This year was the tenth annual Salt Lake Bike Tour, which corresponds with the annual Salt Lake Marathon. Colton, his dad, and I signed up to be Bike Marshals in the bike tour. Basically we wear vests and if someone needs help with a flat or gets hurt, we help them. At four in the morning, we woke up and drove to the start. The bike tour covers the same course as the marathon, and the course, when we’d done it before, was mostly downhill. This year however, there were little spurts of uphills. They wouldn’t have been too bad, but I decided to sign up for this marathon and bike it completely cold; the last time I’d been on a bike was last September. Brilliant idea, yes? I seem to have many lofty fitness goals that I don’t train for…
At the start line!
So, it was rather difficult for me, and with four miles to go we also realized my bike wasn’t adjusted correctly so I was working harder than I needed to be. That aside though, it was a beautiful day for the Salt Lake Marathon, and I wish I’d been able to take photos. We wound through quaint Salt lake neighborhoods as they were waking up. Many people set up drink stations in their own driveways for the runners coming an hour behind us, and one family was even making breakfast in the front yard. The air smelled like blossoms, and it seemed like every tree was in bloom. There were hundreds of officers who’d gotten up before the crack of dawn with us to set up road blocks so we could sail through Salt Lake unhindered.
At the finish line, literally ON the finish line, I fell over on my bike because my legs were too shaky to hold me up when I set them on the ground. So that was graceful, and I reopened a scab that I’d received the week before when I tripped on a sidewalk while running in front of an elementary school at recess. I fall down a lot. My legs are covered in scars. Anyways, then we had lots of snacks and there were radio hosts and live music. Runners who did the 5K were finishing up behind us. This is a Boston qualifier race, so thousands of people were there running and supporting.
If you don’t run or bike, it’s still worth stopping by and cheering on the participants. I’ve run in the 10K before (and actually trained for it with my high school cross country team) and it’s tons of fun running with so many people. If you DO run or bike, you should definitely think about signing up. You get to run through some of the most beautiful parts of Salt Lake that you would normally just zoom by in a car. To get back to our cars, which were parked at the University, we took the TRAX. Or if you’re crazy, like Colton’s dad, you can bike back up the hill. Although I don’t think him or Colton got much of a workout because they rode so slowly with me…
