It is 5 a.m. on July 24 and Liberty Park is alive with energy, music already sounding throughout the park.
The sun hasn’t fully risen over the Wasatch Mountains, but Salt Lake City is awake, the venue set for the 55th Deseret News Marathon, commemorating the day when Latter-day Saint pioneers set foot in the Salt Lake Valley after a grueling journey west.
By 7:15 a.m., the finish line is a celebration zone as 10k runners begin streaming in. A Chick-fil-A team and their mobile kitchen, a 40-foot-long truck, one of only three in the nation, is buzzing with activity as workers prepare what area marketing director Heather Jackman calls “the best tasting free chicken sandwich anyone has ever had.”
“Watch,” says Chick-fil-A franchise owner-operator Dusty Pyne, gesturing toward the growing line of exhausted runners. The scene tells the story. The tired athletes are lining up for a celebration meal — a chicken sandwich at 7:30 in the morning…