Western States 100 Mile Lottery Selection-in pictures

I had heard the Western States Lottery selection at the gym was an event not to be missed so decided I needed to attend. I am SUPER happy that I was in the audience when my name was selected. Being in the gym and seeing your name pop up is better than any surprise that I have experienced. It was unexpected, exciting and an incredible experience. I will remember it fondly for the rest of my life.

This is the moment I realized that my name had popped up on the screen. When I first started reading and saw: “Tammy” I did not want to get too excited since I knew a friend Tammy who had also applied. Then when I read “Massie” it took one more moment to realize Tammy + Massie was ME!!!

Perhaps I should have used my maiden name because I think Tammy Parliment would have registered a nanosecond faster since it has been a name I have seen for 39 years while Tammy Massie is only 10 years old (and I don’t write/see my full name often…mostly I go by Tammy).

When I saw my name called I remember feeling so thrilled. My husband, who was on my right repeated my name and said “that’s you”. Yes, yes it was!

This deserved a “WAHOO!!!”.

In fact this deserved a really long WAHOO with a bunch following it!!!

Continuing my leaping and “wahoo’s”! I pass by the screen of my selection to Western States 100 miler. Although a bit blurry you can see a brief biographical sketch.

“Tammy Massie, Female, 38, Gaithersburg, Maryland”. It shows I had 2 tickets in this years lottery (last year I was not selected) and I believe the races listed include JFK50 miler, Javalina Jundred 100, New River Trails 50 km, Tails for Trails, and several other events.

I remember suggesting that this was better than a 100 miler finish because I could appreciate it. I am always so excited and emotional at the end of 100 milers. But I am also so exhausted that perhaps my reaction is a bit muted.

I can only imagine what a 100 miler finish would be like if I had as much energy as I did during the lottery drawing. I imagine neighboring states would know of my victory!

As I made it across the gym I knew the gentleman who selected my name deserved a great big hug!

He had picked MY NAME, WAHOO!!!

Although I suspect the selection is based on a random number generator if I was programming this lottery I would base the “Seed” on the precise time the button was pressed. Thus I believe it was because my selector pressed the button about 10 a.m. PST that my name appeared on the screen.

I was so excited to see my name and it was such an amazing moment

Of course after hugging my selector, I needed to hug the race director.

I know that directing a race is hard work (I have not been an RD but based on my experience as a statistical conference organizer I imagine it is a challenging job with lots of subtle challenges the runners are ideally oblivious to).

And of course I was still so excited that I had been selected. What an honor!

I had met the Race Director briefly before the race because I was being introduced as the “girl from Maryland” and he had come up to me to introduce himself. I met him again when I was called up for being the runner who had traveled the furthest to get to the lottery and finally I was called up when my name was drawn for the 2011 Western States 100 miler.

I was so thrilled and so appreciative of being selected. It was a dream come true

After I calmed down a bit (just a bit), I realized I was being handed a booklet. I had seen a bunch of runners being handed the booklet but I had forgotten in my excitement. The booklet includes lots of Western States 100 miler running information.

It was an amazing experience!

A few more hoots and wahoo’s later and it was time for me to return to my seat.

Being selected was everything I expected and hoped for and more!

Of course I will be forever indebted to Keith Blom who was able to capture my selection in a bunch of pictures. I clearly need to bring Keith along on my WS100 race because he captured the essence of how I felt from the moment I realized I was going to Western States 100 miler in 2011!