A day of adventures. It began with me sleeping in, if arising at 1:30 MST can be called sleeping in, and missing the bus I planned to get on to go to the airport. I ran downtown (1.5 miles) with my bag, but by the time I got there, I realized the next bus will not allow me to make my flight. So I took a taxi. I had to find an ATM to get the cash for the taxi. Part of the bummer is that I had already bought the bus ticket the night before. That was the start of the travel marathon. Then customs at the airport, and a connection to Cleveland to find out that Delta had overbooked my connecting flight to Minneapolis. The agent offered me a plan to get to SLC by 7:00 PM instead of one. I pressed her to find a better option, and she found a plan that would get me there by 4:00 PM that would involve a connecting flight from Continental to Atlanta. I took that. On the positive side of things I got at $6 breakfast voucher and a $200 certificate for Delta for the inconvenience. I checked the Continental schedule, and realized that the flight I was supposed to be on was going to be late, and that would jeopardize my connection in Atlanta. Fortunately, there was another flight right before it that was late as well, and I had enough time to make it. The Continental people were nice enough to book me on that flight. Thus I progressed to Atlanta, and on to Salt Lake from there. Delta pt me in first class on that flight. I still do not understand why people fly first class. It is still a plane. The entire time I was very concerned about getting sick. I already had a bit of a snotty nose when I started the trip. So I took some vitamin C, ate some garlic, and was drinking lots of orange juice to contain the damage. Planes and airports are an incredible germ factory. I suppose the damage could be reduced if they let you go outside for a walk somewhere with clean air between flights, but that will not happen until the majority of travelers are runners with concerns about being healthy for the marathon they are going to run the day after their trip. The travel marathon continued with a drive to Logan, bib pickup, and finally I arrived at my destination at Jason's house by 7:00 PM. So 3.5 hours of sleep + 17.5 hours of traveling from 200 feet above see level to race at 5000 feet. Great preparation for the marathon! I considered just skipping it altogether, but just could not do it. I had to at least try. I have run Top of Utah every single year they've had it. I love the race directors. They are some of the few that really understand what it takes to be fast, and put a lot of effort into making this a great race. I felt that I needed to at least make it to the starting line if I could, and then do my very best to get to the finish in a decent time without risking my health.
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