Marathon Joy

We watched and cheered on the NYC Marathon for over two hours this morning, and it was incredibly fun and exciting! The route goes just two blocks north of our apartment, so we arrived on the route before the lead runners had gone by. Here is a photo of the lead women with their police escort - very cool to be so close to such elite athletes. In two other photos, you can see how the street quickly filled up with runners. We happened to stand across from a huge Baptist church whose choir and band played and sang the entire time. It was rocking, loud, uplifting and beautiful, and the runners LOVED it. In the photo showing the church, it is the runners who have their arms up in the air, cheering on the band! I estimate more than half the runners were from foreign countries, and many of them wear their country name proudly across their chest. In addition to the awesome diversity of the runners, spectators all around yelled out support in the languages of their countrymen and women. I tried to represent for the many Scandinavians who ran by.