Valley of Fire

Today after having scripture study with the kids, I got in the car and headed down to Valley of Fire State Park. This is the sight of my race. In case you didn't know, I am now the proud owner of a marathon/half marathon and 10k Race. My friend who used to be the owner/manager moved to Iowa and gave it to me. Today I had to go meet with the rangers to pick out a new course. Our old course had us starting Lake Mead and having to use their boat docking area as a parking lot and then shuttling our runners over to the start and back again after the race. The new course we have put together takes Lake Mead totall out of the race and puts it solely in Valley of Fire which seems appropriate since that is where it derives its name. We have the full marathoners, halfs and 10k all starting at the same place and the halfs and 10ks run only on that road and finish without running on the main road. The full marathoners will have to run another 13 miles on the main road but they are NOT the majority of our runners. I had never seen this portion of the park before today. As many times as I have been there I have NEVER gone off the main road. Well I missed the best part. Now our runners will run through the best part. Without sounding prejudicial, I think it not only rivals Snow Canyon but surpasses it. That says alot. Anyway, we have postponed it for this year and our first running will be the Saturday before Thanksgiving in 2008. I have my work cut out for me.