THE HONEYMOONERS, CHAPTER 1

Photo 1: How do you run a marathon in 3:37:17?  According to Julie and Bob Francis, you waltz all the way.  Here at the 15 mile mark, they are swooning to the chant of "Central Park!  Central Park!"

THE HONEYMOONERS, CHAPTER 2

Photo 11: To run the Boston Marathon, you are advised to book your hotel room months in advance.  When you arrive there, you just pray that there was no screw-up of your reservation.  Here, the hotel receptionist solemnly tells Ramon Bermo that due to overbooking at the hotel, the management was forced to give him ... the Honeymoon Suite!

Photo 12: When in Rome, you do as Romans do.  When you live the high life and you are in the Honeymoon Suite, you might as well as have champagne like Ramon Bermo and Bola Awofeso.

Photo 13:  Oh dear, are the honeymooners letting the bubbly stuff get to their heads ... ?

RACE EXPO

Photo 83:  This is Tyronne Culpepper standing in front of an enlarged photo of Nina Cuscsik running.  Tyronne said, "I have not had the pleasure of meeting her, but I know that she is a famous New York City runner."

Photo 84:  One Central Park Track Club member who was not there was Eden Weiss (see Famous Saying # 875).  But his friends left a message on the bulletin board ("This one's for you").  When Eden saw this photo, he said, "I hope I'll be able to read any message in person next year."

THE RACE PHOTOS

Photo 14:  The Boston Marathon is a straight run from Hopkinton to Boyleston Street.  It is fairly difficult to follow the race if you are not in it, unless of course you are "PRESS."  Here is Julia Casals in the press room, watching the race live on television and enjoying food and drink.  What are her press credentials?  How about as the Central Park Track Club website photojournalist?  After all, she did supply most of the photos on this page ...

Photo 15: When the leaders approach the finish, it is time for the photographers to get out and take up their positions.  Here is the NBC Sports photographer, armed with a humungous lens.

Photo 16:  Here comes the three leaders at a distance.  This was the closest finish in history, with two seconds separating the first three runners.

Photo 17:  And they are getting closer ...

Photo 18: As a general rule, profile shots are nearly impossible to take because the runners go by so quickly.  This is a photo of the back of Moses Tanui nearing the finishing structure.  Due to the angle of the photo, it looks like he is coming to the Tower of Pisa.  In any case, this probably matches Moses' feeling that he was climbing up a steep hill right now.

Photo 81:  Here is a photo of the top three finishers taken from the other side of the street.

Photo 19:  The Boston Marathon was designated as the Olympic Marathon Trials for Kenya, although the results are not necessarily binding.  Given that there were over seventy Kenyans who have met the Olympic Marathon "A" standard of 2:14, there were many Kenyans in the race today.  Here is John Kagwe, a two-time winner of the New York City Marathon.

Photo 20:  And here is Joseph Chebet, who won the New York City Marathon and the Boston Marathon in 1999.

Photo 21:  Although the photos so far seem to be perfectly positioned, there was some technical legerdemain applied courtesy of Adobe Photoshop.  To give you a proper perspective of the actual working conditions, here is female winner Catherine Ndereba seen under the armpits of our big NBC Sports photographer.

Photo 22:  Here is Catherine Ndereba in close.  The John Hancock sign is above a large screen showing live video taken from the top of the finish line.

Photo 82:  Here is a photo of Catherine Ndereba from the other side of the street.

Photo 23:  There is a row of various national flags, reflecting the presence of runners from various countries in this race.  Here is a French runner going by the tricolor flag.  (Copyright warning: this photo has been copyrighted by the Central Park Track Club website (™, ®).  Unauthorized use of this photo will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.  This is our solemn promise.)

Photo 24:  This is a detailed picture of the structure above the finish line, and Craig Chilton is right about to go through.

Photo 25:  Here is one of our honeymooners, Ramon Bermo.

Photo 26:  We are not sure who this Central Park Track Club runner is (Olivier Baillet?).  The cap and sunglasses has disguised his facial features, and we don't know anyone who practices treading the white line on the road.

Photo 27:  In a large race, the photographer does her best by trying to spot the orange singlets.  It looks like Eve Kaplan is coming.

Photo 28: Considering Eve Kaplan's summary of her race ("going out in 7 minute miles (too fast), hitting an 8:22 at mile 21 where I stopped and threw up on some innocent bystander's shoes, and finished the last 10k hanging on to sub 7:40s."), why is she smiling?  Because there are just a few more steps left and she has a PR in hand.