Unfinished Biz

With six and a half weeks to go, I am realizing that there are a number of blog items that I need to catch up on, namely a few celebrity interviews and the remaining installments of the course preview series. (As for the latter, for the previous installments, please go here and here.)

We left off at the first relay exchange, with most of the marathon still in front of us. Once they finalize the course, I will attempt, with Ross's help, to examine things more carefully so as to avoid epic blowups. If you take a peek at the image below, you should get a pretty good taste of what will have transpired by the first relay exchange (essentially a walk in the park with brain functioning at 10%), but in case you're an idiot and can't read pictures, and you're too lazy to read the earlier posts, I've typed out a summary for you--in bullet points, no less.

• Older man in glasses challenges Sam at starting line.
• After the gun goes off, le trois move their way into the lead pack, working through hordes of people who somehow thought it would be a good idea to run the first 400 meters of their four hour marathon at 5:30 pace.
• Ricky Lader (who has two heads and breathes fire) makes a go at Wilson Wanjiru Cheseret Kipketer Abugayo, who won last year's race by an hour and a half.
• Gordon realizes at the half mile mark that he's got some distance to go still. He asks his arthritic left knee to give it one more go and pushes onward.
  
• Ross stops for a Primanti Bros. submarine sandwich or "grinder" as they call it in Pittsburgh.
• Sam's kidneys begin failing him. Six minute pace may not be a valid option.

I'll let that marinate for a while and, in the meantime, promise to recommit to getting a Rojo interview up along with some actual thoughts on the marathon course.