After nearly two straight days of rain that forced the cancellation of the full marathon at the Sedona Marathon Event, the skies and subsequent fog cleared in time for Ganado runner Alvin Begay to edge legacy runner Aaron Biah of Flagstaff by two-tenths of a second in the half-marathon Saturday, Jan. 31.

“It was a last-minute decision to do the half, because I was so unsure coming down,” said Begay, who hit the runners’ wall in the final half-mile of the course. “I turned around to see where the second-place runner was, because I was starting to cramp up a bit. I had started to loosen up around mile five.”

Jesse Martin, who ran the full marathon last year but wasn’t unhappy at the cancellation this year, took home $75 in cash for having the leading time among all local half-marathon runners.

Another legacy runner, Sherry Christoff, who has run in the Sedona Marathon Event since she was 43, ran the top half-marathon time among Sedona women.

“I’ve won something every year,” said Christoff, a 25-year runner who trained three months for the half-marathon. “I was just happy to be running the half this year. It’s a tough, wonderful course.”

For the full story, including first-place finishers in the 5K, 10K and half-marathon by age group, please see the Wednesday, Feb. 4, issue of the Sedona Red Rock News.