Very sorry. After maybe upping my readership from 4 to 6 with the photo-a-day format, I am slipping. Yesterday, the Marathon. Today, technical failures. It's very upsetting.

Watching the Boston Marathon, an event covered around the world but mostly run on two-lane roads, always makes me want to run another marathon. I was glad not to be involved yesterday, though, when it hit 82 degrees soon after the starting gun went off. We were waiting for a friend to come by at Mile 23. She was not a competitor, but was instead running with a friend from Mile 16 to Mile 23, before passing her off to another supporter. But the friend contracted bronchitis. She was told, of course, to not run a marathon. But run she did. Five miles. Then she went to the first aid tent, where she was told, of course, to drop out of the marathon. But she decided to walk the rest of the way.

Six hours later, she pulled up to Mile 23. We were long since interested in the people straggling by. At that point, seven hours since the start, the organizers had taken down the traffic barricades, mile markers, clocks - for all we know, even the finish line. Cheering sort of felt like mocking. After all, our go-to line had been, "You're almost there!" Three miles is in view of the end to someone running a normal pace. But for someone who takes seven hours to go 23 miles, three miles means over an hour of walking to go. In traffic. Without any sort of fanfare at the end.

We gathered up our friend and went home, where I immediately went running and made plans to get in better shape. I wonder if there are stats on how many running shoes are sold on the Tuesday after Marathon Monday. On my run, I passed the South Korean National Marathon Team, which had been staying in a local church and was at that point sitting in the dark and stretching on the lawn. See, that's nice.