Hi Bob!

On the walk down from the athletes village to the start line, I struck-up an acquaintance with a guy about my age named Robert from El Paso. We had a lot in common since we had both been in the Marine Corps and knew some of the same places.

His number was in the 12-thousands and mine in the 9's, so we had to go off to different corrals. Actually, I could have moved back to his and probably would have if I had thought of it at the time. Anyway, it would have worked out well, had I done this since his time was 1:14 better than mine. I am pretty sure I could have done a bit better if I had someone to run with. In fact we might have both had better times since I ran a faster pace at the beginning and the time he gained was all in the last couple of miles. I could have spurred him on at the start and he could have returned the favor at the end.

I never saw him even though he had a faster time because the times are net and he probably crossed the start line a minute and a half or two behind me.