The marathon course started along a rolling, yet overall down hill dirt mountain road that continued for about 9.5 miles. It then followed along a main highway, with a very short segment passing along a single path paved trail aside the lower Mesa Falls. We went back to the highway where we came upon the half marathon start area. I scanned the crowd of half marathoners, and located Melissa. I found it only appropriate to momentarily throw on the brakes and gave her a hug and quick peck.
I didn't keep track of my mile splits, as I managed to join in with a group from the start that seemed on que for my pace. It was a lot of fun running with 3-5 other runners that I'd just met and to carry on great conversations for a bulk of the race. I believe we hit the half in around 1:34. I became a solitary runner around mile 22 as our paces were no longer meshing due to a 3 mile of uphill from 17-20. After the uphill, the course meandered through the countryside of fields and quaint neighborhoods, and then joined the main street of Ashton. We proceeded for several blocks through the middle of town and made a final turn to the finish line alongside a town park.
After the finish, I back tracked the course a 1/4 mile to the cabin Melissa and I stayed in, to pack all our stuff. I then drove the car to the finish area, and once again back tracked the course, but this time about 3 miles from the finish until I found Melissa pounding away at the pavement. I figured that she would need some good morale support in her final miles of her inagural challenge. I really enjoyed seeing her through and am proud of her. She had a rough race, as she took a fall around mile 2 when she tripped on a rock and scraped up her lower right leg and left knee. Her diligence kept her from a DNF even with her unsightly gashes.
I would highly recommend running one of these events and may come back again sometime in the future. The organization was first class, the scenery is quite enjoyable, and it has a wonderful small town and not over-hyped feel.
| 