As his muscles stiffened up and the bloody scrape on his right forearm turned into a scab, Max King was not in the mood to commit to his next ultramarathon.

The 29-year-old King won the coveted spot in June’s Western States 100 by taking first place at Saturday’s American River 50. He said the grueling 50-mile run from Sacramento to Auburn took its toll on his body, but he was thrilled with his victory.

“I felt awful,” King said. “I was running to win, but I definitely didn’t expect to. I want to do Western States, but I don’t know about this year. That would be a pretty big jump.”

King, a former track and cross country runner at Cornell, was running just his second ultra — any race over 26.2 miles. King finished the course in 6 hours, 4 minutes, beating out Western States veteran Dave Mackey by about eight minutes.

Both King and women’s champion Kami Semick are from Bend, Ore. Semick clocked in at 6:45, edging former two-time winner Jen Pfeifer of Folsom.

“I had a tough first half, I thought about dropping out at one point,” Pfeifer said. “I felt great the second half and made up a lot of ground, but there was no way I could catch Kami.”

The Auburn area was well represented at the race.

Kim White grew up in Cool, but never ran regularly until taking a jog on Jan. 1, 2008. The Auburn resident made a remarkably quick leap into endurance running. She finished the California International Marathon in December, conquered the Way Too Cool 50K last month and finished Saturday’s AR 50 in 10:22.

“The biggest challenge was just the distance,” said White, 38. “I’m not the kind of person that likes to be with myself alone for that long. But it was an awesome trail, the aid stations were well-stocked — there was no way I couldn’t feel good.”

White said her love for running took some time to develop. The mother of two (15-year-old Austin and 12-year-old Ema) started her running career on pavement, but it wasn’t until she discovered the area’s trails that she got hooked.

“I absolutely hated running at first,” White said. “But the minute I got on the trails, I loved it.”

Auburn’s Ryan Rivera competed AR 50 for the second straight year and he had plenty of motivation to get across the line as quickly as possible. His wife Kim is expecting the couple’s second child any day now.

“I had my phone in my pouch and it rang twice and my heart just about stopped,” said Rivera, who finished in 8:29. “Luckily it wasn’t anything. I set my record — 20 minutes faster than last year.”

Michael Cook was the top finisher from Auburn. The 38-year-old Cook finished 28th overall with a time of 7:12.

Sacramento’s Gloria Takagishi recorded perhaps the most impressive finish Saturday. The 63-year-old completed the 50-miler in 12:39 to continue her streak as the only runner to complete all 28 AR 50s.