Marc Deluca and Ron Horton got PERSONAL VALET service from long time Penguin Lar' from Greer.
He met us (at 0630) at the I-85 interchange, led us to the Furman Campus (site of the race),
and walked us through Packet Pickup and getting the perfect parking space for the start/finish.

A special thanks to Larry for coming out so early when he wasn't even running the race.

It was a brisk 32 degrees at the start on the beautiful Furman Campus
Ron is still wearing his 545th MP hat in honor of those serving in Iraq (see the end of this report for details)

Marc pushed out to an 8:34 first mile (nobody knows why) but the pace soon slowed as
we turned on Altamont Road and gained about 1000' over the next 2.5 miles

We go up pretty quickly - at mile 3 the sign on the left reads:
" I will lift up my eyes unto the hills from when cometh my strength" (Psalms 121:1)

We push on and crest the mountain - the words on the pavement read "You Made It"
We appreciated the cheers of the volunteers at the top!
On the right is the view of downtown Greenville from the antenna farm on the summit

Now we test the quads and head down. MPM quickly changes from around 11:15 to 9:00 or less...
On the right you can see the Blue Ridge in the distance. What a gorgeous day the Lord provided for us!

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