Bix7 2009

Davenport has an annual festival on the last full weekend in July. It is the Bix Jazz Festival. There are bands all over on every street corner, concerts, food, booths etc. The reason that we have gone down almost every year for the last 9 years or so is the Bix7, a seven mile run through the city. Around 18,000 people run this race annually. Sarah has run it since she was in high school (of course she couldn't do it this year, she didn't even go down)

If you aren't familiar with Davenport, it is a river city along the Mississippi. The start of the race is about 2 blocks from the river. It runs up a steep steep hill for the first mile. It winds around for 6 miles then for the 7th mile comes back down a hill just like this one. I have never been much of a runner, but I can't imagine my knees would do this hill running at all, much less after 6 other miles!

As far as you can see there are people running. Some of the ones that start in the back take 5 minutes or so to just get to the starting line! It really is neat to just watch the people go by.

And go by. And go by. Here's Matt at the start. I always try to get them to have something on that's bright because it is very hard to see them in the crowd.

After the start we get in the car and go to about half way through to see if we can see them again. Otherwise you are just standing around for an hour or so. It passes the time.  I think Matt is somewhere in the back of this one, but I couldn't find him again after I took the picture.

He wouldn't let me post the one from the end of the race. After 7 miles, he was a bit sweaty and tired, but I got one later anyway.

After the race all the runners go through a fenced area with snacks and energy drinks, etc. to get them hydrated again. But I think this one had one of the longest lines.  And remember, the race starts at 8:00 AM, so this was around 9:30 or so.

And I don't really know what about this one. I don't really associate Oscar Meyer with a 7-mile run?

They have a company that runs around and takes as many pictures of the runners as possible along the route, especially at the finish line, then they post these online according to bib number and sell them back to you. They have a great vantage point, but can you imagine trying to take pictures of 18,000 people all running under you?

I looked at Matt's pictures online this morning and they are much better than anything I could take, just from the great angle that they are at. And they have others at the actual finish line that are pretty good.

Matt shaved a few minutes off last year's time, so I think he was happy about that. It was a cool morning and a great day to watch a race.