Sunday, March 7, 2010

The man...

ran the Barcelona Marathon today.

He didn't shave his head and he didn't hurt himself in any permanent kind of way, and he finished with a respectable time.

I am quite happy myself and he seems reasonably content in a travelling ache/pain kind of way......

We watched lots and lots of people go by, over and over and over again, as we jumped on and off the subway over and over to cheer them on.

We never once saw the man without him seeing us first and calling out to us.

It was actually quite a lot of fun cheering people on, it was actually quite great because they had people's names printed in large letters on their numbers so you could cheer them on by name.....great fun!

We did get up WAY too early for a Sunday morning, and though I didn't run 42.195 kilometers I did stand and run and jump with a heavy knapsack for seven hours and it was cold.... it is time for a shower and a nap.....

We were calling the front runners the Kenyans out of definition, and then I checked the race results.  They were Kenyans, with a couple of 'others' tucked in.  They were a whole different race, they just happened to be on the same course, these guys were F.A.S.T.  The world record, from 2008 (according to Wiki) is 2:03:59.  The winner here today ran in 2:07:something fast.  These boys were MOVING!

Look:



and here...no fancy 100 Euro shirts or 65 Euro leg squeezing socks.  Runners, regular socks, loose shorts and a singlet.



then the carnage at the finish:



Hats off ladies and gents....hats off.

5 comments:

Hula Girl at Heart said...

Congrautlations to the Man! What a great achievement. Aren't the Kenyan runners just fabulous? I could watch a smooth, fast runner all day.

Beth said...

My hat is off to the man! Tell him to be careful of his knees. Apparently that’s going to be a future problem for runners – according to the stats re: the # of doctors choosing to specialize in orthopedics!

oreneta said...

Hula, they are even more amazing to watch in person...truly amazing. Glad we didn't get this snow yesterday.

Beth, I know, the nut is even thinking of doing it again next year. My enthusiasm is somewhat limited. ho hum.

Anonymous said...

Congrats all around!
And where was Chuck while all of this was going on? You say you were on the road for 7 hours!GM

oreneta said...

Chuck was waiting around at home.....we had to wait around before the start and wait around after the finish as well as all the to and fro during it all...a long day. Then Chuck wanted a walk when we got home. Can you say opposing desires? He didn't get much mileage yesterday, but we made it up to him with two long snowy walks today.