Race Report: Stellar Nucleosynthesis

Seven years ago, shortly after signing up for my first 100 miler, I signed up for a hilarious 120miler race just to see what happens after the 160k mark.  (I'm almost certain that this decision was also affected by my consumption of alcohol.)  That race was also a Hardrock qualifier, and after enduring that race I embarked on a multi-year saga to make my way into this "post-graduate" race.  I figured that by the time I made it through the lottery, my teeth would have been sufficiently sharpened enough to be able to make it through this endurance run (not a race!) in the San Juans.  

I made it into the 2019 version, which was canceled by high snow depth, but then was deferred to 2020, which was canceled by a pandemic, and then deferred myself to 2022 in light of onerous travel and training opportunity restrictions during the 2021 race.  I didn't count on getting into Western for 2022 as well, but with fears that I was losing my edge with nagging discomfort here and there with the progression of time, ('aging out', i guess), I elected to bag the two races in the same season.  (and also three weeks apart.)

This is how that story ends.

Race Report: The Zone of Optimal Confusion

Back in 2012, when I was feeling bored with my time after having just moved out on my own, I ended up hanging out with a few random internet strangers and colleagues who got me into trail running.  These folks were terrible influences on my life - I had trouble keeping up with geezers on 6km runs and lacked the appropriate gear for this new sport, which cost my wallet dearly.  But slowly and methodically - my weekly volume increased along with my endurance and capacity to take no shit from my legs.  Folks told me that with enough practice, I could get to participating in these highly esteemed lottery-entered races full of cursing and minced oaths.  

Then on one fateful day prior to the 2014 Canadian Death Race, my entire corporate team realized it took place over the August long weekend and backed out, leaving me to run the entire thing by myself.  I had told myself I had no business chasing after Western States Endurance Run (WSER) tickets because it seemed like an overly onerous endeavor, so the only reason I was running this race was because my company had effectively comped my entry.  The race management saw my name on every leg, ported over my relay entry to solo and I ran it a few weeks after pushing my max race distance to 50k at the Calgary Marathon.  It was messy as fuck and I don't remember much of it, but I got my first ticket to WSER at that race because I made the cutoff by half an hour.  

I learned you could hang on to your tickets and double them by running qualifiers in successive years as long as you kept it consecutive, and alas - this is how that story finally ends.