05/25/2026
Clear Creek County B***o Races 2026 🏔️🫏🏆
5/24 - Georgetown Pack B***o Race
Time: 52:04, Pace: 8:41
(And after finishing in 1st place…)
Official Result: Disqualification 😳💔
5/25 - Idaho Springs Pack B***o Race
Time: 53:00ish (official times not up yet)
(And after turning Saturdays disappointment into fuel for the motivational fire…)
Official Result: 1st PLACE OVERALL 🥇🫏🥇
Without getting too much into the details of all of the negatives of Saturday, I want to shine a light on what a phenomenal race Poppie and I had. It was an absolutely gorgeous day, the new course was as beautiful as it was challenging, and the field of competitors was pushing the pace to new levels right out the gate. After a mile or so, it was only me and two other runners for the top three places, and we began to exchange leads every few minutes; each time a lead was exchanged, it was in a dead sprint. Now THATS what b***o racing is all about! With only about a half a mile left, I looked behind and realized I had created quite a gap in between me and the second and third place runner, and began to taste victory in my near future. Poppie and I flew through the finish line and began to celebrate, only to be told minutes later that the second competitor who had come in, had told the race director that I deliberately went off course and had cheated, which is not only something I don’t have inside of me as a competitor, but something that I simply had no idea what they were talking about at the moment. This “off course” accusation was actually an extremely insignificant detour that was put into the race with very little signage or markings, and caused not only myself, but several other participants to be disqualified. As a fellow race director, I am aware that normally in situations like these, you have a volunteer at the spot of the detour, or markings to indicate that that area is not the right path. If the runner is to go off path, they are directed by a volunteer or course marshal back to that spot They went off to get back on path, and finish their race from there. No volunteers were at this location, and I was never given the opportunity to get back on course and finish my race, nor were the other participants who also received the disqualification.
This was no easy pill to swallow. In fact, we got the donkeys back to the trailer with the help of the rest of our team, I loved on the donkeys and explained to them how amazing they did and that none of this was their fault, and then I drove home by myself, crying my eyes out the entire way home. I felt let down. I felt I had let my community down. I felt I let my sponsors down. I was down in the dumps, and in all honesty, I was ready to pull out of Sunday’s race as a “response” to all of this. I was ready to be done.
And then, my people lifted me up. ⬆️🚀🖤
I connected with one of the racers I admire most in this game after he inquired about what happened, and he kept his coaching advice, pretty straightforward “… use this fuel to fire your performance tomorrow, and let Sunday’s victory emphasize Saturday’s performance.” - I then spoke with a dear friend who was going to help me rent Poppie out, and she too said “.. go out there and win it tomorrow” - and finally, the love of my life got home and said close to the same thing “…let it fuel your fire. Go run your Team Poppie race tomorrow, but do it with this fire underneath you.”
That fire… has been lit. 🔥
That fire… isn’t going anywhere soon. 🔥🔥🔥
That fire… can be your motivation for the rest of this season, the rest of your racing career. The fire that was lit in Georgetown, will never be extinguished.🔥🔥🔥🔥🚀🫏🔥🔥🔥🔥
And just like that… “sitting this one out” was never even an option in the first place. It wasn’t Kevin or Coach that showed up to race with Poppie on Sunday.. IT WAS KMAC AND POPS. And we weren’t coming to play on Sunday. We were coming to represent Team Poppie. We were coming to represent perseverance. We were coming run like we had never run before, and like running was going out of style. WE WERE COMING FOR THAT REDEMPTION.
AND FOLKS… that’s exactly how we ran.
Sundays 5 mile race through one of the toughest, steepest courses Colorado has to offer, the Idaho Springs race, is a race that I will never forget. We came out out of town like a rocket ship, and after settling into a first and 2nd place battle with another racer I have tons of admiration for, we knew it was going to be a battle to the brutal end. The other racer and I were neck and neck the entire race, again only exchanging leads every so often to push each other and keep driving the pace. After flying down mountain bike turns & bridges and through single track trails like we were being chased by mountain lions, and with only 2/10 of a mile left to go, we looked at each other and said “.. LETS GIVE THEM A SHOW!” 🎥🫏💥🫏
And in our first “ down to the wire” sprint finish, Poppie and were able to hang onto our fraction of a lead and bring home 1ST PLACE OVERALL in the 2026 Idaho Springs Pack B***o Race! This one means a lot, not only because this race is a massive one to check off my list, but more so because if you had told me I would win on Sunday after being disqualified on Saturday, I wouldn’t have seen any way that would be possible. I am very proud of myself for pulling it together, taking to heart all the coaching and advice from my peers, and getting the job done for my team, my donkey, and my community when it really mattered most. WE DID IT YALL! 🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇
What’s next for Team Poppie you ask!?!
🟢 Next race: June 6th - CREEDE. CO.
🟢 Training runs: 1 confirmed for Thursday, available for more! Let’s get YOU out there?!
🟢 Guided Donkey Hikes: 3 on the calendar for this upcoming weekend - when are we getting YOUR group out?!
🟢 Beverage B***o Gigs - 4 in June!!! Wedding season is officially here, folks!!!
🟢 POPPIE IN A MOVIE?!? - That’s right, yall! We are super excited to be supporting and helping our friends with their passion project, filming and creating High Strangeness, taking place and filmed here in Bailey, CO! I will post a teaser down in the comments, but feature filming begins in August/September! 
Was it the weekend we were planning for?! Absolutely not… in a strange way, was it exactly the weekend we needed, to fuel the exact motivation that we need for the rest of the season? You bet your 🫏🫏🫏 it was.
A sincere thank you to each and every spectator who came out to support all of the racers this weekend, as well as a huge shout out to all of the other b***o racing teams who came out put their heart and souls on the line (and maybe left a piece of them on the Idaho Springs hill 😜)!  As always, a huge thanks to all the volunteers, Pack B***o Racing Photographers, all the first responders and city officials and organizations who help make these events possible!
