Pongo in the UK: London Marathon

Six days after the tragic events of the Boston Marathon, I joined over half a million people along the route of the London Marathon. It may have been the event's largest ever turnout and was a brilliant defiance to any threat of terrorism. Many of the competitors wore black ribbons and a moment of silence was held at the start for the victims in Boston. It was a beautiful, sunny day in London...that alone was reason to cheer. Now, if the trees would only get some leaves.

Race route looking east toward St. Paul's Cathedral


Looking west: the London Eye, Big Ben, and a double-decker bus crossing the Thames.

There were all ages in the crowd, many of whom were there with groups supporting various causes and charities. Every single runner that passed by was accompanied by cheers, whistles, and various noisemakers from the spectators. There were bands playing and a real family atmosphere. I could've done without the little boy whose mother allowed him to pee on the tree I was standing next to. Still...

Doggie wants some lunch

One of my favorite local charities

I don't understand the fake butts, and is that supposed to be bruising?

One of the nicer things to see from the spectators, on a day when there was already a great response, was the reception given to all of the disabled competitors. The wheelchair race is a very big deal, and many of the runners who had various disabilities, ran with a guide. You see the guides in some of these pictures wearing orange. Some of them had a leash, for lack of a better word, to help the runners who had some degree of blindness.

Several runners were missing all or portions of arms...

...or legs. This was really inspiring. There were several vets with war injuries.

I was standing somewhere between the 24 and 25 mile mark, right on the border of the City of London and London (see earlier post http://pongo-in-the-uk.blogspot.com/2013/01/so-what-country-am-i-in.html ). By the time they got to where I was, most were looking pretty tired. Surely the cheering of the fans was a big help to the competitors. This community really does support these type of events.

Water station

St. Paul's behind, the Thames to the right

I did see the winner go through, and all the top finishers in the men's elite race passed by while I was watching. The winner was Ethiopian Tsegaye Kebede, though he wasn't leading when he passed me. The leader at that time was 2011 champion Emmanuel Mutai. In the women's race, Kenya's Priscah Jeptoo won. Kebede won in 2:06:04, about 2 and a half minutes off world record pace of 2:03:38. To put that in perspective, its just slightly under 13 miles per hour. Crank up your treadmill to 13 mph and see how long you can hang on to that pace. Pretty impressive.

Mutai after he passed me; I was slow with my camera

Kebede, the winner

Ayele Abshero, third place

I must admit that in the 18+ years that I lived in Charlotte, I never went to watch their marathon. I feel a little bad about that, but this is one of those events that I feel like I need to see here in London. Yesterday we went to the Feast of St. George (the guy who slew the dragon). And I would've gone to Margaret Thatcher's funeral (no political agenda regarding this), but I had to take Pongo to the vet. Hopefully there will be many more events to come.