Sacramento Running News

Do you feel lucky? Do you?

If, for you, luck is getting the opportunity to train and run for 100 miles in the extreme heat of summer and the extreme terrain of the Sierras, then you definitely don’t want to miss out on the Western States 100 lottery.

It closes tonight at midnight.

Of course, there are only about 270 slots available and (as of this writing) over 2,700 people who’ve put their names in. Your odds are better than zero but far from reasonable.

Of course, reasonable people don’t aspire to run this event.

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The Countdown: (L-R) Luis Alvarez, R.D. Greg Soderlund, Assistant R.D. Craig Thornley, and Mike Saling are getting ready for the big day. (From the WS Facebook page)

Of all the many races in the region, there is only one of international importance: The Western States Endurance Run.

Even though there are bigger races, and faster courses, the Western States 100 has history and prestige by the bucket-full.

The race gets more media coverage than any other in the region.

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A couple of hapless victims.

In case you’ve been sorta thinkin’ about running that crazy 100 mile race from Squaw Valley to Auburn, California, the day to actually “step up” and enter the lottery is upon you.

Is this the year you put your life on hold, alienate your family and your normal friends, tempt injury and snake bites, and spend all your weekends grubbing along the trails around Foresthill? Of course it is.

Sign-up here and wait anxiously until the names pop out of the computer on December 4th.

Once again, my wobbly stomach didn’t allow me the glorious finish I’d hoped for this year’s Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run. However, Alaskan Geoff Roes managed to bang out a course record 15:07 on a modified “Snow Year” course. There have been criticisms that this record should have an asterisk next to it due to the modified “snow year” course being a bit faster than the standard course. But having personally slogged through the several miles of snow before and after the “easier” section, I’m not sure the overall course was appreciably faster. Also, if we’re going to go down that road, we need to consider the fact the old course record set by Scott Jurek in 2004 was set on a modified course that was created after the devastating Star Fire of 2001.

The race was impressive in that it was really a race. Roes won, but only by a few minutes over Anton “200 miles a week” Krupicka who ran 15:13.

The top two women were also only a few minutes apart, with Tracy Garneau besting Meghan Arbogast in 19:01 and 19:15, respectively.

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