(04-15-2016) WELCOME TO UTAH ~ Salt Lake City Half Marathon Expo

Which came first: the chicken or the egg? That is also a good question about this race: did I find the race first or did my husband want to go visit his brother and sister-in-law since they recently moved there and suggested that I look for a race to do while we were there.

Doesn't matter.

I registered myself and my husband back on December 27, 2015. With taxes and fees the total cost was $59.71 each. We didn't need to worry about a hotel since we would be staying with family. We would also be making this a vacation for us and after the half we would drive to Zion National Park to spend a few day.  YAY!!

FRIDAY, APRIL 15th: We left Indianapolis around 7:10 AM, we had a brief layover in Minnesota and then arrived in Salt Lake City at approximately 10:50 AM. Utah is 2 hours behind us here in Indiana. We got our rental car and then headed to the Utah State Fairgrounds for packet pickup. But we had to make a stop at Wendy's for some food first; we were hungry!

It was a smallish expo and there weren't many people there when we were there. We looked around at some of the vendors and each tried a pancake from Kodiak Cakes. They were amazing! Have you ever had them? It was my first time having them. We resisted buying any apparel but did have to buy some GU and chews for the race.

On our way out of the Expo we took these fun pictures:

SKELLY - that's what they used to call him in college. :)

We didn't stay long but as we were walking out, I told my husband that I wanted to take some pictures so I suggested that he get the car and that I would meet him at the entrance.

We still had some time to kill before going to Mike and Little Jo's so we thought we'd check out downtown Salt Lake City.

First stop - because it was across the street from the Capitol - was the Visitor's Center. 

I was able to get my state pin and state magnet here and learned why Utah is the Beehive State. You can learn about that HERE as well as other state symbols meanings.

Then we went across the road to check out the Capitol. At first the hubs was resistant at going in but once he saw what all was in there...he was glad we did.  This was one of the most informational Capitols that I've been in.

If I remember correctly, these next two pictures were of the Gold Room and I think you weren't supposed to take pictures of it.  Oopsie!

He is so silly. I love it!

Next we went over to Temple Square.  The flowers were in full bloom and it was beautiful there.

We also stopped at the Family History Museum. Ancestry Bloodhound needed to check in!

One last stop before heading to see the family. It was a lot colder than I was expecting it to be so we popped into Macy's so that I could get some running tights! I bought the cheapest ones I could find. Granted it isn't like I will never use them again (hello...I live in Indiana) but still it was an unexpected expense.

Finally we made it to Mike and Jo Ann's house. She had a pot of pasta all ready for us along with garlic bread and salad. She is really one of the best sister-in-laws EVER! 

After dinner we ventured down to the local Walmart to get things for our stay at Zion National Park the next several day. Plus, I wanted to look for some gloves and potentially a throw-away because I didn't pack the one that I had set out to bring.

It was early to bed since I needed to get up at 4:30AM to shower and have a light breakfast before heading to the race. Although it was only 30 minutes away, we weren't sure where we needed to park and whatnot.