Had a good race, finished at 9:45, more than a half hour quicker than last year (no falls). However, even though I ran faster, there was a faster field this year, last year I finished 41st, 4th in age group, this year 44th, 7th in age group! Heck, the second place finisher overall was 50! Friday night, I slept out on my cot, to my horror, there was a tower of mosquitoes overhead. I used my Western States hankerchief successfully as a bug screen (thanks John) until about 10 when the skeeters went to bed. The weather was perfect in the morning, cool and overcast. I had pace intervals set for finishing at 9:30, hung with a good group for the first six miles, then ended up running alone (as usual). Stayed on pace until the final climb, can't seem to move very well in the sand and got passed by a few people. Sat in a chair at the top for a couple of minutes, enjoying the view (it was now sunny and clear) and the aid station. Just as I was leaving the aid station, Clem was coming in, I've never beaten him before so I thought I better get going, However, after the downhill, I didn't feel very good for the next ten miles. I got passed by a couple of people and figured Clem would show up soon. Fortunatly, I came to life on the downhill just before the FS Rd 58 aid station, about mile 40, chugged down a couple of cups of mountain dew and took off. At the Little Crater aid station, Clem was just arriving when I left, so I took off and ran hard all the way in to the finish, passing several runners. Boy was that different! I was very happy about finishing strong and beating my last two intervals! I ended up beating Clem by over 10 minutes, but talking afterwards, he wasn't having a good day. I think I'm still in 1st place for the series, not sure because they haven't posted SOB results yet. Next is Waldo, got some sage advice from Clem and Todd Temple, a fast guy I met last year, and I'm doing the early start, can't afford to DNF:(