I Tried the Official State Sport of Colorado (Burro Racing)

I am about to attempt to run a half marathon in America's highest city with a donkey.

It sounded as crazy to me as.

It does to you the first time I ever heard about it.

So let me back up and explain how we got here.

Before we get started, we wanted to let you know that we are partnering with Omaze to give away a van that is way nicer than ours. For more details, just go to omaze.com k&n.

About a month ago, I got a text from my friend Rick that said, hey, Nate, this made me think of you. The screenshot that he had sent was for the Leadville pack burro race. The text went on to say, a good friend of mine does burro racing and could probably get us a couple donkeys for the race. Thought I'd throw it out there. I want to be the person that you text when you hear about something crazy like a burro race, and you're like, which one of my friends would do this with me? I answered his message like the person that I wanted to be. So after finishing our bike ride across the state of Iowa.

Hey, Daddy.

During which I talked my brother into running the race as well, we drove 14 hours straight to Colorado to give our bodies as much time as possible to acclimate to the altitude. Even though a burrow race isn't something that you can train for in six days, that didn't stop us from trying.

I'm redlining right now, or somewhere around 12,000ft, and we're going on our first.

Of maybe three training runs.

This is a horrible idea.

It's hard. It's very hard. I don't think I made it a mile.

8.

Almost a mile. 15 of those is going to be hard.

I don't know why I'm breathing so hard.

I think I was doing this walking. My vision is a little blurry. Maybe that's. That's normal. Not sure.

How quickly it worked out. Oh, my goodness, those cauliflower wings. Hey. For lunch about an hour ago.

Bad idea.

Run in the downhills. Hey, what's the time?

46 minutes, 3 1/2 miles.

Thank you. Okay. Any illusion that I was actually gonna run this entire burrow race is completely gone. Day two of training. I'm calling today the dress rehearsal. Watched a few YouTube videos last night and learned that people usually wear cowboy ha for the burrow race. So, bringing back the hat from the boundary waters. The goal today is to run 8 of the 15 miles of the course. We'll see how far I can run it.

Today. Wow.

Pretty much feels like walking upstairs even though it looks flat on the camera. Have another side cramp this time. I can't blame it on cauliflower wings. My confidence for this race is diminishing with every step.

I made it four miles up.

I'm about to start my descent and.

Honestly, I'm pretty encouraged. And I averaged about a 13 minute mile, which is way better than I expected. So now I'm about to start to run down the mountain. So it turns out running downhill is harder than I expected.

I decided after this run, two days of training was going to have to be enough because the race started in four days and I figured my legs needed at least that long to recover.

Hello, Paul.

Nice to meet you.

This is Paul, Rick's friend who raises donkeys and is a veteran burrow racer. Nate will be borrowing one of his donkeys for the race.

So this is my partner. Ooh. Ooh.

I think we're gonna get along great.

Still wanna see this teamwork.

You did a half circle.

Typically it's. It's my conditioning that is the limiting factor.

They can handle the 15 miles no problem.

He gets fired up. He wants to go.

He's so.

He loves to run.

Loves it.

I think we're making good progress. He was biting me when we first met. And now if I walk away, he just comes over and sticks his head right next to me.

All right, have a big day tomorrow.

Don't go out and party.

Make sure you hydrate tonight. Stormtrooper. Oh, y' all look so cute together. Since Paul only had one extra donkey, Rick and Dusty had to source their donkeys through a donkey matching service. So they both filled out a dating profile and got matched up with trained racing burros. Pretty much tender for donkeys. So after leaving Paul's, we met up with Amber and Brad, the husband and wife team who run the donkey dating service. We all got a crash course in burro racing.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

This is called the helicopter.

Get ready to run.

And what are the chances that Dolly will just stop at some point and not want to do anything?

Anything's possible.

She could, could.

She may just want to walk.

So that's fine with me.

Then you're in. You're going to start feeling breathing on your neck. It's going to be crazy. You're going to be one with the burrow. It's going to be like running in Jurassic Park.

It'll make me run faster.

Yeah.

These are killpin rescued burros that were.

