**Penny's 2 Cents**: DOGTOWN!!! 1/2 - 9K - 5K

It's that time of year again! Time for the Dogtown Half Marathon, 9K, 5K, Fun Run and new this year the Double Dog Dare. This year they changed the route to end at the Staheli Farm instead of Treasure Valley Park. I liked it a lot better because you weren't running through peoples neighborhoods. It was a lot safer. The Half Marathon started up at the Harley Davidson Shop in Coral Canyon and came down to the farm. The rest started at the farm. The Double Dog Dare was a whole marathon. They started at the farm and ran UP to the Harley shop and then waited for the 1/2 to start and ran back down. 26.2 miles. It was crazy. They had 24 people actually do it and the very first lady to cross the finish line was one of those. She beat all of the female half marathoners! Joel, Kyle, Laynee, John and Kristal, Emma, Holly and Brian, Eric and Grandpa Beckstrand all ran the half. George, Josh and Ben ran the 9K and JoEllen, Emily, Evan and I ran the 5K. They also had a Grandpa Staheli Fun Run that was about a half a mile long. They just ran around the cattle corrals it was cute. I wish I would have done that one instead. They started the races all at different times so we'd all end together. My biggest fear was that Joel would beat me to the finish line. Joel started at 8am. Josh, George and Ben left at 9:00 and we started at 9:30. At one point in the race George, Josh and Ben all past by us going the other direction. JoEllen was pushing Matty in the jogging stroller with Evan and Sophie and they took off in front of me and Emily. I am so grateful for Emily. She pretended to be winded a lot so she could stay back with me. I think her mom paid her. But that's OK with me! I was glad to have someone with me. As we were on our last half mile we could see Josh trying to catch up to JoEllen and Sophie. He was sprinting for all he was worth from about 200 yards out. He beat them by about 3 seconds. It was awesome!. George had already finished 5 minutes earlier and there was no sign of Ben. Emily and I sped up in hopes that we wouldn't get passed by Ben. We finished at 41 minutes. We felt pretty good about it. Ben came in at 59 minutes! Under an hour! That's great for his first time ever running 5 miles. John came in around 1:24, Brian 1:29 and Laynee 1:30, Joel 1:49, Holly 1:50, Kyle 1:58, Emma under 2 hours and everyone else came in close to that. Grandpa finished it at 2:49.

Start of the 9K

The rest of us waiting our turn with Grandma who brought her knitting and is patient enough to wait for everyone to come back to her.

And we're off. Sophie pushing Matty and Evan and JoEllen running behind her.

The first person to pass us was David. Then George ran by so fast that I only got the back of him and then didn't see him until the finish. Then Josh came by.

Then we saw Kalo and Lina. Poor Lina was trying hard to keep up.

Then Ben passed us and then David (again) and Daniel and Taiven. Those two ran the 5K and Katie and the other boys did the Fun Run.

Then I finally saw Amy. Her daughter Emma was running the Half Marathon and she ran the 5K like me, except she took 3rd in our age group. I took 8th.

Then we saw these 3 again. We weren't really that far behind them but there was a turn around with a half mile to go and that was this spot. Since they were done before me, I did they didn't get a picture of them finishing. That's the price you pay when the photographer is the slowest one. See, another reason for me not to run. No one to take pictures.

I got this picture of Ben crossing UNDER 1 hour...barely. Great job!

Here we are, all done, waiting for everyone else. I had done it! I beat Joel! Big sigh of relief.

John was the first of our Half marathoners to cross the finish line. He took 2nd in his age group and Brian took 6th. They now are in the same age group since Brian turned 35, unfortunately for Brian.

Here is Laynee Jane and she ROCKS! She is Desert Hills new Super Star. She's only a Freshman and can run faster than most of the guys I know. She of course took 1st place in her age group (19 and under. She's only 14!) and 8th overall for the female division. She's amazing!

Then James came across and he used Daniels number because Joel left James' at our house.

Here are picture of friends who ran: Tayson Turek and the Cluff's.

Kalo, Lina and Amy and Emma.

Here are Joel, Emma, Kyle and Alex and Kristal

The Beckstrand Clan minus Grandpa who hadn't come yet.

JoEllen doing her happy dance that we are all done.

The times were only posted on a computer so these are the ones I got a picture of. I couldn't remember anyone's numbers and Brian was standing next to me telling me all the ones he knew. So sorry if yours didn't make it on here.