Dear Steven,     Thanks for thevery nice story and compliments. I will forward it to Chris Kostman who willbeam it up to the web sites and send an announcement about it to the"Badwater Family."     Congratulationsfor your great performances. See you next year.Ben and DeniseSTEVEN SILVER: BADWATER 2000 STORYDear Ben and Denise,     I waited until Ireally had some time to write you all about the 2000 Sun PrecautionsBadwater Race.     What do you do tomake a race exciting, special, fun and memorable??? I was faced with thatquestion this year.  My first race in 1996 was a true adventure. It wasareal thrill, finishing second to Marshall Ulrich. I was cautious and inshape and ready to really pop one.  Your help prior to the race did somuchfor me that I counted you as part of my crew. I would be remiss not tomention my friend, two‑time winner, Bill Menard, who first convincedme torun this race as the two of us ran down Sugarloaf Mountain at the 1995Leadville Trail 100.  Bill taught me what to do and how to do it. Ithankhim and missed him this year at the race.     A repeat in 1997was a bit disappointing, finishing sixth, some ninety or so minutes slowerthan the previous year (39:07 vs. 37:45).  I did get to meet some moregreatathletes including the sport's pin-up girl, Lisa Smith.  The experiencewasfun, and sobering and worth the time and effort invested.     After taking ayear off, I was ready for a good one. I had a great one, a tie for 4th in33:57 with an extraordinary old coot named Art Webb. No, we didn'tget into the movie ("RunningOn The Sun"),but we had a terrific time anyway going back and forth with Lisa again andrunning together for 90 miles.My 1999 BW was a tough event to top, but Art and I had a plan for 2000.'     Our 2000race proved to be one that we all ran for a different purposes.  I ran forfunwhen Art developed an injury that prevented him from racing and still hefinished in 43 hours. Lisa did not have the race of her life but ran with herman Jay as they started their new life together. The "race" between theUSA andRussia was my 15 minutes of fame as our friends from across the ocean blew thedoors off everyone. Great going guys (Anatoli Kruglikov and Ivan Labutin) and gal(Irina Reutovich).     So, as my ex‑wife usedto say, "What's your point?"  My point is that the race needs, atleast for me,a reason to be. Each year that I run it I have to find that reason and each year