2008 Salt Lake Marathon Bike Tour

So this year, rather than run, I was planning to ride in the Bike Tour for the annual Salt Lake City Marathon. I even volunteered to be a Ride Marshall. This means I rode along and tried to help anyone that needed mechanical repair along the ride. It also meant that I had to stop and ask if anyone needed assistance if they were stopped along side of the road.

Rich rode along with me, to keep me company and to have someone to talk to as we looked for people to help along the way. We stopped for a guy with a broken chain, a teenager with a flat tire, and an overweight woman to crashed, but luckily fell onto a lawn so she wasn't really hurt, just a little grass stained. When you are a bike marshall you end up at the back of the ride, encouraging people to hurry up and get off the course as the runners are coming behind us. By the time we finished, we were riding (with the stragglers) in the middle of the 5k runners. It was fun.

Riding along sure brought back memories. As I passed the 16 mile marker, I remembered the race last year and how this was where I started to cramp up as I was running. I distinctly remember the  port-a-potties, as that is where the girl (I met her that day at mile 10, we both had about the same stride so we would chat as we ran on together) left me behind cause I couldn't keep up. After this I would run for a couple of minutes, then go back to walking for a while.

After the ride (this year) I went home and grabbed my kids in preparation to go on a hike. We signed up for a class that will take us on various hiking trails in the Centerville area. The first hike we started is only 2 blocks away from our house (I have ridden my bike on this trail before) The trail is called the Bonneville Shoreline Trail. In theory it goes all along the Wasatch Front from Sandy to Salt Lake to Bountiful to Brigham City. There are some gaps where you are no longer on foot trails, but riding through neighborhoods and busy city streets. But it was a fun hike for my kids. The weather is warm, but windy. We are planning to keep doing these hikes for the next 4 weeks.