Top of Utah Marathon

Well, he did it. DAVE RAN A MARATHON! I know. Craziness.

Here's how it all went down...

First things first, we booked a room at the Anniversary Inn in Logan. Marathon=Romance, right? WRONG. The Anniversary Inn just happens to be across the street from the finish line of the race. It's all about the logistics here.

Mike (Dave has a sister named Amy and she is married to Mike) decided on Tuesday that he was going to run this marathon with Dave. No training. Just get out there and run it. HELLO CRAZY PERSON. And yes, he is crazy- in a good way, of course- crazy FUN. They weren't able to book a hotel that late in the game so they ended up parking their suburban out on the curb of the Anniversary Inn.

Here is Dave the morning of the run at a comfortable 4:45 a.m. Yikes! He is taping up his foot. Last weekend we ran the Alta Peruvian 8K Downhill Dash. He dashed rather fast down the canyon, picking up a great time, but he also picked up a very large blister. If he would have run it slower like me, he probably would have been fine. There is price to be paid for being an over-achiever...

Here's Mike and Amy. Amy already has the title of "Marathon Finisher" underneath her belt. And because she has had the experience, she was pretty much in a panic for Mike who just decided to run this race on a whim. Mike's face is saying "4:45 a.m."

Amy came prepared with notes, diagrams, advice & munchies. And that was just for me and her (she & I? I always get confused with the grammar stuff) - the spectators. It was hilarious. I made sure to let her know she was crazy.

Here they are getting ready to go meet the busses. Very dark and cold:

The Top of Utah Marathon starts at Hardware Ranch Elk Refuge in Blacksmith Fork Canyon. The first 14 miles of the race are in the canyon. Amy and I parked ourselves at mile 14 and kept an eye out for our boys as they came out of the canyon. We thought maybe we had missed Dave and weren't paying hardly any attention when he suddenly appeared before us.

Lookin' fine Dave Jackson...

Mike showed up too. Running even. We were worried we would need to be scraping him off the road because he hadn't trained but he put all our worries to rest. Running like a champ! He actually stopped for a second. Amy looked him over, refilled his supplies, and off he went! See the joy on Amy's face.

That was the easy part of the race. The rest wasn't as easy for either of them but they both finished.

FINISHERS!

Here comes Dave to the finish:

Almost there:

Mike headed to the finish:

And done:

Congrats guys! It was amazing!