El Vaquero Loco 50K - 3rd Place 5:48:46 9000' vert I am pretty happy with it even though it was 11:35 slower than last year. Only missed 2nd by 1:25. I have got to get better from whatever it is I have before I try and race again. Its hard to race sick. All around it was a pretty good day. Joe finally finished a race! His first since Logan Peak LAST YEAR! Mike killed it (per my prediction) running a 6:15:47 for 5th place. David and Tim Nelson both did well in the 25K (JV race). It was also a rare no-rain year which was nice for Joe and Jenny who slept under the stars.  Photo courtesy of Bethany Draper
So, the longer version isn't going to be very entertaining. No deaths or near death experiences like my backpacking trip last week. Sorry. Here goes... I took friday off work and headed up to Cottonwood lake with the Family and trailer in tow. We found the last remaining spot where you can park a trailer and set up camp. We spent the rest of the day checking out the lake and playing frisbee and dodging random rain storms. Just having a good time in the mountains. Around dark, Joe, Jenny, and Mike showed up with my bib # and hoodie (thanks) and also David Nelson from Washington (formerly from Logan) and Timm (sp) Nelson his younger brother who lives in Alaska. Yep the race is that cool that Timm would ride a snowmobile for hours to make it to the airport to fly to Seattle then drive with David all the way to Afton for a short 25K thats mostly uphill. It's that good. The race started off well with Luke taking his rightful place up front. I thought he might take it easy on us this year, but within 20 seconds he was already pushing the pace so I let him cruise off into the sunrise...Some guy who ran like a deer stuck on him like glue and the two of them were off. Plaid shirt deer guy had crazy form, but had a beard so I figured he would do well. I settled into third with Joe dropping back and two other guys not far behind. It remained this way up the 3000' in 3.6 mile climb. Well, for most of it. The final mile they caught and passed me putting me into 5th. I was realizing that my climbing gear was broken again. Warning! I am about to give an excuse....I was still sick. There, I said it. I was lacking energy, ability to breathe, etc due to my (now diagnosed) sinus infection. Oh well, I was there to enjoy it and do the best I could. So, run/hike I did. I passed one of the guys back running down "balls" but the other guy maintained his 100m lead. No worries, its a long race. We cruised past the lakes and admired the red sunrise and especially enjoyed the shade while it lasted. No rain and no clouds meant things would warm up. As usual, the final 3 miles to the turnaround were harder than they should be and I knew things were going to be rough on the return trip. I saw Luke heading back up and saw he had gained a gap on deer boy but didn't get gaps on anyone else. I had my #1 crew there at the turnaround and they helped me get ready for the return trip. I stocked up on Mtn Dew and EFS slurry and went back at it. I hit the turnaround 3 mins behind PR pace and knew it wasn't going to be easy to make that up. I settled into my best sustainable pace and went after 25K roadkill. They had about a 10 min lead on me so it took awhile to catch them but I was soon knocking them off. I kept looking for third place guy but never saw him. I did see deer boy sitting off the trail looking utterly spent. Very deja vu from last year with Joe. It was almost the exact same spot. I wasn't moving as fast as I wanted but I was now in 3rd place. Looking at my splits I lost another 7 mins on my splits from last year by the time I hit the Lakes. I had no clue at the time and just 'ran'. I loved the downhill into the lakes and had a blast running kamikaze down those hills flying past the 25K people. The uphills sucked though. Period. I thought I was going to die hiking up balls. I was going to stop and admire the view but someone had beat me to the best spot. David was just standing there admiring the view. Who knows how long he stood there hanging out hogging the good view. Punk. All uphills finished, I tried to let my legs fly down the final brutal decent to the finish. I was determined to run this faster this year. I was doing well I thought, until I got a side ache. It really hurt. I had to slow and try and work it out. I still managed to pass another 5 or so people on the descent and finish in a respectable manner. Come to find out, I had run the downhill so fast compared to 2nd place I almost caught him. He was over 10 mins ahead at the lakes and I finished just over a minute behind him. If only I had known... 11:30 slower than last year but still a respectable 3rd place in 5:48:46. I know I can go sub 5:30 on this course. Next year.. Mike did really well considering his lack of training lately due to a foot injury. He managed another 5th place (2 in a row). Joe, he didn't have as great of a day, but like I said, he finished! That is an accomplishment any day but especially for him lately. His leg hurt him and he had to slow to a walk for a lot of the final 8 miles which cost him an hour but if you ask him, he down't care. It was a great day! David and Timm? Timm did well and dusted his older brother. Ha! Well done to both of them with their limited training. It was great to hang out. Lets see, we ate burgers, drank huckleberry soda(s), soaked in the lake, packed up camp, ate at La Beau's (shakes and burgers) and crashed. A perfect day! - Sunday, after hacking up a lung all night I went to instacare and saw a doctor. Neither of us really wanted to do a mono test and figured it wasn't going to change anything anyways so its possible I do have mono BUT he did diagnose a sinus infection and put me on antibiotics. I think it is actually helping and I am finally breathing normal after 3 weeks of sickness (I am writing this on wed night).
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