5 Days and Counting

Today is Labor Day, and thankfully, also a day off from work, so I have a bit of time to create this post I have been procrastinating to do.  Two weeks ago I went on my longest run to prepare for the up coming marathon.  To stray from my ubiquitous route I decided to make this run special, so I ran a loop that climaxed at the Utah State Capital. 

As usual, I began my venture about 6:00 am because I knew it would take awhile, and I did not want to spend too much time in the heat/sun.  Heading toward the capital I perused Highland Drive down to South Temple, and then over to State Street.  I reached the capital near 8:00 am and to my surprise there were probably fifty Japanese tourists already roaming the grounds.  After pausing for the picture above, I continued my jaunt through the Avenues and on to the University of Utah....my alma mater. 

While I had been by/to the stadium many times in the past, today I decided to take a pictures; as this is the first year that the "U" will be part of the PAC 12.  Next, I continued south onto 1300 E for approximately five miles, and in the process I passed East High, which, as many of you know, is the site much of the movie "A High School Musical" was filmed.  I have also passed this area many times in the past, but, there is something about running that causes one to think about one's surroundings more than one does while driving.  I figured this would be something interesting to read about sometime later in life, even though I have never watched any portion of the series. 

The remainder of the run was quite mundane, and the sun was beaming on me, so I was more focused on just ending the run.  When I finally reached home I had ran 21.38 miles, and now had the confidence that I would be ready to tackle 26.2.  So, now, the only thing that I can really hope for on race day is for the weather to be nice and cool, so I will expend less energy and hopefully finish under 4:15.  Wish me luck!!