First Day for my Five Trails 1/2 Marathon Team

Today was the first Saturday morning training for Leavenworth's Five Trails 1/2 Marathon. The kickoff was held at Garry Gribble's and we headed out onto the trails. Unfortunately, there was still 6 or 7 inches of snow still on the ground and hardly anyone had run on them, so the first run may be one of the toughest of the training program. You can go to http://www.fivetrailshalfmarathon.com/index.html for more information about the race and the training program....Some more pix....

The Athens Marathon

We headed to Greece to run the 2500th anniversary of Phidippides' run from Marathon to Athens. Despite Delta Airlines best attempts to destroy the trip, we had a great time. We stayed at the Divani Palace Acropolis Hotel, which was walking distance to the Parthenon and several other sites. The race was on Halloween and the weather was perfect early on and gradually warmed. After the race, we took a bus to the Aegean coastline......

The Temple of Zues

The Plaka, a shopping and tourist area near the Acropolis. This was taken at about 2 am when the streets were deserted.

Hadrian's Gate
Kim at the base of the Acropolis. Olive trees are planted everywhere.
The Parthenon
Parthenon Pics
The Temple of Zues from the Acropolis.

The Aegean Coast........





Other Pics.....



The Athens Marathon....


The burial mound from the Battle of Marathon




The blu line.....the shortest distance from the start to finish.
The spectators handed out olive branches and shouted "bravo"




We wore our Pumpkin Run shirts for the race (it was on Halloween). We had spectators taking our pictures and kids pointing and shouting about Halloween.
Olympic Stadium finish.....

Coeur d' Alene

The Coeur d' Alene Marathon was outstanding....one of the nicest courses you will ever run. Most of the course was on the Centennial trail which runs along the lake and the Spokane River.
This picture is close to the turnaround point at about mile 14. The temps were in the 50's and 60's all weekend and the humidity was nonexistent compared to KC standards for this time of year. The course had a couple of longer hills, but was much flatter than I had anticipated. I cruised in at about 4:50 and felt pretty good the whole race. The town was a great place to visit with a local brewery, lots of downtown shops, and hiking trails.....more pix....

Running with the Cows.....

I decided Friday to run this 1/2 marathon. It is held on some rural roads in south Johnson County and Miami County. The course is an out and back along some rolling roads. It starts at the Mother of the Holy Rosary church and school at 227th and Metcalf and makes its way north into Johnson County. The course is well marked and there were plenty of waterstops and many great volunteers who stood out in a steady rain for hours. The fun started once I finished....food...lots of food....sandwiches, pizza, chocolate milk, juice, and tons of other stuff I didn't even get to look at. They also held a kid's run and 5K, and the whole thing was geared around the kids. If you have young kids, put this one on your list for next year.....

....heading in to finish....

....before the start...

Petting Zoo...