What are you doing April 18th?

As some of you may already know, I am running the Salt Lake Marathon on April 18th. This will be my third marathon, and I believe I will finally reach my goal of finishing in less than 5 hours, without walking. I would like to invite any of you to play a part in that.

You see, the past marathons I've run were in St. George and Ogden, respectively, and for both, my immediate family was not familiar enough with the area or the course to meet me somewhere along the way for purposes of cheering and encouraging, etc. They were at the finish line, which is great, but the emotional and mental and yes, even physical boost you get from having family and friends cheer for you along the course doesn't happen when they're only at the finish line.

This marathon, however, is here in Salt Lake City (and Murray and Holiday and South Salt Lake), so finding your way around is exponentially easier. To facilitate your marathon spectating, I've attached here a map of the course, along with the approximate times I'll be at various points along said course. (Note: To get to the Sugarhouse Park location, you'll have to take a roundabout way of getting there, going around the north end of the Gateway (if you're coming from the south), as the entire route is closed off to through traffic. Been caught in that a few times myself...)

If you are planning on coming, feel free to make posterboard signs with motivational or pithy sayings of encouragement. :) I'll include more details about what I'll be wearing, etc., as the day of the race grows closer and I have a better idea what the weather will be like. But I wanted to get this out there so there's time for everyone to adjust their schedules, etc. :)