Heading to Mexico to be slaughtered. And so we have rehabilitated them.

Give them a new life.

Burro racing is a sport that once you see it, you'll never forget it. And once you do it, it's really hard to walk away.

I really appreciate it. Yeah, thanks for all the advice.

I gave him some food. See, he's trying to get it.

Brad made me feel way worse. The idea of being, like, lashed to a beast that does kind of what it wants to do.

So I'm gonna be dolly for a second. I'm going around you, going around you, going around you. Which way am I going? There you go. Use your right hand.

That's the intimidating part. If someone said, hey, go run, you know, 15 miles, okay, fine. When you're tied to a donkey, it's a whole different story.

She's starting to go the other way. You feel it. You don't have to look at her.

Yeah.

Because the last thing you want to do when you're in front of a donkey is look them in the eyes. Do you know what that means?

No.

I think I'm going to have more adrenaline tomorrow morning right at the start of the race than I have in a long time.

Oh, yeah, big time.

I think after talking to the experts today, there are two major concerns for everybody. The start of the race and getting drugged by your donkey or not being fast enough and then killing its will.

So all it wants to do is.

Walk the rest of the race. The other concern is that your donkey just won't cooperate and you're going to be out on the race course for eight hours, like, until dark.

Apparently, that happens.

Morning. Here goes nothing.

Ready for the big day?

This has to be one of the craziest things I've ever signed up for and the least prepared I've ever been.

There's been an unwanted layer of complexity added into today. There are smoke from wildfires blowing into Leadville, making the air pretty unhealthy, which I think for some people isn't a big deal. If you have sensitive sinuses like me, it causes all kinds of problems. I pretty much can't breathe out of my nose this morning. I really didn't need any more challenge thrown into today, but here we are.

Leslie is 30. Nate is 29.

Thank you very much.

You're welcome.

First ever organized race.

Does it go in the front or the back?

The front.

Are you sure?

Ow.

Pretty good.

We got 29, 30.

As Jackson, 29, the age of wife, looks.

This is the look.

So first off, this is Ken Klober.

The founder of the Leadville Trail 100.

It's his old race saddle.

That's got to be a good luck charm.

Required equipment is a shovel, a pickaxe, and a gold pan.

By carrying all of this on the donkey, we're kind of paying respect to the miners who were the inspiration for this sport.

It's a fancy saddle.

Let me take a minute to explain how burro racing became a thing. Burro racing is Colorado's only indigenous sport, and it's inspired by the early days of the mining industry. Miners would take burros through the mountains of Colorado looking for precious metals. Because the donkeys would be carrying all the mining supplies, the miners couldn't ride them, so they had to walk beside them. Legend has it that two miners found gold in the exact same location at the same time, and they had to race back to the town to stake their claim on that land. The pack burro race format that we know today was started back in 1949 as a way to commemorate these men, women, and their boroughs.

Feeling good about today?

He had a big breakfast.

Yeah, he had a big breakfast. He's been farting on me this morning.

We have about 40 minutes till race time, and all of these spectators just showed up. There are tons of locals just walking around taking pictures of all the donkeys. This is gonna be crazy.

That's perfect.

Cute.

Guys.

Stormtrooper is ready to go. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but we're just walking in circles right now. Donkeys everywhere.

A donkey is a donkey. It doesn't matter what size, color, gender. They all can win.

Over the next three to eight hours, me and Stormtrooper are going to attempt to run a half marathon. The course starts in leadville, just above 10,000ft in elevation. Then we pretty much run 154 miles straight up to Ball Mountain. Once we get almost to the top, somewhere around 12,000ft, we run another four miles around the peak of Ball Mountain before descending five miles back into the town. Over the course of the race, we'll be gaining 2,300ft in elevation. And let me emphasize again that this race leaves and only goes up from the highest city in the U.S. four.

Minutes to race time.

Four minutes.

Love you.

A. That was sweet.

He's like, come on, Rick. Is this Dolly?

This is Dolly.

Uhoh.

She looks ready.

Nothing else to walk in circles for long.

What do you want?

Whoa.

