"Yea, I will ascend the mountain and receive its glad tidings.  I
 shall hope to be given strength to move my sorry butt up Clayton
 Peak.  Deliver me for I dread being laughed at by the Gorilla and
caught in my sorrowful weeping and whimpering." ....... from
"Dustgatherer", a story of survival in the heat of 2002

    This could have been the theme of this years run.  It was 107 degrees in
Salt Lake City in 2002 and 105 degrees in 2003.  Is that cooler? Can you
actually feel the difference?  Anyway, it was very hot.  Believe me, Gorilla Irv
would not be laughing at anyone because he personally drug his sorry butt up
Clayton Peak the day before.** While several locals were out in Colorado running
the Hardrock 100, the Brighton Marathon went on as usual and had 42 Saturday
participants.  14 opted for shorter distances and routes on the way to the Mill D
trail head.  Shane Martin would have finished 2nd in the regular marathon but
becomes his own Magnificent Man in His Dancing Shoes star of the Renegade
25 miler.  Shane can blame it on me for changing the course at the last minute.
The forest service decided to take out the half mile streamside trail going up to
Lake Mary and I wasn't sure if the new trail would be completely open and okay
to run.  It would have been but playing it safe, I opted to have the runners go straight
up west to the Twin Lakes dam and then begin the Brighton loop around back to the
Twin Lakes dam and then back to the Brighton parking lot.  After bonus mile'ing directly
over Clayton Peak instead of catching the lift road down,  Shane got to the Lake Mary
trail, his dancing feet headed for home and not to Twin Lakes thereby cutting off some
mileage.  Adding comfort to this minor mistep, Cynthia Daniels and Jodi Martin danced
down the same route and share their well earned 2nd place tie.
   Ken Jensen therefore gets the acclaimed Brighton Marathon virtual trophy for 2003.
Eve Davies claimed the same for the women. Hot on Eve's heels was Mandy Hosford
finishing just a few seconds later for the closest womens race ever.   To see the virtual
trophy, log on to your favorite sports event and in your imagination replace yourself
with whoever is actually winning a trophy.  Come on.  It'll be fun.  Try it.
   A great big thank you to Claude Grant and John Grobben who manned the Guardsman
Pass aid station.  There would be no way to go that far without their crucial help.  Thanks
also to Nick Bassett for helping me at Mill D and then going to Guardsman Pass, too.
Kudos to the Geo-Cache-Catcher & Cairn creator himself: Destructo Man, Stan Crane,
for double checking the course and building cairns along the way, cutting out logs and
chipping footholds in the ones too big to move.  Stan scored a half dozen geo-caches while
helping us with the course.  John Moellmer, after running in with Reyn Gallagher, helped
the Guardsmen: (Grobben & Grant) locate our last runners and make sure they were taken
care of.  Thanks Prince Many Dots!  Thanks to Phil Lowry for GPS'ing the course and finding
that it was a mile shorter than claimed. Send me your results if you get a chance.  I will show
you how to creatively round up the mileages so that by the time you get to Brighton, the
rounded up mileages make it out to be 28 miles, not 25.  Most runners prefer the longer
version anyway.
   Was there anything to complain about?  Well, besides the heat?  How about deer flies?
Boy, they were sure ravenous.  I guess my biggest complaint is that runners do not fulfill
their obligation to bring something for other runners to eat at the post-race finish line feast.
How hard can this be? Well, I am guilty of this, too, so I shouldn't really be miffed.  Serves
me right?   Kudos to you who did bring additions.  It was great.  I have to say, Charlie
Vincent's bean dip was a rousing success.  You don't need to bring a lot if everyone brings
a little.  A few cans or 2 liter bottle of your favorite soda, a small batch of homemade cookies,
a cantelope (someone shared a whole watermellon with us this year, above and beyond the
call of duty), a chest of ice to use for drinks, a few plastic cups, a few folding chairs or a shade
awning to sit under, a box of your favorite chips, a bag of your favorie chips, and even if you
are on a protein diet you could bring a can of sardines to share (I would have eaten them) and/or
beef jerky.  It is true that Stephen Utley wasn't there this year to "fund" my aid station but
the Grant and Grobben duo at Guardsman picked up the tab there and made my job easy.
I have decided to donate the money you shoved in my pockets to the Huntsman Cancer
Institute in memory of Stephen B. Utley.  Some of it will end up at future local run events, too.
  I know many of you new Brighton Marathon  runners got in lots of lots of bonus miles.  Of
particular interest:Chad Ambrose and Rich McDonald who missed the Twin Lakes trail on the
way to the finish and took a high cross-country route at the base of Mount Tuscalosa and then
went down the SolbrightTrail to Silver Lake and south uphill  to the finish.  Sounds like an extra
mile there.  Those guys really rock! (pun intended).  Pat McMurtry spent lots of bonus time out
west of Snake Creek Pass searching for the route to Dog Lake.  Jeff Lamora, a past winner was
nosed out by Dave Hunt. (If Dave is dogging your footsteps, would you call it  dogging or hunting?)
Ron Christiansen power walked the whole course.   Jim McGregor did the run on the tail end of a
long training week not realizing he would be doing this today coming in with Barb Elias and Lee Moss.
Bob Henderson was our coveted "Dead Freakin' Last" finisher for the marathon.
       Many of you enjoyed the flowers and scenery and thank you for complaining about the climb to
Clayton Peak Ridge.  Until I hear the groans and moans about Clayton, I don't think I  have done
my job!  The climb up Clayton is a real character builder....... uggghhhhhhh!
  To end this story, let me say how much I appreciate Kathie Utley for coming to do the Honeycomb
Scramble. A very brave thing considering how fresh the sorrow is.  It was great to see Lise, Hooper
and Kathie finishing together.  Boy, no words can say how much I miss Stephen.  I had to force myself
up to Brighton friday to do my run and force myself back up on Saturday.  Stephen loved this run and it
was fitting that we be there and honor his memory.  Mike Shaffer left us in 2002 and we remembered
his spirit dancing on the Honeycomb traverse.  Stephen leaves his running friends 2003 with vivid memories.
I remember him trail dancing across Reynolds flats for the Cardiff Fork road.  I remember him running up the road when we used to come from Solitude.  I remember him walking in tied with Adam McFarland.
We loved him and I am proud I didn't bail out of helping deliver a memorable event just because the pain
of not having him around anymore hurt so much.  Thanks to all who came and allowed the mountains to
give them their glad tidings and kept the spirit of trail dancing alive.