Here marathon photographers caught a picture of me along first avenue.
My Sister Surprises Me
As usual, my sister Janet and I agreed on a spot on First Avenue to catch me. When I passed there, I waved to her and her friend Ira. There seemed to also be two other people waving at me. It turned out they were Janet’s friends Michael and Doreen. They live right near that spot. I found out afterwards that they watched the lead runners, went to Michael and Doreen’s apartment to watch the finish then came back downstairs to see me (that gives you an idea of how far back I was by the 17 mile mark). But what was funny was that they then decided to try to catch me at a later spot. So I’m running at about the 24 mile mark when I hear “Andy! Andy!” I look up and they’re waving at me again. I wave back. It really boosted my spirits. They said afterwards that my reaction was very funny. I was trudging along at that point looking awful. Then when I heard them, I stood up straight and smiled like I had all the energy in the world. I told them if I knew a Kodak moment was coming, I would have been prepared. One last thing. Janet told me that part of the course really smells from the runners. That surprised me.
The Winner Nearly Blows It
One unusual thing about this race was that the winner went the wrong way for a short while near the end. About 7/10ths of a mile before the finish, German Silva of Mexico made a wrong turn. He was running with another Mexican runner at the time. Everyone yelled at him so he realized his mistake, ran back to the course, then caught up to his teammate and passed him to win. Remarkable!
Here is the finish line picture.
