He expects Jonathan Ndambuki, who won the last two Deseret News runs and broke Cabanillas's 22-year-old course record in 2:16.08 in 2004, to be back. Talley figures, "I'd have to run pretty fast to beat him. He's quite the runner.

"But I was close to catching one of them last year, so that's kind of a goal. They're so talented, and they work so hard, so they definitely deserve to run as well as they do, but at the same time, it would be nice to go out and beat one of them."

Experienced now, his strategy is to run the first half conservatively and not get too pounded by all the downhill work, "just to make sure the second half goes like I hope. I really like this marathon. There's a lot of downhill, which makes it seem easier, as long as you don't go out too hard," he says.

Despite his quick success in marathoning, Talley enjoys teaching and coaching too much to go into his own running full-time. "That takes a lot of my energy away from running, but I really like it, and it's an area where I want to put energy, so it's OK. The kids motivate me quite a bit, and it's fun to work with them and see them succeed," he says. Davis won the 2004 girls' track title.

Talley might some day like to coach at a collegiate level and has wanted to be an educator since he was a junior in high school. "There's so many ways that I can make an impact on young people. Coaching is probably what kept me in it, but then I love being in the classroom with the students. Just feeling like I am contributing to society and to individuals and making an impact and having an influence on their life, it's rewarding."

Talley grew up in Riverton, the son of a former prep runner, Lyn Talley. Corbin started running in gym classes and liked it, and his brothers followed, though his sisters did not. They and mother Collette prefer to support the runners in the family.

At Weber, Talley was the team's scholar-athlete as a senior, an award his wife, Stefanie, a fellow runner at Weber, earned a couple of years earlier. Talley did an LDS Church mission to the Caribbean, then returned to Weber and married Stefanie. They graduated from Weber with identical 3.92 GPAs.

Stefanie runs local 5 and 10Ks. "Some day she might do a marathon. She laughs at me when I say that," Corbin says, remembering how he felt when Wilson told him marathons weren't that hard, and he should try it.

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E-mail: lham@desnews.com