This is one of my favorite courses to run. It goes though my
hometown, the town where I went to high school and ends in the town where I
first went to college. The marathon also has relay teams which consists of six
people who run 4 to 5 miles each. My Mom was on one of these relay teams. I
caught a ride with her relay team to the start. My cousins and some of their friends were also on a relay team. The race started at the historic sight of
the Teton Dam. The Dam broke back in 1976 and flooded the nearby towns. It has
never been rebuilt. It was cold this morning and there was a strong wind
blowing south. The race got underway right at 6:30 a.m. For the first mile and
a half the wind was at our backs. Then the course turned right and we had a
crosswind for a half mile. It turned right again and we were now going directly
into the wind. It was a strong wind that made it difficult to keep on pace. I
was trying to run 7 minute miles, but slowed to 7:30. This section of the
course was the only stretch that was on gravel roads. The rest was on paved
roads. We only ran into the wind for 1 mile, and then turned left so that we
had a crosswind again. At mile four was the first transition point for relay
teams. My mom was waiting there for her team. I knew that I would be faster
than her team, because it is a group of older ladies. My cousin’s team was also
waiting there. I was just ahead of them. My cousin, Wes, who just started with
fresh legs, caught up with me and ran with me for his entire leg. I told him
thanks for pacing me, but he said that I was pacing him. He told me that there
was only one relay team in front of us and the rest were marathoners. It looked
like I was in the top ten. At an intersection near mile six my wife was waiting
there to cheer me on. I had put a few points in her GPS of where she could go
to see me during the race. She would just select it in the GPS and it would
tell her how to get there. That worked out great. At mile ten, we came into
Teton. This was the first town that was hit with the wall of water from the dam
breaking. My wife was there in Teton to support me. I was doing well at this
point and averaging 7:15 pace. Leaving Teton we were heading south again and
the wind was at our backs. Unfortunately that was only for a mile and we turned
right having a crosswind again. At mile 14 we came into Sugar City.
The course went right in front of my high school, and then headed down Main Street. The
section through Sugar
City was lined with
hundreds of American flags. My wife was waiting there at a park. It was great
to have her support throughout the race. Coming out of Sugar City
my paced slowed a bit. I still felt good but couldn’t hold as strong of a pace.
About mile 16 I started passing the tail end of the half marathoners. It was
nice to be running near other people again and also fun to pass them. Even if
they weren’t in the race I was in. At mile 18 we hit the race’s signature
climb, three miles uphill. This wasn’t a big issue for me, because I have
been training on a lot of hills. I just went into a lower gear and headed up.
Part way up I got passed by a marathoner. He was looking strong and I couldn’t
match his pace. I guess I still need more hill training. At the top of that
hill the course had a short down and a short uphill, and then it is flat for a mile. The
final three miles of the race were mostly down hill into the wind. The wind was
blowing strong. I knew I was on pace for a good finish time, but couldn’t go
faster than an 8:30 mile in the wind. It was a battle to stay strong at this
point. Coming to the bottom of the hill I looked at my watch and saw that I was
very close to my PR time. I poured in on through the final stretch and got some
great cheers from the crowd. I finished in 3:23:44. Only four seconds behind my
PR. I am still very happy with that. It’s a great time for this course especially
with all the wind. I finished 7th overall and 1st in my
age group. My cousin’s relay team came in about one minute behind me. There was
only one of the relay teams that beat me. It was a team of members of the
National Guard. Here are some photos from the race:  Me with my age group award.
 My cousin's relay team
 Me and my Mom with our new shirts and finisher's medals.
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