Jack and I were blessed with another win at Fairplay at the Pack Burro Days Race. I feel pretty lucky.
This photo is from David C.
My favorite part of that video is KZ doing her little jump dance at the end of the race. Going across the line with the kids was pretty cool for me.
We posted the SLOWEST winning time of the Fairplay course ever yesterday, but a win is a win. Throughout and after this race, I felt incredibly lucky. I felt lucky to get to the line and have the opportunity to race Jack again. I felt lucky that my family was there to watch the race, and support me. I felt lucky to have veterans like Bill Lee and Brad Wann help set Jack and me up in the AM. I felt lucky that people felt compelled to come up and wish me the best and share how wonderful they thought this was and then cheer for me during the race. I felt lucky that I got to have a day in the mountains. I felt lucky that I got to share in this nutty event with all of its cast characters who are part of some crazy reality TV show in the making – Bill, Curtis, Hal, Diane, John V, David C, Brad, Amber, the Pedretti family, the Wann family, Richard, Justin the radio operators, the volunteers, the race committee, and dozens of others that collect in these little towns to do this thing.
After a morning of the typical nuttiness of setting up for the race (Brad Wann is a mirale worker in this regard), we started. 1030 as we always do, and I was hoping that some of luck would translate into not getting blown to bits by lightning on Mosquito Pass when we got up there around mid day. I had went ahead and put some EZ boots (sort of a pull over shoe for donkeys) on Jack’s front feet. But by the time we reached the South Park City gate (200 yards), I had made the decision to pull them off. One looked cockymamied, and he was running like a cat with tape on its feet. It was obvious that it was not going to be a good idea so we pulled them off as the crowd of runners, burros, spit, sweat and manure went by. We got back up and then started a move up.
We pushed up out over the road (9) to start again this year rather than dropping below the quarry into the weeds. That would be a mess to start down there with that many runners and donkeys. I got a visual on Justin and could see he was having a helluva time with Yukon Jack. It was a bit comical to see but a bit sad. Justin was clearly the fastest runner in the field, with the fastest burro, but Yukon Jack was going to go where he wanted to go on his own and when he wanted to do it (Justin’s report).
It was slow and steadily through the 55 teams that had registered (17 for the long course) - sometimes being all the way at the front, other times sitting back about a dozen places, just taking what Jack would give and rolling with the crowd.
Of course we got to South Park City at 7.5 miles out and the bulk of the racers (short course runners) turned around. I had urged Diane V to come along for the long course and so she and some other guy and his donk joined us. But we went from running a slow walk. The donks suddenly wanted nothing to do with a steady pace on an up.
Soon Hal caught up to us and I was lucky to have him for company again on this climb. Every year I have run this race, Hal and I have shared this section, all the way to the pass and sometimes beyond. We catch up on things like running, families, burros, shoes, etc. He is a master of this event, having won it 7 times. He was racing Spike, and was able to get him to move a bit and so I was lucky again in that Jack was game for moving along with them. We separated a bit from Diane, her burro and the other team, but not by much. And anything we gained, Diane got back on grassy meadow of American Flats anyway.
But we were going slow. I felt lucky to be in the front group at this point because I knew in past years this pace would have us quite a ways back, well behind richer competition. We were lucky in that no faster teams had shown up! We plodded across American Flats and I made a bit of a bid to get ahead of Hal and Diane to get to the pass first. It was real work as Jack was not eager to move. When we topped out on the road, it took me a bit to get him going to lead as it seemed he wanted to have the rest of the burros around. Nonetheless, we got lucky by getting up around the sign first. We were lucky here too: cloudy skies but nothing angry (yet) and people willing to help us at the top. Still we ascended in three and a half hours – nearly 45 minutes slower than last year and almost what the course record was for the full go around. We had just gone up that slowly.
We all watered up and started heading down but none of the donks wanted to go to a trot on the rougher upper portions of Mosquito Pass road. There was a bit of an unspoken agreement that we were all fine with this as we were all together in the lead. It was said that maybe things would pick up once we hit the smoother road below the London Mine at the bridge.
And they did. Once we hit the bridge, I was able to get a little trot going with Jack, and the other teams followed suit. We hung together for a bit, but Jack was pushing me left off into the ditch of the road and then occasionally cutting off the other donks. We came by Hal and Spike again, and Hal said “don’t do it Jack!” and Jack took heed of the burro whispers’ words. He just trotted off and we started a bit of a gap. I suspected it could end at any second so I just let Jack trot at whatever pace he wanted. 7 minute pace, 8 minute pace, 9 minute pace. I figured if I tried to drive him he might just stop.
It started to rain. I felt lucky that we were getting it low and within 10 miles to the finish. Jack kept trotting, rarely breaking cadence or getting distracted. He was on auto pilot all of a sudden and I was just along for the ride. TZ drove by and told me that I had built a quarter mile lead. That suddenly felt way too close, as I knew any stop could mean that Hal and Diane’s teams could be right there. But luckily, Jack pressed on – not too fast, but steady.
It was raining pretty good now. I got word about a mile or two later that I had built the lead to 1.3 miles. I was feeing pretty good about that but I knew that the weeds from the power station back into town (five miles) could change everything. But I had got lucky again: Jack had put down a decent enough pace to build some daylight between us and the chase crew. We got some lightning that was about 1-2 seconds ahead of the thunder, and if that does not make you feel lucky to get through each one of those then you might be dead.
Amazingly we hit the turn to the power station and Jack just kept going. No stopping to eat, not relaxing of the effort, just buzzing the trail like he knew exactly where to go. This is exactly how he acted in 2012. How’s that for luck? I felt confident that we nearly had the win, but I knew that anything could turn it around real quick, and kept expecting Hal to suddenly pop into view behind me. I continued to run behind Jack, not wanting to drive him as he was working well, but nervous that it all could come unraveled any second. Occasionally, I’d have to do a little route finding for him (like where the quarry goes into the weeds), but nonetheless – he was moving awesome.
And boom – we finished. 6:12, or almost 45 minutes slower than last year (so most that coming on the climb) and about 40 minutes before second and third place. 2nd win on this course, crossing the line with my kids, feeling lucky to be loved by them my wife, her parents, and seeing friends and the broader burro family.
This race, like other races then becomes a family affair – you want to know how the others are doing. We drove out and checked on them, encouraged them, and then headed up to the next point to wait for them and do it all again. We stayed late into the night until all of them got in.
I am a ridiculously lucky guy. I realize that stating it this way can come across as dismissive of the effort yesterday, and it is not that. I think of it more of having a moment of realizing the gifts I have been given.
Pre race
I am actually hooking up the EZ boots here but this probably begs a better caption than that.
Coming down Mosquito Pass Road
JZ, his buddy CW, part of my support crew.
John Davis at the finish (he was fourth)
Burros coming in for a tight finish
The Hand Hotel as the night falls.
The man, Bill Lee finishes another long course.
Why results are not on line. They are all right here.
Amber and Roger finish the long course.
Pedrettis and Wanns.
Photo from David C, Diane, Hal and some guy falling asleep.
Liz S report.
Course map …
