Cowtown Half Marathon

• One of these days, perhaps too soon, I won't be able to do it anymore. But for now, it remains one of my favorite days of the year.
• So did I finish? Yep. Did I walk at all? Nope. What was my time? 1:59:42. My fastest time since starting the half marathon four years ago. Let me brag for a moment.
• Favorite sign held by a little girl: "You Are All Kenyans In My Eyes."
• There were a bunch of real cheerleaders at one mile marker.
• Followed by a group doing the "Thriller" dance in full costume.
• The weather was absolutely fantastic. You'd think 40 degrees would be miserable but throw in no wind and the sun, and you have a glorious day.
• I jog with an iPod with about 40 songs on it in the shuffle mode. When I hit the finish line in Dallas last December, the ending song from Slumdog Millionaire was playing. The same thing happened this year. Odd and cool.
• I get a little emotional during the first half mile and the last half mile. It's just a recognition, as I get older, of the preciousness of life and health.
• I'm not sure what happened on the Kids 5K, but all of them got off course and and, although crossing the finish line, ran only about 60% of it.
• I heard Judge Cude's voice about 200 miles yards (oops) from the finish line and he snapped a pic. I haven't seen it yet.
• Speaking of, his son David finished in 1:19:50 for 17th place overall.
• Thomas Aaaberg, the attorney who advises our commissioners' court, ran the full marathon in 3:16:50. That's one minute short of qualifying for the Boston Marathon.
• All Decatur finishers here. (And you can search for other towns.)