RED ROCK RELAY 2009

A shot of my running downhill on leg 11 in the torrential rain Friday September 4th ,3:30 pm East of Cedar City. I Started at 9200 feet on a dry trail and ended up soaked to the bone running through rain, torrential rain and hail, all for the greater good of the team. Our team van is just to my right.

RED ROCK RELAY 2009

I had been asked my my good friend Larry Marshall a few weeks ago to join his team on the inaugural Red Rock Relay, starting at Zion's National Park and ending in Santa Clara just outside of St. George, Utah , home of the famous October St. George marathon which I run every year.

Van 1 consisted of Larry, his son Jeremy, and four very fast 20 something girls. This was the Sun van.
Van 2 consisted of 6 older guys ( Kevin through two 53 year olds of varying abilities.) This was the Snow van.

Van 1 started the race for us at 9:20 am at Zion's National Park. Van two left Utah county at 8:30 am and met up with van one at the first major exchange.
I was runner #11 and was thus in van 2.

Grant took off first for our van while van 1 "leapfrogged" to the next major exchange. We each ran 12-19 miles total spread out over three legs.

We finished late Saturday morning having had little to no sleep during the Friday night.

End of leg 11 in the torrential rain.

Three members of team 148 that finished just ahead of us in the race. Stacey is on the left and Rex ? in the middle. The third guy was their leg 11 runner but I didn't get his name.

Deeks and Stacey who overtook him on their third leg coming in to Veyo.

Team 148 handing off to Rex who would extend his lead over our runner Kevin on the way to the next exchange at Snow Canyon

Me at the start of Snow Canyon. the main road from Veyo is closed for the full marathon in early October. This is the point where I turn off the main road after Kevin tags me, and run downhill through Snow Canyon.

Start of my final leg. the girl that passed Kevin towards the end of his leg handed off to the next runner 20 seconds before this shot was taken. I passed him 1 minute later during a 5:39 first mile down Snow canyon and a 6:06 second mile, all part of a 4.6 mile searing descent to tag Paul at the next exchange. I finally had a run with no rain or hail.

First shot of me coming down Snow Canyon on Saturday morning. 5th September 2009 during the Red Rock relay.

One hundred yards from the next exchange,

Just about to tag Paul, our anchor runner.

Handing off to Paul who would finish the race for us. Just look at that red dirt . That's why it is the Red Rock relay.

Deeks near the finish line with the Red Rock formations in the background.

Out team at the finish line : 25 hours 16 minutes and 20 seconds for 185 miles. Easily visible in my trademark lime green shorts.

Group photo with team 148 who we came to know and battle against every step of the way.

Out team at the finish: Jeremy, Kari, Lyle, Liesel, Deeks, Jessie, Larry, Jonathan, Grant, Kevin, Paul ( Abby is with her children during this photo)

The full team at the finish : Jeremy, Kari, Lyle, Liesel, Deeks, Jessie, Larry, Jonathan, Grant, Kevin, Abby, Paul

Another team photo...

Red Rock Relay buggy..

Red Rock Relay official Ford van.

Deeks on his way to helping the team to a 25 hour finish...

Deeks with Cedar City behind him in the valley

Looking down a hilly climb that we had just gone up..

9200 feet up and this is the view.

Normally we refer to "roadkill" as any other team you pass on the way. Bu this was the real stuff, a recently deceased squirrel. We had brought plenty of food so decided to leave it there.

Looking downhill on Grant's first leg of the race early afternoon on Saturday.

Jessie ( leg 6) handing off to Grant (leg 7) at the first major exchange.

This was one of Steve Prefontaine's famous quotes... enough said. His other famous one is, " To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift"

Redrock Heads team: Liesel, Abby, Kari, Grant, Jonathan, Larry, Paul, Lynn, Deeks, Kevin . Team van one is on the left and Team Van 2 is on the right as you look at the photo.

Window decoration on the van of the Diablo Divas team.


As I write this on Sunday afternoon, I am looking forward to attempting to qualify for the Boston Marathon with a sub 3:30 finish at the Top of Utah marathon, my 69th lifetime marathon, in Logan Utah, on September 19th 2009.

Next week I have decided to run a local 5k with Bethany , my 7 year old who is an aspiring runner !