WSER Lottery Entry
By the craziest stroke of luck, I got into Western States! As I said in my bio, I’ve only been training for ultras for just over one year. Of course I knew about Western States, but the thought of running it was not even remotely on my radar. But I happened to sign up for and finish Twisted Branch 100K, which is a Western States qualifier race (I can’t remember if the fact that Twisted Branch was a Western States qualifier influenced my decision to sign up or if I signed up just because the race was close-ish to where I lived and a potential vacation in the US Northeast that summer). Anyways, I was under the (erroneous)
impression that to keep your Western States qualifying lottery tickets, you HAD to register for the lottery every year. So I put my tickets in and thought there was no chance I was going to get chosen.
Fast forward a month and I am doing a strength workout post long run while watching the US lose to the Dutch in the Word Cup RD16.
I was volunteering at a local race that day, the TARC Fells Winter Ultra, so I had to quickly hop in the shower and drive over. I checked my phone right before the shower and saw a text from my coach saying “DUDE you got into Western States”. I hadn’t even remembered the lottery was that day, so I incredulously checked the lottery website and, sure enough, I got in with 1 ticket! I think I had a <1% chance of being selected! Insane.
Once I got to the TARC Fells Winter Ultra aid station, I started sharing the news. It was clear from the initial reaction that getting into Western States is no joke; it’s a big deal to ultrarunners. I knew then that the next 6 months were going to be all-in, focused training for WSER and I was going to do the absolute best I could to get ready for the race. Luckily, the timing was perfect as I had just gotten a coach a month earlier and I had a plan to move out to the Virginia mountains for a few months to chase vert.
This is my training series on WSER and the ups and downs I am experiencing as I work to get to the start line healthy and fit!