20 Kilometers

Place	Name	Finish Time	Average per mile
1	John Bartley	1:54:10	9:08
2	Dale Heisler	1:55:55	9:16
3	Olaf Questereit	2:13:31	10:41
4	Shauna Heisler	2:25:01	11:36
5	Tony DeArcos	2:28:55	11:55
6	Irv Nielsen	2:42:10	12:58

                                                        12 Kilometers

7	Julie Sorenson	1:13:21	9:47
8	Tom McFarland	1:19:40	10:37

                                                          8 Kilometers 

9

Adam McFarland

52:40

10:27

 
   A terrific day for a last chance autumn fell run befell the Wasatch Alpine Striders.  No fees, no ribbons, no drawings for prizes, no T-shirts, no frills attached,  were the rules needed for the day. Believe me, Striders ruled the trails this day.  The trail run began on a warm and cloudy morning with damp trails, a couple of puddles to dance around, and remnants of leaves on some of the trails.  I got out on the first loop shortly before 7:30 am and put up some yellow ribbons to mark the two loops and the connector trail. The regular run starts at 8 am.
   It took me a little over a half hour to negotiate the 4 kilometer loop (2.5miles).  On my way back finishing this 4 K, I met Ruth Zollinger who had in tow her husband Dave and also her sister and sister's girlfriend.  The four of them were going to climb Mt. Van Cott.  What can you do with "peak baggers"?  I mean really, they are just impossible. Tut, tut.
   At 8:04 am, the 9 participants gathered on lower dirt road just above the parking lot south of the Huntsman Cancer Institute.  The trails used are all on the north side of the Red Butte Canyon road and are the driest because they face the south.  Many of the trails are old deer trails I have connected.  Earlier this year a work crew expanded the eastern most parts of the look making these trails much wider.
   The group was kind enough to run with me north until it inclined east up to the Bonneville Shoreline Trail and cut sharply back southward.  After that, John Barley stretched out his dancing legs and pranced along the trails in the lead never giving anyone else much of a chance although Dale Heisler gave it a pretty good shot after taking a routine stroll around the first loop in 28:10.  This was 5 seconds faster than I had been able to do when I was fresh the week before, so I had to slow down but Dale was just getting warmed up and blasted the following loop in the days fastest loop time of 20:47 in contrast to the slowest of 36 minutes pathetically done by yours truly. Shauna took the womens division despite getting lost on the last loop (all part of the Heisler tradition).  Julie Sorenson and Tom McFarland ruled the 12 K division and Adam McFarland called it a day at 8 K feeling happy just to be here.  Adam was the Blessing Way champ in 1999.  It is nice to see some of the crew back.  Last year I moved it to Dimple Dell while they were messing around with the trails.  I like this new course and will hope it is permanent.  The connecting trail between two loops allows you to see your friends all day even though you can't go at their pace.  It was a lot of fun and time just flew by.
   About 9:30 am a storm front finally arrived.  We had gotten a little light hail up to this time.  Then began a slow drizzle of water that finally strengthened until the last lap for everyone and we were running in a few ditches full of water and puddles filled all away across the trails.  Since we slowly got wet, we didn't mind much and we were staying pretty warm doing our running.
It was a grand old time enjoyed by all.  Considering the big storm that dumped a foot of snow on the foothills by the next day after our adventure, I would say it turned out to be perfect.
   Below I have charted out most of the loop times for comparison.  My last parting thought is for all of you to have a great holiday season.  This was a sad, emotional year for many of us with the World Trade destruction and so many lives lost.  May you be able to appreciate what blessings still remain.  Live is good when I have such great running friends.  I missed many of you at this run.  On my 4th loop around, it started feeling easier.  My bruised and battered knees from a biking accident a week ago made it more painful than usual.  The scabs still haven't healed.  John Bartley impressed me with his consistent fast loops and I impressed him with my scabs.  (Hey, you can't let these little victories go by without mentioning them!)  Well, somewhere in that last part of the course when I really started enjoying myself and felt like my old self again, my thoughts turned to all of you who might read this story.  I wish you great happiness in your lives and good trails to run on.  Much love.