Scott's First Race!

Saturday was the Mt. Washington Road Race. Scott and his friend, Tadd, have been training for this for a few months. Despite a nasty cold and hardly being able to breathe, Scott braved the mountain.
Here is the typical pre-race food.
This is Scott preparing before the race.
And his friend, Tadd. Once they were ready, Bruce and I drove to the top of the mountain. There is only one road that goes up, so vehicles have to go long before the race starts. Before going up, park rangers gave me a disclaimer and told me to pull to the side if my engine started smoking. I cranked our car into first gear and began the climb. I must say I had serious doubts that Scott and Tadd could run up this mountain. Our car sounded like a tractor and 5,000 vertical feet is what people ski, not run; how could they possibly run up this?! Once at the top, we explored the finish line area and hiked down a trail for a little while.
The road on the right side of the picture is a switchback away from the finish line, which is by the big tower.
Here is the view from the top.
Bruce and I hiked slowly because the summit is really rocky. Here, Bruce goes for the classic nose-wipe.

Bruce was very entertained by the cog steam train that came up to the top of the mountain.

When we hiked, Bruce built a zillion tiny cairns (those piles of rocks that mark the trails).
Our church's Boy Scout troop happened to be hiking Mt. Washington the same day, so we ran into them at the summit. Amazingly, one young man had the energy to hoist Bruce in the air for some "jumping jacks," as he calls them.
The race began at 10 a.m., and right at 11 a.m. the winner crossed the finish line.
The women's winner came a few minutes later. The race was the USATF National Mountain Running Championship so there were a lot of good runners there.
Here comes Tadd.

He gave Bruce a high-five before crossing the finish.
Here they are after conquering the mountain. Amazingly, they are already talking about doing the race next year.