Heather Huggins is the winner of the Order of the Unchosen giveaway, awarding her an entry into the Western States Endurance Run in 2026!
As a partner of the Western States Endurance Run, UltraSignup has a single race entry available to grant to a runner of our choosing. In 2025, that runner was Nick Bassett, who set the record as the oldest finisher at Western States when he completed the event in 2018 at the age of 73. In 2025, he attempted to best himself and put all his cards on the table at the age of 80. Despite dropping from the race, he inspired many runners throughout the effort.
As we contemplated how we should select a runner for the 2026 event, our goal was to find one runner who had been waiting a long time for their chance at States. How could we reward a community member who had been in the lottery waiting for their turn year after year? And so the “Order of the Unchosen” was born.
After months of watching runners submit their eligibility, collect referrals from race directors and the community, and gather extra Forsaken Points during races, we compiled all of the data and randomly selected a winner.
Heather had 256 tickets in the Western States lottery and 42 results on UltraSignup! We are so please to be able to offer her this opportunity. We wanted to get to know Heather better, and so we asked her some questions. Here’s what she shared with us:
Heather: There’s a spot in the San Gabriel Mountains above my house that I think about a lot. It’s not overly remarkable because there are views the whole route getting there, but there is one curve in the fire road which takes at least 3 hours to get to, so I know I’ve worked hard to get to the spot once there. From there I can see my destination stretched out in front of me. The end is not close, and that’s the beauty of it. I know it will still be hours to get there even though it looks like I can reach out and touch it through the layers of mountains ahead. And even though I’ve run miles and miles in those mountains, that spot makes me stop every time. I guess it’s my stop-and-be-thankful spot.
The end is not close, and that’s the beauty of it.
Heather: Being comfortable with being uncomfortable has probably saved me from many situations. Endurance sports do that to people I suppose. Enduring. Sometimes we just have to remember that we can be uncomfortable a little longer to achieve goals or just to deal with life.
Heather: I used to allow myself to go into a dark abyss of self-criticism during hard runs or bad parts of races. I know it doesn’t help, so now I try to be kind to myself and thankful that I am able to do hard and ridiculous things at all. If it’s really bad I remind myself that I’m tougher than anyone (not true, but it’s easy to lie to yourself when you’re struggling). If all of that fails, I try visualizing perfectly clear rivers and see myself diving in, washing all the sweat and dirt off my body.
If none of that works, I quote Bill Murray’s character, Bob, in What About Bob, “I feel good. I feel great. I feel wonderful.”
Heather: Without a doubt, I’d tell new runners (and I do all the time) that they should do band work and hip mobility exercises OFTEN. My life has changed since doing those. Seriously. I feel so dumb that I didn’t start sooner. So many pains attributed to overuse injuries could have been avoided.
Heather: I’m sure this isn’t unique to the crowd reading this, but being out in the mountains and forests and deserts makes me feel whole. I grew up on the edge of the woods riding horses and swimming in rivers. When I run I feel like I take some of that back. And if I can share those special places and moments with running friends, life feels right.
Being out in the mountains and forests and deserts makes me feel whole.
Heather: Running takes me on adventures. It makes me work hard. It makes me feel alive. It makes me struggle, but in a manageable way. It brings me closer to friends. It gives me a reason to keep working towards something even if that something is intangible. Running helps me deal with strong emotions and it keeps me working toward new goals. Mostly running is always there. It’s so hard, yet so simple. All I have to do is walk out the door and move faster than a walk.
