Ha, what a treat to be back participating in the Return of the Barking Dogs.  Even with muted colors up on the mountain side from frost burn and a dry hot summer/fall - the colors were still spectacular and we felt very rewarded for our trail exertion efforts.
  Mountain Goat Running Dog winner this year was Karl Meltzer with a spectacular time of 3:36 on a tough course.  He was just flying across the trails.  Karl, once again you just leave our jaw dropping and join a very elite group - a handful of runners (5 others)  who have broken 4 hours.  Karl had a race against the wind and the wind lost.  For the women, a tie between Jill Bohney and Colleen Ford in a fine time of 5:25 was appreciated by all.  Great effort you Running Dog Greyhounds!
   This is the first year in the history of the race  when there were not one but two head butting incidents.  Fortunately, no was hurt but our runners nearly disgraced the Striders with their bravado challenges.
Gary Glenn came down the trail a few miles from the finish and had a moose drop its head after being startled and it made a brief charge at Gary.  Gary immediately dropped to all fours and was going to mount a vigorous rutting duel challenge but at the last minute ducked out on the clash.  Prince Many Dots said it was a near miss but Gary would have felt terrible butting a moose off the trail.   The second story comes from Jim McGregor who lost out to a tree on the trail.  The tree branch was minding its own business about 69 inches above the trail when 72 inch plus McGregor came barreling up the trail with head down (Jim claimed he was watching for roots).  Thud!  The tree showed him who was boss and a chagrined McGregor picked himself up and brushed the dirt off.  A rather heated discussion followed and some profanity was offered but the tree refused to back down.  Better luck next time Jim!  That tree has a bite worse than its bark.
    Isn't it odd how some runners who had a bad day at Wasatch come back to the Desolation Marathon to get that winning feeling back (you know who you are).  Well, it is tough to have a bad day at the Deso.
So many fall colors to run through, across, and along side of.  We are so lucky.  Thanks to all who made this adventure another grand success.  Have a great fall!  (This is sort of the Striders way of saying Break-a-Leg like actors do in the theater.)               Irv
ps
  It was quite by accident that I bumped (excuse the pun) into Jim at DeBoers in Bountiful where I was getting some new Montrail Vitesse trail shoes.  Jim still had a visible scab on top of his head.  We talked about how Jon Eger had come in second in his 2nd attempt after pretty much walking it the first time.
  I am still thinking about Stan and his sourdough pancakes.   Man, are they good.  I have his start, his recipe and still can't quite get them to turn out like Stan's.  It must be his charisma.
  I had some complements for Stephen and Stan for marking the trail so well.  Way to go you two!