This was a great trip and as usual, plenty of laughs in addition to the race. Kris drove Kyle and I with her friend, future Western finisher, Anna Bates. Of course, Anna grilled Kyle about his records, his family, and his life on the way up("It's like talking to Lance Armstrong!"). We dropped Kyle at Mt. Vernon, picked up our race packets, and went looking for a brew pub. Kris has a nack of just driving around and finding places. A quick meal, checked in the hotel, Kris repacked all her bags for the fourth time, and they were in their PJ's and in bed by time the rest of the crew showed. Terry, going for his first 50K, stayed with us in the "racer's room", with Alexa, Laura, and James in the other. Did a quick checklist with Terry, and of course, he forgot his waterbottle in Laura's car and ran down to get it. In the morning, Anna gave Terry tons of sage advice as he wondered what to take with - talked him out of his backpack. Got James up at the last moment, and headed for the start. It was pouring down rain! well at least it wasn't snowing like the last three races so far this year. Got our group photo, then Terry and I striped down to a long sleve shirt and took off near the front of the pack for the start. Of course Kyle took off, lead the whole race and won. We ran a comfortable pace for the first 6 miles on the flat, Terry pointing out the house he and Alexa tried to rent for us but, ended up in a legal argument with the landlord(never say I'm an attorney to a landlord!). Once we started the first climb, Terry pulled away and I never saw him again until the finish. I had been anxious about this run, I sprained my foot the week prior and only got the swelling down enough to wear a shoe on Wed. Though still a little swollen and colored, my foot seemed to be ok and I kept up a normal pace. I ended up running with three western states entrants, Eric and his pacer Steve(who I met at Orcas), Tony C., and Clem. After aid station #3, Tony and Clem took off, and I took my time on that knarly ridge trying not to twist my ankle again. That loop was way long, but I ended up catching up with Clem and we both crawed up chin scraper together complaining all the way. I ended up running out of water and was really hungry, so when I got the the aid station, I stayed and ate everything there while everyone else took off. Felt good on the downhill, passed Eric and Clem and hit the last aid station feeling like a winner. But after 5 min. on the flat gravel path, my ankle flared up and my run slowed to a shuffle. It looks from the results, I lost an additional 12min. on that section and was passed by 26 runners, the last one being Clem. A little depressing, but I felt great about the race overall. Finished in 5:52, Terry had an outstanding rookie time of 5:35. Kris came in a little after 6 hours and Anna shortly thereafter. We all went back to the hotel to get showers, Terry (the rookie) took a hot tub, then sat down at a table with Alexa and promptly fainted and fell on the floor. The hotel called our room so Kris and Anna ran downstairs and I took advantage of the empty shower. Terry was ok, just a little dream session and he was up and at it again. Since Anna was insisting on having oysters, our little caravan went on search mission down Chuckanut drive ending up at the Longhorn Tavern in Elgin! The only businesses in this little is town is two bakeries and two taverns. We ended up with some strange beer and sandwiches, but the highlight of the whole trip was the unveiling of Terry's race shirt. The one thing Anna didn't tell Terry about was taping his nipples(I guess it's a guy thing!). Terry's shirt was a bloody mess. I checked out the official finish pictures, and there he is, two gun shots in the chest! I can't wait to see the next cover for Northwest Runner!