Prague International Marathon Weekend

Since we got to stay in Prague a little longer than we thought we would, we decided to participate in a great event here in town. This weekend was the 11th running of the marathon in Prague. About 4,500 racers ran last year...I'm not sure how many took off this year. Geo had only trained for about 2 weeks leading up to the race. He probably ran 2 or 3 times a week while in school (even in the freezing cold) and then took a couple weeks off while we were on our various vacations. Then for the last 2 weeks he got serious, running a few longer runs and tapering properly. I knew he was serious, even though he wasn't anticipating to go out and have a fast run. He finished in 3 hours and 23 minutes, which is a great time! He told me to expect about a 4-hour race, but based on his times when I saw him out on the course, it looked like he was running faster. It was a great day: overcast and not too hot. Those are great race conditions. Anyhow, Geo was happy with his performance, and I was happy that I was able to see him 3 times on the course, and at the start and the finish. It was a lot of fun and Geo reports that Prague puts on a great marathon. It's small, but it has room to grow. Prague is going to be putting in a bid to host the Oympics in 16 or 20 years and they think the strength of the marathon will be a key consideration.
You can look at a few pictures of Geo by following this link: http://www.marathon-photos.com/index.html
Look for Prague International Marathon and then use Geo's bib number 999
Meanwhile, I rollerbladed a 15 Km non-competitive race. I was pretty much by myself the whole time. I'm not sure how many people competed, but I was not the last one across the finish line (my personal goal). I passed a lot of people too. It rained a couple times during my race and I had to cross cobblestone intersections three times (horribly embarrassing I might add) and a couple sets of tram tracks (that was easy). I had fun, which is the most important part. I might even do another race this coming weekend...purely for exercise and fun.
And we're joking around saying we might go to Nice in June to watch Ironman France, although it won't be the same if Geo's not competing. Stay tuned...