The first bit of the OBX was running through Kitty Hawk. Greg, Olga and I ended up running together for the Kitty Hawk phase. I was a little worried for Greg at first, but he wanted to stay with us. I have to admit that the three of us had a great time chatting and running.

The beginning of a race is always a great time. The runners are in a good mood, we still have energy, and there's usually spectators still out to cheer us on. Maybe some of the faster runners see spectators throughout the entire race, but I don't know anything about that.

The OBX Marathon had a pirate theme going on this year. I wouldn't be surprised if that's the theme for them every year, because the area used to be a hangout for pirates like Black Beard and the Lost Colony Pirates. When we signed up, the people putting on the race encouraged everyone to wear pirate costumes. I would have done that, but I decided that it would be smarter for me to wear running gear, because 26.2 miles is a long way to hobble on a wooden leg.

The spectators on the other hand didn't have to run very far. Some of them only had to go to the end of their driveways to see us. So that meant that some of them could wear pirate costumes and not be really inconvenienced. Those people are awesome, and they really made running fun.

While we were running I couldn't help but to compare the OBX Marathon with the Marine Corps Marathon. I really liked the OBX feel a lot more than the MCM feel. I don't know if it was the spectators, the area (beach instead of city), or the number of people, but I really liked the start of the OBX Marathon.