Paris II

The morning of he marathon I woke up at 5.30, dressed and went down to breakfast. After I was finished I went back up to our room to gather up Evan and Piero who were coming with me and the group to the start. Piero was going to be taking care of my friend Patrizia's son while she ran the race. Meeting spot was l'Arc de Triumph.

I waited around for Patrizia for as long as I could, but the clock was ticking so I decided to go deliver my sack and then come back to the meeting spot. Piero and Evan were staying put to make sure they got Gabriele. I ran this race in 1998 and then again in 1999 back when there were 20.000 entrants. This year they had 32.000 entrants and it was mayhem. Totally un and disorganized. They had this fence up blocking to where we were supposed to deliver our bags with one little tiny opening for thousands of runners to get in AND get out. Our group was able to get in, deliver our bags but then we decided to exit another way and take a side street to the start. Good move on our part since we then heard that the crowds tore down the fence when they start to have a deadlock...very dangerous.

I found Piero and Evan again. Gabriele was with them but Patrizia was now back where we had just left our sacks. I waited around until two minutes to start and then left without her. By this time there was no way to get into my assigned "cage" so I thought "heck, I've got a chip, I'll just line up in the back!" Oh my God, what a mistake...I also had to pee really bad so I waited in line for that too. When I came out everybody was gone...gone! I had the whole Champs D'Elysee to myself to run down. I spotted Piero and Evan as I ran the the Avenue running the first km...

(Hi, I'm going crazy here posting more than one photo at a time. Every time I insert a photo it puts it at the top and not in the part of the story where I want it. If anybody knows what I'm doing wrong please let me know and I can continue with tons of photos...Part III when I get it solved!)