If you’re reading this, it means you’re a human being living in the year 2025. Which means that at some point in the past calendar year, you’ve probably screamed alone in your car, laid down on the floor in the dark for at least an hour, or thought about spending the rest of your life in the woods. Hell, maybe you’ve covered all that in an afternoon.
But before you go learning how to make snare traps and submitting your audition tape for “Naked and Afraid,” try finding some hope for the modern world closer to home. The Salt Lake City Marathon is happening this weekend, and there’s no better medicine for the beleaguered soul than the finish line of a nice long race.
That’s right, on Saturday, April 26, you just might be able to find some of those good vibes you’ve been scrolling for out on the streets of SLC. From the heart of downtown all the way to Holladay, you’ll see people of nearly every walk of life putting in every last ounce of effort they have to achieve a goal they’ve spent months, maybe even years, training for. And more importantly, you’ll see complete strangers cheering them on.
There’s just nothing like the end of a marathon — and no, I don’t mean some dramatic, sprint-to-the-finish showdown between two of the race’s top contenders. I mean a slow, triumphant trot between two of the city’s top dentists. Because the elite runners are inspiring, sure. But they’re inspiring in the mind-blowing, “How the hell do they do that?” way. The everyday runners are inspiring in the “Maybe I could do that” way.
But maybe you’ve got no interest in running. I get it. As a former track runner who’s still trying to find that easy stride I had when I was skinny enough to double as the javelin, believe me, I get it. Running sucks when you’re not a jobless 19-year-old who’s been advised by his doctor to avoid strong breezes. I ran a marathon two years ago, and it was single-handedly the hardest thing I’ve ever done. All you do is run. For 26 whole miles. That you signed up for. And paid money to do it.
Twenty-six miles is entirely too many miles. Remember when you almost saw “Killers of the Flower Moon?” and thought, “Wait, it’s three and a half hours? I’m not watching that.” Well, that’s a good marathon time. Most runners are out there for more than half a season of streaming. If I had started season three of “The White Lotus” at the beginning of my race, I would have made it all the way to that scene.
But you don’t have to understand why these runners are doing what they do. It may be even more magical if you don’t, just so long as you remember that not everyone who runs is some kind of fitness influencer. Many of the folks you’ll see simply woke up one day and decided to challenge themselves. What you’re seeing out there in their blood, sweat and tears (not a metaphor when it comes to marathons) is the end result of that dream. You don’t need to get it — you just need to lose your voice making sure they reach that finish line.
If you only have time to be out cheering for a little bit, show up for the back half. In my life, I’ve been both a speedster and a straggler, and trust me, the run-walkers need you more. Crushing your personal best feels amazing, but crossing that finish line when you were staring at a did-not-finish means you’re made of some pretty tough stuff. Cheering late into the morning can help those folks figure that out for themselves.
(Also, in my personal experience, if you go long enough at the back of a marathon without seeing any spectators, you might start to wonder if you actually died somewhere around mile 18 and are still running a marathon in the afterlife. Which is not a lot of fun.)
It’s a beautiful thing to achieve a goal, and rarely does life give us so clear an example as a marathon. Living in the modern world is complicated; often we go months in between our hard work and the payoff, waiting to hear back about school applications, job interviews, exam results, etc. We have all too many finish lines to cross before it’s time to celebrate, and we usually cross those finish lines in quiet, solitary moments.
There’s only one finish line at a marathon, and it’s anything but quiet or solitary. There’s hugging. There’s laughing. There’s crying. There are funny signs. People in costumes. An exuberant announcer. At least one guy with bloody nipples. Sometimes there’s a little bit of puking. Sometimes there’s more than a little bit of puking. But it’s always a nexus of positive energy, encouragement, and love.
So if you’ve wondered at any point in the last year, “Where’s the good news?”, head downtown on Saturday. There’ll be several thousand pieces of good news at that finish line.
(Photo courtesy of Brian Higgins) Brian Higgins
Brian Higgins is a writer and comedian in Salt Lake City.
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