By the time we reached Flat Horn Lake (mile 75) on the way back, it was starting to get dark. Tim, who was still recovering from the flu, wasn't feeling so hot, but I felt pretty good (relatively anyway). I had a bowl of warm jumbalaya at the checkpoint, then headed out the door, knowing that Tim would be right behind me. The last 25 miles were fast. I felt good, the night air was refreshing, and the track was much firmer than it had been earlier in the day. There was even a bright moon, so I skied without a headlamp for most of it. But this was also when I started 'racing.' I was hammering, because I knew Tim wouldn't be far behind. I spent the whole last 25 miles just waiting for his headlamp to appear behind me. But it never did. I finished in 13 hours and 15 minutes as the winner of the 2005 Su 100! The final 25 miles were my fastest of the day, that really surprised me. We'll pretend that the headlamp in this picture is me finishing, but its not. I skied a lot faster than I expected to, so Linda wasn't there yet when I finished.