This was the scene this morning at the start of leg 4, approximately 5.7 miles from the State Capitol. If you’ve never run a marathon before, I highly, highly recommend CIM for your first run. This was, by far, the best managed road race I’ve ever run. The water stations - even in the late miles - were fully stocked and staffed. There was sports drink, goo, and even oranges and pretzles available for runners. If only San Francisco could’ve run its marathon as well!

With crisp, clear weather, today’s race wound down wide boulevards and right into East Sacramento and Midtown, where residents came out, cowbells in hand, to cheer on participants. Crowds packed L Street through the final turn onto 8th and into the finisher chutes on Capitol. I finished, wrapped my self in a space blanket, and made my way back down Capitol towards home - knowing better than ever, how Scout must have felt in her ham costume while I did my best Jiffy Pop impression. A celebratory brunch at Ink capped off the morning. It was almost enough to make me want to train for next year’s full marathon - the 25th running. Almost.

If you made it out to cheer everyone on - thanks, on behalf of all the runners - we really do appreciate your support! And maybe seeing all those runners made you think about training yourself? It’s a great accomplishment and, as the saying goes, if I can do it, trust me, anyone can. See you next year!