Union Station a Marathon Zoo

Came down to Union Station to do a little quiet writing and found the place mobbed with preparations for Saturday's Ogden Marathon.

A helicopter at a train station...why not?

There's a  helicopter parked in the fountain plaza. What else can you say? Whirlybird Helicopters is doing a deal with United Way for a fundraiser, plus advertising Father's Day special flights.

Still, a helicopter on the plaza? I was told it was landed in the parking lot and wheeled over.

There's people hawking cooling shirt systems, special towels, recreation passes, the Standard-Examiner and on and on. A booth selling fashion stuff of some sort had a giant poster of some guy with messed up hair, an unshaven beard and a tux.

Didn't the unshaven look go out with Don Johnson on "Miami Vice?" The women running the booth had mustaches, so they were no help.

The Main Lobby inside the station is equally full, and the runners themselves haven't even started showing up to pick up their packets.

Ran into Dan Dailey from Grounds For Coffee who was standing by a relatively small and modest poster advertising the shop's Green Initiative.

Dan Dailey and Green Initiative

Not sure what this is about

He said this year the initiative is going to collect and compost all the banana peels from the marathon. "With 10,000 runners, that's a lot of banana peels," he said.

That's the scene here this morning. Come on down, but plan to walk a ways because parking is at a premium.

May I remind you that today is bike to work day? That's how I got here. All these runners and athleticism, and mine is the only bicycle on the rack out front.