For some of the men currently serving time in the Utah State Correctional Facility, running is a special privilege.

Running a marathon is an even greater opportunity.

In a fenced-in field with a paved circle, a few dozen men ran 26.2 miles Friday in the prison’s first-ever Fit From Within marathon — some jogged, others walked and even a few did the race in a wheelchair.

The men who participated had been training for months, having raced in a half-marathon last July , when former inmate Casey Vanderhoef won it in about 99 minutes. On Friday, he cheered on his friends from the sidelines.

Vanderhoef was paroled on July 22, which happened to be his 22nd wedding anniversary and just days after the half-marathon. He’s now working in the cooks program at the Northern Utah Community Correcti

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