The runners in the morning before the marathon. From left to right, Dwayne Potts, Ellen Potts, me, and Jim Collins. Marathons start too early in the morning for me.

The Akron marathon started at the Lockheed Martin airdock for the Goodyear blimp. The blimp cruising around its home before the start of the race.

The Kenyans already breaking away from the field just out of the start line. Rono, in yellow, won the race with a time of 2 hours and 22 minutes. The other three are his rabbits, or pace setters.

The thundering herd! The city of Akron painted a blue line through all the streets of the city that the marathon wound through. 855 people ran the full 26.2 mile marathon and another 2,400 people ran the marathon relay, a relay race divided into 5 legs of differing lengths. The marathoners wore the yellow bibs and the relay racers wore the red bibs. The relay racers were quite discouraging to me at times because they would go flying by me in the later stages of the race. Fortunately, relay racers were also required to wear a red bib on their back so not to demoralize the runners doing the full 26.2 miles on their own.

Dwayne looking good early in the race. I really like Dwayne's shoes. They look spiffy. Got to get me pair of them.

Me running with my pace group. Ellen also ran with this pace group and she is just out of the picture. The skinny guy in the red shirt (no, not me) is the pace man. Pacers were provided by the marathon organizers. Having the pace group was great. It prevented me from running too fast in the beginning and helped keep me at a steady pace.

Jim running by with a big smile. Jim had a great day setting a personal best marathon time by more then 9 minutes!

Me with under a mile to go. I am about dead right here. The first 20 miles of the race went really well for me but I really struggled with the last 6 miles. The course was hillier then I anticipated and I think that took a big toll. If you look in the background of the picture to the person coming down the hill in the red top and black shorts... that's Ellen. Unfortunately it is the only picture of her running. I was struggling so hard at this point that Ellen and seven other marathoners would pass me in last little stretch.

This is how the finish line was set up. We finished the marathon at the minor league ball park in Akron. It was really cool. We entered at the outfield and ran around the warning track to the finish line. Plenty of food and water available at the finish line for runners.

Dwayne and I waiting for everyone to hook back up after the race. Things can be hectic afterwards and it takes a bit to get everyone back together. They (obviously) got Dwayne's name wrong on his bib. He said it didn't really do much to motivate him when people yelled "go Ernie" as he went by.

The group of us standing tall after the race. It was a great day with excellent running weather and a wonderful course. The lesson to be taken from this picture is that it takes a long time to dissolve a gum drop when you are dehydrated after a race. So don't eat one right before someone takes a picture!

I call this picture "78.6 miles". Aren't Dwayne's shoes cool?

bib and finishers medal from the akron marathon.