Salida or Bust

My Salida Marathon was a BUST!!! Okay - not totally - I didn't DNF, and I had a great time! It was awesome as usual!

First, Paul G and I camped along the course the night before under a moonless, star-filled sky. We threw our sleeping bags on the ground and slept comfortably in 20-degree temps. The sunset and sunrise were beautiful.

Before the race, I met Tania P and Anita F. While Anita F and I were taking our time walking towards the start, gabbing away, and still not there when we barely heard the RD yell, "GO!" So they started the race 2 minutes early (GPS time) and we weren't quite ready.
I had two main goals: don't tweak either of my healing injuries, and set a PR - which should've been easy since the course conditions were much easier than last year. Taking it easy meant slowing way down on the downhills, since my sprained left ankle can't take that. The last few miles are the steepest, craggiest downhill of any race I've seen. Any chance of a PR evaporated in the last few miles. But I told myself to concentrate on Leadville and my injuries.
Then with my PR gone, I decided to walk/trot the last mile on smooth road. That's when I stepped on a little rock and twisted my already sprained ankle and heard it pop very audibly. Now it's official (pardon my Belgian) - my ankle is FUCKED up! I hobbled across the finish with an embarrassing time and one of my injuries is worse. And it was a total freak accident. It could've been either side of either ankle, but no, it was exactly the same side of my already jacked ankle. What are the odds of that?
I've been one of the luckiest SOB's in the past few years. I can't believe how freakin' weird my lucky steak has been! So this is obviously some karmic equalization process. But I still don't feel any doom. This is just a hiccup. I plan to continue to go into debt in that area. I'll worry about paying off the karmic creditors later in life.

Paul met Carol, and we spent the 2nd night under the stars. Carol froze her butt off in her Jeep while Paul and I slept comfortably on the ground with frost on our sleeeping bags. Go figure. Girlz... LOL At least Carol camps out and doesn't complain. Not many women are willing to do that. She has an awesome up-beat spirit and smiles incesantly.
We went to Bongo Billy's coffee shop in Buena Vista for breakfast. We split up there.
Right now, Paul and Carol are climbing Quandary, which my jacked-up back (yes, this old man's back is killing him worse than his ankle) and foot won't let me do.
I'll meet them later in Breckenridge.
Right now, I'm drinking jasmine tea in Leadville's Cloud City Coffee shop.