What a fun race. The first 13 miles are dirt roads with rolling hills. The next 18 miles are paved roads and mostly down hill. I was having fun on the dirt road and probably started faster than I should have. I saw Kelli a few times and the dirt road and chatted with her a bit. Down on the pavement, I met Jenny (Neasts). We ran together for a few miles, but her pace was stronger than mine and I dropped back a bit. Near mile 22, I saw Leslie. She was running the 30k. I stopped and gave her a quick hug. About mile 25, my ankle started acting up. It wasn't anything serious, but it slowed me down. I crossed the marathon mark at 3:45. My goal before the race was to finish around 4:30. I was still on track to meet that. At mile 27, I realized that I only had 4 miles left. No problem. At 28.2 miles, my wife called to see where I was at. My family was waiting for me at the finish. I told them I would be there in thirty minutes. there are two hills near the end. They are actually short easy hills, but after thrity miles they seem like monsters. I finished at 4:32:54, a little behind my goal, but still a PR. After the race we went over to Snow Canyon State Park and did some short hikes with the kids. I carried Susanna, our eighteen month old, in a back pack. It was a great way to stretch my legs after the race. Super fun day. | 