The Western States 100 | Why the Fourth Saturday in June is the Best Day of the Year
There’s something special about the Western States 100. It’s hard to describe, but the best simplification I can come up with is that it’s humanity at its finest. Sure, it’s just an arbitrary competition, but in the big picture it’s more than that. It’s 369 people attempting to do something incredibly hard and thousands of surrounding people offering them help doing it. It’s a welcome summer day of excitement, positivity and a massive amount of human kindness, and for the past four years it’s been my favorite day of the year. The first time I went to the race was in 2016. That year, I talked my mom into driving out to the small town of Foresthill for the afternoon—62 miles into the race. We watched Jim Walmsley fly by at a pace that was unprecedented for a person trying to run 100 miles in the mountains. We followed him to the river (mile 78) and watched with panic as it swept him 20 meters away from the crossing before he safely reached the othe...