But, we really enjoyed watching and cheering the ca. 3000 runners who participated. We met Sherry early in the day (after a substantial walk, because large parts of town were closed to bus traffic because of the race) at one of her friend's houses, who lives right on the route. They apparently have a tradition of cheering and were well equipped!
Alex found the spread of noisemakers - slash - kids instruments particularly impressive. (I have often thought that kids instruments really are primarily noisemakers, but have never had the chance to use them in a sports contest like this.)
There were also balloons and we got busy with the other folks readying ourselves for about 45 minutes of cheering. But then the first runners appeared!
One of the hosts had created this tuft of balloons on a long stick which he dangled over the street and many runners tried to jump and hit it with their hands. It helped that our location was only a few kilometers into the race which would later include two major climbs up local mountains on both sides of the Neckar (more than 300 meters in altitude total)! I doubt the runners would have had the energy to jump at the end of the race, but then again, I know nothing about running.
Alex switched out noisemakers several times. Here he is working a triangle to great (loud!) effect. You can see the runners whizzing by him in the background.
Yet, at some point, it had all lost its interest for him and he settled into drawing with chalk on the sidewalk.
After the race, Alex got to take home one of the purple balloons and Sherry and I rewarded ourselves with a yummy breakfast at a local bakery. We sure did get hungry watching all those runners ...
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