There's No Place Like Home

If there was any worry that I wouldn't be motivated to run after my extended layoff, the past hour has extinguished that idea completely. I showed up early to the CIM finish line to watch the elites finish before starting my shift at the Chips chow tent. I've never really been a spectator before, so I didn't really know what to expect.

Watching the top men finishers approach the finish, soaked and in obvious pain from the cold, wet conditions, have me the strangest feeling. I got an incredible urge to be soaked, achy, and an hour from finishing marathon number six.

That intense desire is more for the incredible feeling at the finish line. That combination of pain, sweat and accomplishment is unrivaled by anything else. Watching the elites finish CIM with the most agonized race faces on gave me that peculiar, teary-eyed longing for my own finish line.

In a word, I'm an addict. There's no place like a marathon finish line!

Top male (back) and male relay (front) finishers approach the finish line, at 2:13