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Steamboat Springs — Jenna Gruben said the knowledge that OktoberWest festivities awaited her at the finish line of Saturday's Run, Rabbit Run Steamboat 50 ultra-marathon served as motivation as she ran down the trail.

What served as motivation for the wide smile she wore as she finished was harder to pinpoint.

Gruben was the top women's finisher for the second year in a row, finishing the trail in a course-record time of 9 hours, 14 minutes.

That's reason to smile.

"It was spectacular," she said, still trying to catch her breath. "I didn't feel as prepared this year when I started, but I felt great out there. I just went out and enjoyed it."

She leaped into the arms of her husband, Matt Morrill, as she crossed the finish line.

The couple was married in Grand Lake just three weeks ago.

That's reason to smile.

And, in crossing the finish line, she said, she crossed the last thing off her "to do" list before she and Morrill leave on a 3 1/2 month honeymoon trip to Nepal.

That is certainly reason to smile, too.

"This was the last thing I had to check off," she said, beaming. "I was waiting to get excited until I finished this race.

"Now I'm excited."

Smiles abounded Saturday as finishers streamed down Mount Werner and across the base area finish line.

They had started early, before the sun even crept above the mountain, and they started off slowly, climbing toward the summit of Steamboat Ski Area,

many jogging slowly or simply hiking the steep trail.

They cut across the mountains to Rabbit Ears Peak, then turned around and made their way back.

There were high moments and low moments, but when they returned, like Gruben, they were all smiling.

Ryan Burch won the men's division for the second consecutive year, and he too set a course record, finishing in 7:26.

"This is just a great mountain ultra," said Burch, who added he runs one or two ultra-marathons a month.

He finished the 50 miles ahead of Bryan Goding, who was second at 8:05, and Marco Peinado, who was third at 8:14.

Gruben came in ahead of Sonja Wieck, of Greenwood Village, who was second at 9:20. The pair ran most of the race together, Gruben only pulling away in the final 10 miles as the route turned down the ski area toward the base.

Much of the record-setting times can be attributed to a different and slightly shorter course. The race cut across forest trails it didn't previously have permission to access.

Still, it received much the same acclaim it has generated in the past.

"It was a great, beautiful course," Monument racer Clark Sundahl said. "The first six miles were tough and a lot slower. Then the miles up to Rabbit Ears were tough, straight up hill. The rest of the course was great.

"I'll bring back a lot of my friends for sure."