Speedgoat 50K -6:59:22 (11,000' vert) Not my best day. Glad I survived (I was wondering for a few hours). Report will follow when my head is not pounding (don't run a race like this while sick). - Summary: Combination of a head cold, elevation, and a certain extreme endurance event caused my body to make me stop running. "The Central Governor" was saying STOP. I knew it was going to happen, I was only hoping it wouldn't be too bad. It was. Right from the start I felt like I had already run a 50K. Legs were dead, but the breathing was out of control. Heart rate felt high, but shoot we are running up a mountain. What do you expect? 
Photo of the first 8 miles or so. I was in 15th-20th place at the top of Hidden Peak (Mile 8.4). 1:45. Right where I thought I should be. I was mixing it up with the top 3 ladies. The men were long gone (Sage Canady hit the top in 1:23). Just as expected they flew up the hill. Sage went on to set a course record in just over 5 hours. Insane! 
Mile 8 (I am in Red) -  Yep, that's me. Thanks to my wonderful wife spectating and taking photos I have these pictures.  The next 3 hours were spent down here -  Some sweet singletrack downhill. Can't complain about that!  
  
After the sweet singletrack, we had a short off-trail stint over a saddle then down a crappy ATV road full of rocks. This is where I realized my downhill skills stink. I was passed by Ruby Muir wearing 5 fingers (she ended up 3rd). She was gone. Very impressive. I was hanging with Stephanie Howe (eventual winner) for a while too (until it leveled off). Turned around at Pacific Mine (Mile 15.5) @ 2:50. Still doing ok, but legs are slowing down. From this point on, I would not pass a soul and I would become roadkill for anyone nearby. It was the beginning of the end. The entire climb up to Baldy was a suffer-fest. Light headed, wobbly, dizzy, weak, couldn't breathe. It only got worse the higher I got. By the time I hit Larry's hole I was done. I ate and drank lots hoping to improve. I had completely given up racing and was merely moving just to survive. No longer with any pride, I no longer cared who passed me and how many did so. I had to stop to try and catch my breath a few times. What race? I am going to die. Who cares about a race? The final 750' climb in .4 mile (to 11,000') was a death sentence.  Almost there... 
Made it!  Oh look, she's taking pictures, I will try to run again. Ouch. I stopped to get a hug but secretly wanted her to carry me to the tram. She gave me some tough love and sent me on my way. 
This is the route down off Baldy towards the tunnel under Hidden Peak.  Looking back at Baldy  Is Speedgoat Karl sponsored? One more descent and climb to go. 12 mins down and 42 mins back up the ridge trail to hidden peak (again). The downhill hurt my body as bad as the uphill. I got passed by 2 people on the downhill. That usually doesn't happen... 
The Ridge Trail 
Ouch Once over the final climb, I suddenly felt better. My lower back stopped hurting as bad, my breathing improved. I could run again. I was watching my watch and doing some math. If I hurried, I could break 7 hours. Things weren't looking too good for a while but once I dropped below 9000' I could breathe again and life was good again. I managed 3 sub 8 min miles to sneak under 7 hours. I even had time to slow down so my son could join me across the line. I didn't realize that my daughter had tried to run with me too. My fan club at the finish line got this great photo of the finish. 
So happy to be done.... So, I figure I could run 6:30 on this course healthy with my current fitness. Slowing down 30 mins felt a lot worse than it was. I thought I was going to hit 8 hours for a while. If I even finished. There is only 1 time I have felt this bad in a race, ever. The Bear 100. So I am pretty happy with how things turned out. I survived! I think it made my cold worse though....
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