WS100 Raffle and Lottery - 2014 Western States

     Well, yesterday was the raffle and lottery for the 2013 and 2014 running of the Western States 100 Endurance Run. Just to clarify, the lottery is entered by people that have already qualified for the run and are prepared to pay the $370 registration fee as soon as their name is pulled for the 2013 run. The Raffle, which I was entered into with the generous donations I received, is for a FREE admission into the same run for 2014 with the expectation that the winner runs a qualifier within the next year. Mine was/is The North Face 50M in Washington D.C. in June of 2013. So, moving forward, I will still run the 50M with the hopes of completing it in under eleven hours, thus qualifying me for the lottery of the WS100 to be held in 364 days.
     There is some exciting news, a gentleman from Harrisburg was selected for the run in the Lottery, meaning he will be there in June of 2013 running the hallowed ground from Squaw Valley to Auburn. His name is Randy Dietz and he is 63. I would love to get into contact with Randy and be his training partner for the next six months. Who knows, maybe he needs a pacer for his attempt? Finding a kindred ultra-runner spirit would be great. He can help me prepare for D.C. and I can help him get some long miles in for WS100. I will be attempting to make contact with him this week I guess, I hope I don't come across as a weirdo!
   
     I am closing in on my 2012 goal of 1500 miles. The original goal was to run at least 100 miles a month for the entire year for a total of 1200 miles. Things changed when I signed up for my first ultra (The North Face 50K in D.C.) and ramped up my mileage. Half way through the year I changed my goal to 1500 miles because I was on pace for that. I hit a couple snags with my first ever injuries that took a toll of a bout 3-4 weeks of missed training. Then I missed some days with my bad toe and a pretty good cold the last couple weeks. Despite a month or so of missed running, I will still meet my goal two weeks ahead of time. I am at 1457 as of 10:15 am on Sunday the 9th. I will be running maybe 10-13 miles today, putting me close to 1470. I will run the last 30 miles between Tuesday and Saturday with little problem. It will feel GREAT to hit this milestone!!

Lastly, I plan on signing up for the Rock/Creek Stump Jump 50K that is held in Tennessee on October 5, 2013. This thing looks BEAUTIFUL and my wonderful wife Angela told my I should do it. My races are much fewer and far between nowadays. I will be running an Ultra to prepare for my TNF 50Mer. It will be either The Outrun 24 hour Trail Race in Ohio on April 27th (high registration fee of $100) or The Farm Park Challenge, a 12 hour ultra consisting of five mile loops and a registration of only $39. The experience of the Ohio race is much more exciting, but I will most likely need to do the Farm Park race. It is a lot cheaper, will require much much less planning and travel time. It's not my first choice, but it's the best one for my budget and family. I will think it over....

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