it was the best of times; it was the worst of times

The title pretty much sums up my race experiences since I have been back. We will start with the best because it comes first in chronological order.
The e-100 12 hour race.
I had convinced chris to race co-ed duo with me for this race. he elected himself captain. As captain, he had a couple of rules: 1. go fast. 2. no crashing. i did my best to stay within the given rules. we debated/argued over who would go first. neither of us really wanted to run, but as captain it only made sense that he should go first. he wanted to be captain. he put in an impressive first lap, coming in third. as I started my first lap, my legs felt heavy but they loosened up on the first climb. I felt bad as three guys passed me--was I breaking rule number one. Then another couple of guys came up on me, but they stayed behind me for awhile indicating that I was going plenty fast for them for awhile. I would later find out this was Dave Harris. They did eventually pass me. I realized though that chris came in before alot of other fast guys, so I was okay getting passed. The final down hill was awesome and I would become giddy each time I approached it. My first lap time surprised chris. As I approached our "camp" to switch with him, he was sitting down, shoes off, helmet on the table. He asked what I was doing back. I indicated that I was racing and it was his turn. We lost a good 30 seconds on that fiasco. Captains!
In the end chris and I ended up getting in 14 laps--7 a piece. We won the co-ed duo, the duo, and had the most laps with the best time overall. And to quote Dave Harris we were "wicked fast".
Solitude Utah State Championship.
This was the worst of times. I had a terrible race. I climbed really well, but felt off descending all day. There was another competitor who was the rudest racer I have ever experienced racing with. She would yell at you to get out of her way anytime she got behind you. She would essentially force herself in front of you if you did not get out of her way. That sucked--it is a race. She was the cause of one of my three crashes. I was able to regroup and catch her and the third place individual. But then I endoed on my second lap. It was slow and easy, but took me out of third. Then I got yelled at when I bobbled another area, so I let her by. By the decent on the third and final lap I was in fourth and felt I could catch third. I was going well and I have no I idea what happened. I was practically done, when I landed hard on my lid. I had endoed again. I dizzily stood up and made my way the few steps back to my bike. I don't know what I hit, but it caused some air to escape from my front tire. Fourth place past and actually politely asked if I was okay. Which suprised me because I was expecting to be berated for being on part of the trail yet again. My bike took some time to find the correct gears and I slowly approached the finish line fighting back tears. No concussion, but my head, neck and back are sore. A good race, a bad race. As Jerry Seinfeld would say, "I am even Steven."