It felt really good.”

What will feel good for most runners this year is simply getting out on the trail after last year’s race was canceled due to rampant wildfires in the region.

“I was thankful last year was cancelled because I was injured,” Anderson-Abbs said. “Two years was a long time to wait. I’ve almost been sick the last couple of weeks anticipating it.”