I was at the Chevron Houston Marathon last Sunday. Notice I didn't say I was running it...I was actually working it.
It was way before dawn when I got there and some streets were closed off and parking was already at a premium. I finally found the KTRK lot and made my way in. They did have a nice craft services table though!
My job was to ride in the back of the full marathon lead truck. I sat there with a blackberry relaying info to the anchors at the finish line. It was pretty cool.
But the real story was on the sidelines. You wouldn't believe who shows up along the course! I saw belly dancers, Marilyn Monroe impersonators, full live rock bands, cloghoppers, Bolivian dancers in West U., people in robes and a lot of other crazy stuff.
There also seemed to be a lot of folks who wanted to be in the marathon but really weren't. They would run along the side until the police escort shooed them away.
Here is my photoblog of the event after I was off the truck and my work was complete. It's behind the scenes TV at its best.
Also, abc13.com has a cool new feature, you can watch any runner you want cross the finish line over the Internet. That means you can either type in a time to watch or a runner's name. Here is my college roommate and one of my groomsmen in my wedding, Mark Utgard, crossing the finish line just like he used to complete the Bear Trail at Baylor everyday (he is the one in the yellow).
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