Top of Utah Marathon

Ryan has been training for the Top of Utah Marathon for MONTHS. To prepare, he ran about 50 miles per week, with a long run (about 20 miles) each Saturday. He worked so hard for it, and on September 19, he finally did it! He's run the same marathon before, 7 years ago. Here's how he did this time around . . .

The first 14 miles of the race are in Blacksmith Fork Canyon, so you can't see the runners. My pictures from Mile 14 didn't turn out, but when we saw Ryan at the bottom of the canyon, he had a big smile and said, "I'm feelin' good!" After 14 miles. That kid!

Running through his hometown at mile 18.

The night before the race, Ryan wanted to drive through the end of the course. That's when we noticed the signs Patti and Josh had put up for Ryan. They were all along the course.

Mile 21-22. It wasn't until here that he lost momentum. I think

that would have been me at mile .2.

Almost to mile 25. He had a big hill to climb here.

Here he is with less than a mile to go. (Notice the big smile).


Approaching the finish line. He finished in 3 hours and 3 minutes, not as

fast as he would have liked, but still AMAZING. He wanted to beat his

previous time of 2 hours 52 min. Maybe next year . . .

Half-smiling after the race. 26.22 miles in 3 hours

will do that to a person, I guess.

Ryan said that when he got close to finishing, he heard someone yell, "Running Ryan!" It was an old friend from college, who we later ran into. He told me that Ryan used to run with him and a few other guys. Ryan would say, "I like running with you guys. It's a nice cool down." I am so proud of what Ryan has accomplished as a runner. When he was 8, he got rheumatic fever, which can damage the heart. Not only did he escape that consequence, he now runs marathons! Patti, Ryan's mom, said as we were waiting along the course, "You know, he's a miracle." I know! I love you, Running Ryan!