St. George Backside Less Than Devine Marathon

The idea was Debbie’s. Of course, Debbie has run about 180 marathons so running another one is no big deal. In fact a few years ago she was diagnosed with breast cancer and she decided that, if she survived, she was going to run 50 miles on her 50th birthday. She did survive, and she did run 50 miles, from the entrance to Zion National Park back to her home in St. George. Brenda ran the whole way with her and various others came in and out along the route. I ran the last 18 miles.

We decided to meet at the True Church (1285 North Bluff Street, Saint George, UT 84770) at 5 am. We named it the True Church to distinguish it from the dozens of other LDS churches in town because it’s a good place to start several good runs. I set my alarm for 4:30 and Bruce picked me up at 4:45. At 5:00 we met Debbie, Kelli, Sherri and Jana at the True Church and drove north on Highway 18 to Veyo. Brenda was late, not unusual, so she followed a few minutes later.

Bruce went out last week on his Harley to scope out the route so we turned West in Veyo at the Veyo Mercantile to drive the .8 miles down toward Gunlock to the “starting line”. There was no moon but the stars were brilliant, giving enough light to see dark spots in the road that might spell trouble. I haven’t seen the Milky Way that clearly for a long time. Off to the south one of the several cinder cone volcanoes in the area was silhouetted against the night sky.

As we wound our way down the twisting, switch-backed road toward Gunlock it was dark and chilly, about 27 degrees when we started. But with the star light we could see the shadows of the trees along the Santa Clara Creek and the exertion soon warmed us. It’s hard to believe that this small creek, that you can step over in many places, is the same one that washed out 30 homes a few years ago.

As we approached the town (about 10 miles) it was beginning to get light but we wouldn’t see the sun for another hour or so because of the mountains. The pasture to the left held a piebald mare and her foal, still wobbly on it’s legs. How old could it be? A day? Two days? As we ran through town and past the Gunlock Reservior, the black volcanic rock cliffs east of the road, with large angular black boulders strewn amid the remains of an ancient lava flow made a sharp contrast with the red, slick-rock sandstone to the west of the road. Just past Gunlock Becky and Sue caught up with us (Sue’s husband Denny was driving them). They joined us there and Denny went ahead and planted water at three strategic locations along the rest of the route. We finally reached Old Highway 91, the old road to Las Vegas, at about mile 16, and turned east, back toward St. George. As we made the turn to the east we finally left the shadows of the black rock cliffs and had the sun full in our faces. With the combination of sun and the sweat running in my eyes I spent the next three or four miles running with one eye closed and the other squinting.

About two miles further on Highway 91 we passed what looked like a grave right off the side of the road. I don’t suppose it really was but it was laid out like one. There was a wooden cross instead of a headstone with the dates 1986 – 2006. Down near the ground was the name “Scooter”. It was decorated with plastic flowers, several bottles of Coors Light, unopened, and a coffee mug half filled with coins. Debbie said it was Scooter Snow, a Shivwits Paiute who drove off the road at that spot last year. The Shivwits Paiute reservation stretches from just past Gunlock to a couple of miles past the “grave”. Another couple of miles, on the right, up on the ridge, maybe a half mile away, are the petroglyphs. Hundreds of them are chipped into rock faces overlooking the Santa Clara creek.

Running south east on Highway 91, past Ivins, we turn east on Pioneer Parkway, to run through Santa Clara with about 7 miles left to go. I had been fighting a cold for several days and it was beginning to tell on me. As we turned down Pioneer Parkway I began to lag behind. The further we went the further behind I got. Brenda decided to hang back to keep me company. She said she was tired but I’m sure she could have kept up with the group. We were running on the trail that parallels the parkway. What we didn’t realize is that, just before Lava Cove Drive we should have left the trail and ran on Pioneer Parkway over to Snow Canyon Parkway, to Bluff Street (Highway 18) and down to the True Chruch. We stayed on the trail which crossed under the road and off in the wrong direction. By the time we figured out our mistake and wound our way back to the True Church we added at least another mile to the run. Now, a mile is no big deal, unless it comes at the end of 26.2. We finally met up with our friends, who were out looking for us. They had already been to Great Harvest Bread for a slice of warm bread and a coke so we drove back up to Veyo to pick up the cars. We had a Coke and bagel at the Veyo Mercantile and that was the end of the first and probably only St. George, Backside Less than Devine Marathon.

Frequently, at the end of a long run I ask myself: Why do I do this? Some possible answers:

• I want to maintain a certain level of fitness
• I’m crazy
• Alzheimers is setting in so I can’t remember from one long run to the next how hard it was
• OCD
  The only other one I can think of is that I actually enjoy it but that may be hard for anyone else to believe, except maybe another runner. But then, how much stock can you put in the opinion of a runner?

Here’s a rough map of the course. We met at the “True Church”, (A) drove up Highway 18 to Veyo, (B) ran down through Gunlock, © then back on Old Highway 91, past Ivins, (D) through Santa Clara and back to the True Church on Highway 18/Bluff Street (A).