Sunrise in St. Louis...           A proud marathon finisher...

The GO!St.Louis Marathon April 6, 2008. This brings me to state #7 and marathon #13, finish time 04:20:14. With the weather ideal, 45 to 57 degrees, clear and low humidity, this half and full marathon hosted 13,000 runners today. A bit of a rolling hills course making its way through Downtown, by the Gateway Arch, Busch Stadium, Anheuser-Busch Budweiser brewery, back through downtown over to and through Forest Park in to Clayton-University City then back to downtown to the finish. Then, a medal, clip the chip, a water, a banana, a Budweiser beer, a picture and a finishers hat! Whoo hoo!!! Good Job Race organizers, I had a good time.

So, this marathon was a "NO HEADPHONES, iPOD, MP3" organized race, that's the USTFA rules. Oh no!!! Well, I was a good patron and followed the rules. Even though it might have changed my run slightly, there is a very good side to this rule. The great thing is meeting fellow runners along the route, chatting for a while, or a mile, introducing yourselves, exchanging idle running conversations; number of marathons, what cities, best times (PR), best towns, how long you've been running, why do you run, etc....       I met Gregory from San Francisco, running his 163rd marathon, age 58, All 50 states (a few times over), a few countries, and no sign of stopping anytime soon. His advice... "run two states on two consecutive weekends", you'll save on airfare.      I met Carole, age 43, a cancer survivor, 2nd marathon, school teacher, mother of 2 teenage daughters, wife of a farmer. They run the family farm of 1800 acres outside of Bushnell, IL. She has done a couple of sprint-tris. She shared that it is quite a change to run with people. She finds herself training alone on the back roads of the farm filled country side. Carole was enjoying a little "Carole time" coming to the big city and enjoying a run. Good Job Carole!

"The Runner" sculpture. Kiener Plaza is named in honor of Harry J. Kiener, the donor of the sculpture and fountain. Kiener, who was born in St. Louis on February 27, 1881 was an amateur boxer, wrestler and swimmer, but he is most noted for his position on the U.S. track team at the Olympics held in St. Louis in 1904 during the World's Fair. While his main occupation was a steel company executive, he was very generous throughout his life.

Also from St. Louis... (East St. Louis,IL), Jackie Joyner-Kersee Olympic Gold medalist, great athlete, community leader and head of the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Foundation providing children, youth and adults alike the resources for fitness and quality of life options.

Check out all this good stuff:

www.gostlouis.org   The official site of the St. Louis Marathon.

http://jackiejoynerkersee.net/ Check out the good work Jackie Joyner-Kersee is providing in her community.

www.racewithpurpose.org Find your purpose and train with us.

www.steverunner.com PHEDIPPIDATIONS podcast, thanks Steve for the mention in podcast #135 "why do you run".

www.fitnessrocks.org podcast for the health conscious and the sports minded.

Next Stop: Providence RI Marathon, May 4th, 2008