Teyba Erkesso (sp?), Ethiopia; 2:23.44

"Get your licks in while you can..."

Watched her run by my pad! Dang, those elite marathoners are fast. It's hard to believe until you've seen it in person.

Here is a true story.

I have run 18 different marathons in my "career." Since I have not done a full marathon at Hosuotn in awhile, I am not sure how they stage the starting line now, but back in 95 or 96, they used to start the seeded men's group and the elite mens runners on one street and the elite and seeded women, plus everyone else on another street. Eventually, both groups join each other after they cross I-10 and the railrorad tracks on the viaduct. I am not an elite guy, so I was with the women's group. I have done a 3:20 marathon, so I am not a slouch at this, but I surely cant keep up with an elite athlete. Anyway, the race starts and everybody takes off. Mind you, just like the men, the women have a rabbit or two or three leading them through the race to help them get a faster time. Gun goes off, the elite women take off and I am right behind them. Within a mile, they women all start to seperate with the faster ones going out in front. We get to about 1.5 miles and I am still with them; we get to two miles and I am still with them. We get to three miles and some of the women are looking around wondering who I am since my bib is not marked and I don't have any special indicators on my shirt designating anything. There are about 15-18 people in this pack and eventually I realize that I am running with Olympic class people- I am keeping up with world class athletes. KTRK is televising this from the air, and you can clearly see me running with this group. I am thinking to myself- "WHAT IN THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" I'm figuring that if they don't turn on the jets, I am staying with them as long as I can. Well, my claim to fame started to die around the 4.5 mile spot or so as this Hungarian chick- red shorts, green top, short brown hair, decides she ain't going to let this American father of two hang with her and she starts to speed up. Well, all of the other women follow and a few of us cant keep up the pace. By mile six she was motoring and I couldn't handle it. I ended up running a 3:26 that day, but I was really flying through five + miles. Loved it.

"Get your licks in while you can..."

Perfect day for fast times. Men's Marathon winner (Teshome Gelana) and Women's Half Marathon winner (Shalane Flanagan) also set course records. 2:07:37 & 1:09:41, respectively.

Wow monarch, that really is a cool story. Still have the tape of it? Upload it to youtube!