The Quad Cities Marathon started at 7:30 AM this morning and 2 hours and 19 minutes later the winner crosses the finish line. More photos later …

That’s how I started off the blog entry this morning …

After hanging out at the finish line watching all the marathoners, 1/2 marathons, and relay teams come in … I discovered that the story today isn’t about the winner, the women’s winner, or even the finishers. Today’s story is really about Joe Moreno. I haven’t been around this event much before, but I had a blast today. There is just a whole lot of energy and feeling of accomplishment here. And the energy seems to flow from Race Director, Joe Moreno. This photo shows him congratulating and cheering on the women’s winner. He did this for every single finisher … and he seemed to know everyone by name. Every finisher got a personal “high five” and “great job” from Joe. You can tell he just has great passion for this event and is really, really enjoying himself today.

Great event Joe! Thank YOU for all of your passion, energy, and hard work that made this such a successful, and truly enjoyable event.

And … a few photos of the day …

Jared Requet makes a good gain early in the Moline High School Homecoming Football game Friday night. Moline scored on their opening drive and then had some challenges until late in the game. They almost pulled it out. Here are some photos of the evening.

The Moline Homecoming parade winds it’s way down 23rd Avenue (oops, I mean Avenue of the Cities). The highlights include the kids, bands, board members, and of course Ray’z Barber Shop VW Microbus. Here are a few of the photos I captured.

Celebrating the last weekend of summer, Short Hills held the annual cardboard regatta. The quality of the boats this year is definitely up … as well as consumption of duck tape. Is there cardboard inside there???

As you can see, everyone had a great time.