Northern California is burning...my ass!

Let me just start by saying one thing. F*#K, SH#t, ASS, BALLS! Ok, so maybe that was more like four things, but when you put six months of hard training toward one single event that doesn't go off, it's a little frustrating. As I'm sure most all of you have now heard, Western States was canceled for the first time in 35 years due to wildfires.

As devastated as I was to hear the news, it was the right decision. Having been down there, I can speak to the atrocious quality of the air. We didn't see sun for three days because of how much smoke is in the air. From the little bit that I've read, it also sounds like there was a fire burning within 2 miles of Dusty Corners. It certainly must have been a hard decision for the board to come to, but it was the ONLY choice given the conditions.

That being said, how bad is my luck with this damn race? I received a number of phone calls and text messages from friends and family offering their apologies. One in particular came from my friend Tim. He said he was sorry to hear the race was canceled, and then went on to say that I must have the worst luck at Western States. Now I'm not naive enough to think that I'm the only one who has had some hard knocks at Western States, but the odds of what has happened to me there over the past 3 years must be one million to one. I went from being a near winner in my first Western States, in what Tim Twietmeyer told me were the worst race conditions he'd seen in 25 years racing, to the first ever disqualified Western States winner. Then I went back last year in better shape only to get sick two weeks before the race and drop out at Dusty Corners. Ah, then there was this year. Third times a charm right? WRONG! WRONG! WRONG! This year I really felt more prepared than ever for the race, and I was really expecting a great finish. In fact, just minutes before the Hammer called me to tell me the news of the race cancellation, I had just told my wife and mom that I really felt good about how things were going to turn out this year. In 35 years, this was the first time the race was ever canceled. I'm sure that there are hundreds of other stories just like mine, but it's sure frustrating to put so much hard work into this and make so many sacrifices only to have 3 years and ZERO finishes at States.

How about the good news? Well evidently everyone scheduled to run this year has automatic entry for next year. Honestly, when I initially heard that the race was called off, I said that I wouldn't be coming back, at least not for a while. Of course, that was before I heard that everyone had a guaranteed spot for next year. So now what? I'll have to give it a little thought yet, but there's a pretty good chance that I'll roll the dice on this one next year. Maybe since this year's race never even got started, it won't count as my third time. Then I can still count on the third time's a charm rule. No, that won't work. This was the third time, but I can't possibly have bad luck 4 years in a row, right?