Utah Valley Marathon 2010

Here's the story on this marathon:
Dean, Braden and I were all signed up to run Ragnar's Wasatch Back next week. It just happens to be our stake conference, and since Dean is conducting or speaking in all the sessions, he decided he better give up his spot on the team. So that he would stop pouting, and give him something to look forward to, he decided to run the Utah Valley Marathon. He wanted to shave 11 minutes off his time from the Ogden Marathon from 4 weeks ago. This race started at 5:30 am, which meant catching the buses up to the start line between 3:30 and 4:30 am. (Real sorry I missed out on that...NOT!)
He rode down to Provo with our neighbor Tyler, and hours later, Tyler's wife Michelle and I drove down to cheer our guys on at the finish line.

Michelle, Kurt, and G as we waited for the marathoners to finish.


Then came the call, Dean was hurt and wanted me to come pick him up. He was about at mile 20, and his knee was giving him trouble. At this point he knew he wasn't going to make his goal, and it wasn't worth doing more damage to his knee. Of course, I had to wait till I took pictures of Tyler and Greg (Greg is another friend of ours) before I could go get Dean.

Here comes Tyler and Greg. They both finished in time to quailfy for Boston!

Michelle and boys cheering on Tyler and Greg

By the time I was able to get to Dean, he had walked a little bit, and decided he would finish the race, so he waved me off.

Here comes Dean!
It had been raining during the early miles of the race, and the wet shoes and socks caused a blister (or seven) on Dean's foot. All he can figure is that by trying not to put pressure on the blisters, it caused him to run differently and that must have been what caused the knee pain.

I know at this point he is hurting pretty bad, but he's still got his smile!

Here Dean is approaching the finish line of his 4th marathon!
He was really excited about his first 21 miles, and got through the last 5.2 miles with a smile, that's quite the accomplishment!

Caitlyn's good friend Erica also ran this race, and quailfied for Boston with 16 minutes to spare! Great job Erica!

Look who we found! Betsy Hoenes ran the half marathon, and Bart, her husband ran the full marathon. Congrats to Bart and Betsy, you guys are awesome.

Great job Deaner!