This past Sunday I went into London to experience the craziness that is the London Marathon!  As promised, there was an excitement in the air, bands playing and people everywhere.  Since this was my first time witnessing the London Marathon, I just picked a spot on the 26.2 mile course and ended up between miles 22 and 23, across from the Tower of London.  I arrived early enough to see some of the elite female runners and all of the elite male runners.  While it was fun to cheer them on, cheering on the non-professionals was more fun.  I was quite impressed with how good most of the runners looked with just over three miles left to go!  Most of them were still going strong.  Julie had told me about some of the crazy costumes people wore, and this year's runners didn't disappoint.  I saw several Elivises, numerous Scooby Doos, and a few Fred Flintstones.  A group of guys were running chained together and wearing prison costumes.  Spongbob made an appearance as did a number of Supermen.  There was even an old guy wearing a grass skirt and a bra he had made out of two large plastic shells and twine!  (Sorry, didn't get a photo of him!)  I can't imagine running for 26 miles, let alone doing it in full costume in temperatures reaching around 70.  I was quite impressed with the dedication and training that the runners put in.  Alot of them had also raised money for many worthy charities.  And while I saw more sweaty old men than I had bargained for (including a couple in man thongs...) it was great fun to be able to cheer all the runners on and encourage them to keep going.  I really must make it to Edinburgh in May to see Julie run (and finish) her first marathon.

In other news, I have finally completed and submitted my Term 2 essays!  Whew!  For some reason, these two were much more brutal than those from the first term.  I knew the one would be tough due to the lack of available sources (I only chose that topic because I can also use the research for my dissertation), but the other proved to be just as challenging.  But now they are done and I can finally return the giant stack of books to the library.  All that is left to do is my dissertation.  I have to jump right in if I want to be done by the beginning of September.  I can hardly believe that it is the end of April already...this year is going fast!