Got the Western States Blues?

Okay, so my name wasn't drawn. Neither was about 900 other people who were looking forward to it. Is it the end of the world? No. Are there other races out there to do? Most definitly.
It was a bit stressful as the website was updated every three or four minutes still not seeing my name but was happy seeing names that I recognised. John Brooks, who I crewed for at Ultraman this past summer, was one of the last five names drawn in the lottery. Pretty amazing and I'm looking forward to hearing about his adventure.
My interest now is in finding a race around that date that doesn't interfere with other races I have planned. As usual I'm wanting to do every race that I can this year almost thinking for some reason like it's going to be my last. I do have a long-range two-year plan but I still want to pack in as many as I can. May be a recipe for injury, burn-out, divorce - the usual. The event I'm considering is the Bighorn 100 mile which is in mid-June in Wyoming, still plenty of time between that and the Death Race in early August. If all goes well at the DR maybe do the Stormy 100 mile, or the 50 mile at the least, a whopping six weeks out from Spartathlon.