I can not always find the words to say, so sometimes I just post a bunch of pictures.  You can click on thumb nail for bigger picture.  BTW unlike my marathon pictures most of these pictures are adjusted for the internet, meaning trimmed, cropped or shrunk.

It was nice to finally talk to Laurie after all this time and most all the pictures I took right before the race, were taken while I was talking to her on a cell phone.  I did have an ear piece with a microphone so it was a hands free operation.  She is still suffering from chemo so I was not expecting to see her there.

Last year I was a volunteer at our local RTC so I decided I'd wear the shirt for this race.  Here I am before the race.

A runner this time (157541 bytes)

Laurie was talking to me on the phone at this time, telling me to get as close to the front as possible.  I took a few pictures for her to show here that I did just that.  This picture is of the crowd behind me.

Looking behind me on New York Street (152160 bytes)

This was while I was standing on the starting line of someone that looked surprised I was taking his picture.

 3887 is thinking : Who is that guy taking my picture (190088 bytes)

It was certainly nice to see that I could start with the people right up front.

I think I can do that (18398 bytes)

Laurie asked me a few times if I'd seen any Kenyans.  This was the only runner I could see that might be one.  I accidentally referred to him as a Ninja while I was talking to Laurie and she got a big kick out of that.

Could this guy be the only Kenyan? (18169 bytes)

I also told Laurie, I get a kick out of taking the picture of other people taking pictures while I was taking this one.

Someone is taking our picture (16634 bytes)

Rumor has it there were 30,000 people at this race and I was this close to the start.  I think a lot were in the family 1 mile walk.

How close I was to the Start (42388 bytes)

This is one picture where I wish I was using a better camera.  There are actually a bunch of runners on that bridge over there that would be clearly visible with a better camera.

There are runners on that bridge over there (31445 bytes)

This blurry picture was taken from the bridge looking back.  It was also about the time Laurie called me again and when I took my cell phone out to answer it I noticed it didn't have any caller ID.  I figured it was just a wrong number so I didn't answer it.

One of the other runners noticed me walking while I was messing with my phone and he yelled something about "Just forget about it."  So I turned the phone off and ran the rest of the way in.

Looking back from the bridge (16931 bytes)

The picture I tried to take of the clock when I finished didn't come out, but here is one looking back afterwards.

A look back after finishing (33784 bytes)

Laurie mentioned one booth that she wanted me to check out.  This picture is for her to show I made it over there.

A place Laurie told me to check out (23591 bytes)

As for the race itself... I finished in 21:38 so it was sub 7 minute miles at least.

Indianapolis has so many races in that area the streets are filled with painted on mile markers and I wasn't thinking to look for the signs so I missed where the mile markers were for my splits.

I could tell I went out a bit too fast by my breathing and ended up paying for it later, but since I finished with a heart rate of 201 it shows I gave it a good try at the finish.  The following HRM chart shows I took a bit of a breather at a water stop and then on the bridge when I was messing with my cell phone.

HRMchart (115286 bytes)

I had a lot of fun and I've been invited back.

Thanks for reading and happy running,
        Roger

Note:  For more information and some very good pictures of the race, Laurie suggested to check out: Tuxedo Brothers.