Some grass. Oh, come on, come on, come on, come on. We are ready to go. I'm going to do my best to keep up.

I don't know that.

Here we go. We're good.

Whoa, baby. We're going fast.

Bye, dad. I love you. Bye. I love you.

Whoa.

We're at a gallop.

We're in the front half. Good work, buddy. Ran a rope wrap.

That was a bad decision.

Gosh, all of that happened so fast, but it seemed like the takeoff went well.

I'm already dying. I don't want to. I don't want to kill swim troopers.

Sweet.

Let's walk, buddy. Stormtrooper has two speeds. Really fast and really slow.

Nate, Dusty, and your dad. Which one do you think's gonna be in first?

Dusty.

Dusty.

Why? Because he was in the front, and then Nate will go, and then my dad will just be behind. Yeah, well, Dolly needs to pick up.

The pace, so I'm towards the back of the pack here. I requested a slow burrow, and I got one.

Let's go, buddy.

Let's go.

We had a strong start, but we're slowing down. Come on, let's go. Come on, Stormtrooper. Oh, no. Dusty already passed me. We're getting left. Come on.

While I've raced burros for 26 years, there are people who say that I'm the biggest ass in town. But I always correct them and say, no, that's not correct. I just own the biggest ass in town.

Well, I already feel like I'm gonna puke. I guarantee I hurt worse. I'm slowing down the team.

Stormtrooper still has energy. I feel like I'm gonna die.

I can't get a breath.

This morning was so hectic that the van looks like it just got raided. There's a fishing pole in the front seat. There are open drawers. Cleaning up the van. Is it nearly as hard as running a half marathon with a donkey? So I'm not gonna complain.

I have Dusty in my sights.

The pride of not losing to my younger brother may just be enough motivation to pull me through. Come on, Dolly.

Me and Dolly are about not quite three miles in.

It's been an hour.

She's definitely slow and steady. Emphasis on the slow part.

Come on, come on, Come on. Let's go.

Let's go.

So far, passing has been very hard, so I just gotta keep Nate behind me.

What are you doing laying in the.

Middle of the road?

Why?

I want to take a picture.

Oh, Yodified. So the guys are surviving, and we're having a baby Yoda photo shoot in the middle of the road. Triple Yoda.

If you need to pass, go for it. Oh, my God. Come on, Stormtrooper. I'M holding him back. He's like, come on. My poor human heart can't keep up. Nobody's right past.

Yeah. All right.

Don't kill me.

Here we go.

Doing my best to keep up, buddy. Let's go.

I just have no idea what's going on until they get back. It's gonna be the longest three to five hours of my life. I guess we're gonna get some food.

I feel like we'll finish if we keep moseying like this.

Come on, girl. Come on. Come on. It's gonna be a long day.

Come on. We almost got you. Come on. Little brothers in sight.

Come on.

And there they go.

While we're waiting, the girls and I thought we'd treat ourselves to lunch.

It feels wrong enjoying myself so much when I know they have to be having a hard time right now.

I think it took us almost exactly an hour to make it to the top, which puts us at about four and a half miles in. Stormtrooper has been an absolute champion. He doesn't really have a nice medium power walk speed, unfortunately. Come on, Dolly.

Nothing works. Stunky has one speed at least. It's moving forward.

We've started our loop around Ball Mountain. Once we get about halfway around, that'll be the peak of the race. And it's mostly downhill from there.

29 minute miles. We're smoking.

Let's go, Dolly.

Get you back into that tall grass down on Hazel Street.

Come on.

We're gonna get past my small ones.

Here we go. Here we go. Pick it up.

Let's go.

Sorry.

A guy that just passed me ran a 250 mile race earlier this year. Oh, Dusty's in view. I'm coming for you, Dusty.

Cheers to the dad.

This mojito sure is good. I wonder how they're doing.

This is the hardest day I've ever done in my life.

The air's getting thinner because I've just been barely walking. I can barely breathe. We are almost to the very top of the mountain. It is absolutely gorgeous. Bo so far has been an absolute champ. I'm a little worried because we were struggling to get going on the downhill and it seemed like that's whenever Nate called up to us. The last seven miles are all downhill, so I'm planning on staying ahead. I think he wore himself out trying to drag his donkey up. I've just been letting Benjamin help me, so I think I've expended less energy.

