we are on hour 78.
it is, of course, only incidental
since the race is about competition and not records
but how can anyone not watch the record grow closer and closer and want to see it broken!

i am proud of the field for accomplishing what they have out here,
it is only natural,
when so many of our friends and great athletes are unable to attend
that the ones who were here wanted to lay down performances that lived up to the standards of championship competition.
nothing can replace having them all here
but i think the athletes who were here
have honored the ones who were not
by the way they played the game.