Edmonton Marathon

The Edmonton Marathon was held back on August 21st.  There were various races including the 5km, 10km, half marathon [21km] and the full marathon [42km].  Karl had entered the half marathon and we brought him down to the starting line in front of Canada Place, at 7:30AM, wearing his Austrian colors.  The start times were staggered so that all the races were going on more or less at the same time.  The half marathon started out heading west down Jasper Avenue from Canada Place.  The route swung north onto 102 Avenue and Stony Plain Road before turning south on 142 Street.  From there it wound through the older neighborhoods of Glenora and Valleyview before eventually retracing the same route back, to finish at the starting line.  It was a clear morning with a light breeze and cool temperatures... perfect for the run.
We watched Karl start out with a group of several hundred runners.  We then jumped in our vehicle and headed over to St. Georges Crescent just in time to see Karl run by... at about the 5km point of the race.  Then we headed back over to the downtown, found a parking spot and walked over to the finish area.  Karl ran the race in about the time he expected.  It was officially a time of 1:50:31 but with such a big group starting, he didn't actually cross the starting line until about 30 seconds in. Everything was over and done with before noon so we packed up and went home before the downtown area got really busy, and before the day got warmer.