Spontaneous Huff to Bluff Marathon

Last year Tige ran the Huff to Bluff marathon, which goes from Blanding to Bluff.  It's one of his home town races.  But it was scheduled for just 2 weeks after the St. George Ironman, so he didn't plan on running it this year because he knew he wouldn't be recovered from the Ironman.

Well, Thurday night, 2 days before the race, Cathy & Ben Ford are here playing cards.  They and John & Krystal Beckstrand are going over to run it.  They want Tige to come.  He says "no way."  They beg.  "It'll be fun!  Bring Julie.  Brittney will babysit your kids.  A little couples roadtrip.  Come on!"  Tige says "if you can talk the race director in letting me run it for free, I'll do it."

Friday morning, the day before the race, Tige's gets a text that says, "you're in.  lace em up!"  What?  We go back and forth trying to decide if he should do it.  Can you imagine being in good enough shape to be able to run a marathon with just a day's notice?  I can't.  Anyway, we end up leaving out kids with a babysitter and driving over to Monticello Friday evening.  with our 4 friends.  We take our mini-van, because our Honda Odyssey ROCKS!   We get there are 8 p.m., get up early, and head to the race.  All 5 of them ran and then we hopped in the car and came straight home.  I don't recommend sitting in the car for 6 hours after running a marathon.  All 5 of them were VERY sore the next day.  We played Wizard and Pinochle in the car and watched movies and had so much fun.   Took a long time to get there and back though, because they were all "hydrating" and had to stop for 3 potty breaks each direction.  They are worse than my kids! :)

I have to say, it was one of my most fun races to watch because it was an open road, and I just drove back and forth along the course to see my 5 runners, and give them Powergels, GUs, coke, new shoes, or anything else they needed.  And I held up my most funny Ironman signs.

My 5 runners:  Ben & Cathy Ford, Krystal & John Beckstrand, and Tige

Tige & the girls handing me their warmup clothes

 Kirk ran the last 9 miles with Tige to help pace him.  This is the difference in how you feel when you run 26.2 miles verses 9 miles!

Coming in to the finish line

Tige finished in 4:16, which is 2 minutes faster than the same course last year.  He tells me that once he gets under 4 hours he's done.  St. George Marathon 2012 this October I'm going to hold him to it!

Enjoying some treats after the race before we head home.