State # 7: Utah, Salt Lake City Marathon

I flew into Salt Lake City the day before the marathon with my mom and we walked around the city....went to Temple Square and the expo to get my bib #. 

I finally met Cheryl from RazzyRoo Headbands.  She is a sweetheart and her headbands are soo adorable and awesome for running!  

Temple Square in Salt Lake was beautiful.  

 My mom and I went up to the 26th floor observatory of the LDS Office Building.  It was beautiful to see the entire Salt Lake City Valley.  

On the morning of the race it was raining and it was pretty cold at the Olympic Legacy Bridge (Univ of Utah) where the starting line was.  I met a bunch of marathon maniacs at the start which was awesome because it was my first marathon as an official maniac!

Doug and I

The course was beautiful because of the mountains.  I could definitely feel the change in elevation.  I met a man named Doug around mile 11 and stayed with him for the rest of the marathon.  Doug was from Cottonwood Heights, outside of Salt Lake.  He began running at age 59 and ran his 1st marathon only two years ago.  He started running because his daughter told him he couldn't run a mile.  He ran eight blocks one day and then decided to run a marathon!  Doug was diabetic and took his blood sugar while running.  I gave him a lot of credit for being able to run marathons even with such low energy.  I finished with Doug and he thanked me at the end for staying with him.  He PR'd by 25 minutes. Salt Lake City was his second marathon.  Once I started to run with Doug, I knew I was going to stay with him.  I helped him finish at his desired goal time and he cut off 25 minutes from his first marathon time!  A definite success.  

Before Mile 20, there was a "Temptation Station" with shots!  I didn't take any, but it was pretty amazing.  Some residents set up tables with shots of whiskey and blasted music....and they even kept a "Tempted Tally."

The "Temptation Station" 

After the marathon, my mom and I went out to lunch with my college xc & track friend, Sarah for lunch!  It was so awesome to see Sarah out at mile 14 and then at the end of the marathon.  Sarah lives in Cottonwood Heights now. It was really nice to catch up after a couple of years.

Sarah and I

Later that night, my mom and I met up with Nicole and Jeff from Wisconsin.  Nicole is also aiming to run 50 marathon in 50 states.  We went to a bar called the Tavernacle (making fun of the Tabernacle) Social Club.  It was a fun time, minus the fact that the beer was only 3.2% because of Utah liquor laws.

Nicole, Jeff, and I