A friend and former co-worker is the volunteer coordinator for the first sector of the Chevron Houston Marathon. This is the second year that I volunteered as a race monitor. It's a really early morning (5:45am) but is so neat to see all the people running through the streets of Houston.
My friend Natalie was running the marathon but unfortunately I never saw her! She finished right on her goal pace and we were all really excited for her.
The race started at 7 and not much later the first runners were passing my location. They weren't even sweating yet.
I can't imagine running this far, or doing the marathon in a wheelchair. Each year there are a few people that race the marathon in wheelchairs and it's amazing to see them zoom by.
The most inspirational part of the race was when I saw two men running against the outside of the street near where I was standing. They appeared to be tied together at the wrist and then I heard one of the men say to the other, "We are in a straight away now, the crowd is really picking up." That's when I realized the man closest to me was visually impaired and the other man was his guide. It of course brought tears to my eyes as I could tell that this man was part of the US Military and could only assume that he was injured in Iraq or Afghanistan. I found this article that explains who he is. An amazing story of the heroism of our military.
Here is a video of what the race looked like as the bigger pack of people came past my location, just before mile 5. It was steady like this for a good 20 minutes. Amazing!
I wish I could say "I'll run next year" but I think that is a little amitious for me at this point. Maybe one day? I dunno.
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