The B Hill Run-Bisbee, Arizona

I had recently returned from a mountaineering expedition to Alaska and was in the best physical shape of my life. We were visiting family in Bisbee, Arizona during the fourth of July and part of this small town’s celebration is the B Hill Run. Towering above the main town square is a loose dry hill with a large white letter B painted near its summit. The race starts in Brewers Gulch and the goal is to get to the top of the hill and down anyway possible.  A group of twenty or so participants stood loosely in a group at which point my friend told me to just follow this one fellow who happened to be the most successful winner of the run. The start gun went off and the mad dash began up a street and a series of steep stairs to a gravel trail at the edge of town. The mass of runners headed off right working their way up the loose scree while the runner who I was to follow veered left. I stayed a few yards behind him as we worked our way of a series of short solid rock cliffs. Hand over hand I pulled myself upwards and noticed that we were very close to the large white B and the other runners were far below. As I reached the top I was marked by the race volunteers and turning around noticed I had lost the lead runner. Just then another fellow arrived, quickly turned around, and dashed down a steep gulley. I sprinted down his path and descended rapidly towards the valley. I let gravity pull me down the steep terrain as the gulley walls began to close. The narrow slot ended at the top of a concrete covert that became a slide of sorts. I slid down and followed the other runner into a tunnel. As I ran in the semi darkness towards the light I had a flashing thoughts of rattlesnakes but before I could worry too much I exited and arrived at the finish line of the race. I had come in third place. The runners began to arrive while I was congratulated by some of the locals. Many in the crowd wondered who this newcomer gringo was that had just placed third in the Bisbee B Hill Run.  Bisbee, Arizona