WS100, we're in the hat!

Buggy runnin' terrain

I did it. Last night. I put my name in the hat for the 2017 Western States 100 ultra marathon. The race is on June 24, 2017 and starts in Squaw Valley, California at 5am, finishing at the high school track in Auburn. Squaw is just up the road from Tahoe City where I used to live on the North Shore of Lake Tahoe. The race I believe is the longest running and most competitive ultra in the world. It began as a horse race, but when a competitor's horse went lame he decided to finish anyway running it;  a new running race was born. I've wanted to do this race since I was in high school, well before these races became popular.

WS100 lottery confirmation

I believe it's something like 3.7% chance of being chosen but I've got to start somewhere if I want to do it. If you aren't chosen each consecutive year you enter you have n^2 entries in the hat to improve your chances. "n" being the addition of how many entries you've previously attempted. The lottery is held December 3, 2016 at Auburn High School and is broadcast live.

Honestly I'm hoping I don't get chosen as I'd prefer my wife and kids to be there. Currently it's just too expensive and my son too little to justify bringing them. Also, my daughter would need to be taken out of school.  I'd be really disappointed not having my daughter there, but, there are some equivelant European races, Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc or Tor des Geants in particular, that carry the same emotional importance. Besides, I'd guess my family would attempt to attend WS100 if I got in which is equally important as my daughter. 

Until I find out about WS100 the Thames Path 100, which is the end of April, is my big goal. It's here in England and follows the Thames Path/ River from London to Oxford. It's also a WS100 qualifier.

Wyre Forest 

The running and training is going well but changes are happening and I need to adapt. The little guy normally naps in the Chariot as I run with him. I've been getting excellent miles and not sacrificing sleep pushing him on the Wyre Forest. The wife and I have become tired of him getting up at 5am every day and waking his sister. I could care less about waking early, his sister needs the sleep though. Anyway, as of this past weekend we've axed the little guy's nap trying to get him to sleep in. So, far he's waking around 6am. A minor improvement but these changes take time. The only positive for running is the hope of me running in the morning again. This hasn't happened for two years and I'm not holding my breath. I won't go unless he's consistently waking after 630am. So, I'm relegated to night running again which I absolutely hate. Time to make friends with it again I guess, it does have its positives, and I'll take what I can get!

runcommute into work in Worcester

This past weekend I had my Phase 8 Jeet Kune Do grading (out of 10 phases). It went fantastically well. This was one of the first of these I felt really good about. My training partner and I were stoked. Both of us agree it's all starting to actually make sense. Things are flowing together. Openings for strikes are more obvious. It's becoming natural and it's a really really cool feeling. We both felt like we could drop all our other hobbies and just focus on JKD!

*a side note, I've updated the captions on my most recent photo post

Russ presenting me with my Phase 8 grey shirt