All right.

We just got an update from our team that's on the mountain. I'm not really sure what this means, but they are making pretty good time. Right now. They're doing 15 minute miles and it's been straight up the mountain, so I feel like this is pretty good. It may be too good. They might be dying uphill at 15 minute mile pace. If they were dragging the donkey, maybe that means they're feeling good.

Good.

Literally pulling a donkey down a hill.

And they want to go faster.

Yeah. I'm making this easy on me.

Gosh, I just can't wait to see how this goes.

Both of my calves cramping. Yeah.

Anything else you recommend?

Fluids. As soon as we can just start walking, we'll do that. Nice controlled.

I'm gonna try to stand up. Oh, wow. That was painful.

Oh, come on.

So far so good.

So Dolly, she's just stopping a lot. We get about 20ft and then she just comes to a halt. She weighs a little bit more than I do, so I also come to a halt. She's moving now. Maybe she likes YouTube.

Come on, Dolly.

She won't budge.

We are gonna get some ice cream for dessert. Thank you so much. This is the best day ever.

All right, we are cresting the highest point on the trail. I'm being honest. I'm in a bad place. I don't know how I'm gonna keep up with stormtrooper running the next five miles downhill.

Come on, come on.

Let's go, let's go.

Come on.

Little jog.

Here we go.

See how it goes.

That's the fastest she's run the whole day. You got it on camera.

I'm glad.

Well, we're showing signs.

Promise.

She did run for a stretch. She seems capable of it, which is good because I was starting to regret not bringing my headlamp. I think she can keep it up a little bit.

Come on, Dolly.

That doesn't seem to do anything. I just keep doing it because everyone.

Else is doing it.

Oh, my hamstring feels like it's about to go. I didn't think it would be my legs that gave out on me. I thought it'd be my lungs.

Ice cream. Cheese ice cream.

Cheers.

Come on.

Come on.

I'm stubborn.

Stubborn as mule. They say we're on the downhill, but we have yet to jog. Boaz isn't really wanting to go, but we gotta see if we can get to jogging or Nate's gonna catch us.

I can do it.

I promise. Don't give up on me. I think you lost all respect for me after my calves cramped up.

I've tried everything. Tried Talking nicely, talking loud. A little tap on the butt with this rope. And through it all, Dolly does not respond to anything. She just does what Dolly wants to do.

How was your ice cream, Evie?

Yummy.

Yes. To me.

Oh, you're a lifesaver.

Thank you.

I suck to powder in. Hopefully this is enough to keep me from cramping up again.

I never thought I'd have to pull a burro downhill. I thought I'd be, like, trying to get out of its way like a freight train. I feel like the burro pulling another burrow. I'm kind of losing my mind. It's been a long day.

All right.

We just got into the finish line. There have already been a handful of donkeys who have finished. Still waiting on the dads.

What Was your time? 2 hours, 25 minutes and 54 seconds on my.

And he's the pearls across. Congratulations.

Way to go, kids.

I see some all black, but I can't tell. I don't think it's them.

Nice work. Better pace. We're not gonna come in last unless our lower body ceases up again.

All right.

It has been exactly three hours since the dads have left.

Yeah.

Just dropped into 92nd place. Here we go.

Come on, Nate.

You can do it. All right.

There's more runners coming.

We got us our donkey race.

Look at that.

You go, girl.

So you haven't officially crossed the finish line until the nose of the donkey has crossed this white line. So even if the runner's in front, it doesn't matter.

Get the burrow.

Oh, my gosh. It's Dusty. Go, Dusty.

One, two. Oh, my gosh.

Benson in.

How you doing, Iggy? You were right. Dusty won.

You have faith in me.

It was Ben. He motivated my donkey pretty much the whole race for me. I got close to Boaz, but I'm not sure that he got close to me the whole time.

I did not believe that you were first.

Two hours.

How is your body?

