Participants: Carl Brailsford, John & Joan Moellmer, Don Petitt, Irv Nielsen.

    The ominous weather forecast probably kept several runners away from this years running of the Jordan River Parkway.  Actually, the weather was much better than you would have thought.  We even had a few splashes of blue sky in the early afternoon as we were stopped at our third aid station.   True, the wind from the south was quite brisk at times but tolerable.  Having it at our backs while running north was fun.  We pretty much had the trail to ourselves this day.  Only met a couple of bird watchers the whole day.  Neat.  I set off early in the morning and dropped off some aid station water and food.  The turn around in the Narrowes was difficult because of some contruction to medigate the damage from mud slides.  This forced me to walk out a 1/4 of a mile and drop off supplies.  The snow was deep and had pockets of slush.  I fortunately thought ahead and wore a back-up pair of shoes to deliver the goods.   Then I drove to the half way point and dropped off the other bag (this was aid station number 1 and number 3. 
    On the way out to Lehi, Joan Moellmer decided on a new plan for her adventure and had John drop her off on the north end of our journey (the turn around) and walked from the Narrows to Utah Lake.  Later in the day after the Fellowship of the Run trio (John, Carl, and Irv) had started, Don Pettit parked at Willow Park and went north 3 miles or so and then back.  Don lives in California now so this was a truly spontaneous moment to meet him out there.  Truly, there  is something for everyone on this out and back course.  
    After Carl Brailsford, John Moellmer and I started at the Jordan River R/C Model Airplane entrance, we ran in 2 to 4 inches of snow, a little bumpy for 3 miles and then broke out onto plowed trails by the time we hit Willow Park.  This was a lot easier effort until we got to the bridge a mile away from the turn around and started going uphil and running through even deeper snow just before our first aid station.  After leaving Willow Park, we ran to the first aid station just past the road crossing (1500 North if you come out of Lehi and head west on this road).We met Joan here and then kept heading north.  We hit the turn around in just under 2 hours.  The way back was a little envigorating when we hit some frightful gusts of wind that swept us off our feet.  Just before the 1500 North Lehi road crossing, we met up with Don and took a mile break walking and talking for awhile. We started off again and ran until we got to the end shedding our ear bands and gloves as we got closer to the finish.  It  took us about 4 hours and 20 minutes overall.  Everything was low key and a delightful run once again. We saw many skunk tracks, some racoon tracks, and fox tracks.  Nifty.  We saw more birds than I would have thought on a pre - storm front day.  We saw several Peregrine Falcons, a Kestrel hawk complete with dead mouse, another large hawk (Red Tail?), flocks of Starlings and Ring-Billed Gulls, a few Oregon Juncos, Chipping Sparrows, Black Capped Sparrows, and Magpies.  A few ducks were around, too.  We saw a whole flock of Canadian Geese settle onto a pond in seeming slow motion as they cruised down into the wind.  As I mentioned before, the first 3 miles was in rough snow up to 4 inches.  Uneven.  The next 5 1/2 miles were plowed, a bonus.  Excellent running on a skiff of snow 1/2 inch deep.  Ice was a problem in a few places but not as bad as last year.  The toughest stretch was just before mile 9 and after up at the narrows.  5 to 6 inches deep at times and tough footing.  There was a big construction hole dug in the middle of the trail so we stopped a quarter of a mile away from our usual turn around spot. 
    Meeting up with Joan and Don and the start/finish,  we drove to the One Man Band Restuarant in Lehi, had pancakes and we even remembered to bring real syrup this time.  Hooray!  It was a joy to get together and laugh at all the adventures we had that day.  Thanks to all the participants and we wished more of you felt up to the task of dealing with a few light snow flurries and a little wind.  Tut, tut.  You really missed out.  See you all next year. 
Irv