The run!

First off, the hotel I stayed at was a perfect location for the run. All I had to do was walk out the front door, turn left, and walk about 300 yards and I was in the midst of the start line. Perfect location.
I was a bit nervous about the race but feeling good. I was confident I would be able to finish it and still have fun along the way. My outfit turned out a bit different than I had planned. Somehow my tan grass skirt either didn't get packed or got lost along the trip. So I only had the blue one. luckily, I had been donated a bikini top from a friend as a back up and that worked great. It even matched the skirt. Along with that I had a pink floral print wrist band. It didn't last long on the wrist though because the backing to it was neoprene and it just caused sweating. Looked good though.
The start line festivities were interesting. They had rigged up two tripods about 100 yards apart and run a wire between them. Hanging from the wire was this contraption with a seat on it and a motor with a propeller. The motor wasn't mounted, just free standing with a handle & throttle. I bet the US and OSHA would not have allowed this. But, in France, it was a hit. It was entertaining to see him going back and forth over the crowd. In addition to this they had 4-5 women up on platforms with numbers counting down the minutes until the start.