Honestly, better than expected. The sprint at the end got me. I think the trick was we hardly ever, like, came to a complete stop. And I don't know if that's the case for Nate and Rick. I think Rick might be really far back.

Come on, Dolly.

We'll make it eventually.

So Dusty finished in less than four hours. There are some more runners coming. I can't make out who it is yet, though.

I see Nate's hat. I see Nate's hat. It's David coming.

Come on. Come on. Let's go.

There.

We almost both get the feet done.

Come on, Nate. Keep running. Keep going.

Almost there.

Come on, Stormtrooper.

Yeah.

You did it.

We did it, Stormtrooper. I feel like I'm going to vomit. That is without a doubt, the hardest thing I've ever done.

You crushed the time, Nate.

Oh, Dusty beat me, though.

Oh, my God.

That was awesome teamwork and I love the camaraderie of going across the line together. I wouldn't have been here without him, so it didn't feel right to finish him front.

I owe the biggest thank you of the day to this man. Not only did he lend me his donkey, but without a doubt, I would have finished two hours slower if you wouldn't have stayed behind me the whole time.

Time.

I appreciate it so much. Thank you.

How are you doing, Stormtrooper? You don't even look tired.

I guarantee I'm a lot tighter than he is.

Just been pouring out of my nose the whole time. Look at my sleeves. That's all snot.

What was the best part?

After my calves cramped up, they didn't cramp up again.

What was the worst part? When my cat's cramped up, Stormtrooper's just like. Just another day.

After my calves cramped, he lost some respect for me. It took me a while to get him going again. I'm serious. He wouldn't run after my calves cramped.

I don't trust you anymore.

Either he has a lot of empathy and he was worried about me or he lost respect. One of them. I owe one more huge thank you to Annette. She's the reason that we have footage of the race. She ran beside us the whole time. That was rough.

Doesn't even look like she tried.

She saw me at my lowest moment.

You're a beast.

All right, there you go, sir. Congratulations. Thank you so much. This is my new prized possession. I've never worked so hard for something. If you finish in less than five hours, you got a belt buckle. I'm gonna start wearing all my shirts tucked in from now on.

All right, we are at the four and a half hour mark.

Rick is still somewhere out on the.

Course bringing up the rear.

At least the rear of me and Dusty.

Hop, hop.

Come on, Dolly.

Here he is. Come on, Rick.

It's so fun to watch people come in because there's this hill and we can't see anything past it. And all of a sudden you'll hear somebody go. Runners are coming, and then they just crest the hill. Like it's in slow motion. Some of them are actually in slow motion and you can just see it in their faces.

That they know they're almost there. Come on, Dolly.

Good job.

Good job.

Thanks, Evie.

You did it.

I take it you guys have already had lunch.

If you would have finished 27 minutes later, you wouldn't have got a belt buckle.

You got a belt?

Is that right? Felt more like a football workout than a run of any sort. But she's. She's a sweet girl.

What do you think?

Will you do it again?

I would do it again. I would do it again. I might do more sort of speed dating first to sort of figure out who's most compatible with me.

While Rick may finish after me, but it's very apparent by his demeanor that he's not hurting near as bad right now.

Got my belt buckle. It's not going to get dipped in gold like Nate.

Stronger.

I am not in good shape. I feel nauseous, have a headache.

I'm losing my voice. I feel like on most of these.

Challenges, after I'm about an hour removed.

I'm like, you know what?

I could have done that all day if I had to.

This time, testing Rick seemed to be.

Great, though I assume I'll feel better by tomorrow, and even if I don't, I'm still super glad I did this.

What an experience.

We're having a party to celebrate the best taco you've ever had.

Honestly, my stomach feels a little bit weird after the run.

Yeah, I'm not sure what's gonna happen when I eat this taco.

I think the bro needs his own little whip to hit me in the butt, keep me going.

This is the first marathon a woman ever ran in 19. It wasn't the Boston, so tell them to stop lying to you. And by the way, since the Boston didn't run last year and burro racing did, we're now older than they are.

We're still penning paper with ourselves.

One day, you're just gonna have, like, a hologram over your head.

Don't forget to check out omaze.comk&n for your chance to win.