As I reached the top of a hill Saturday at the Wamego Country Club, in-between sad, pathetic, out-of-shape breaths, I asked a woman next to me where the finish line was.

In-between similar breaths as mine, she mumbled something I couldn’t understand and pointed to my left.

I took her word for it and started jogging in that direction.

When I realized the runners I was trying to beat to the finish line so I could get a picture were nowhere in sight, I knew I could walk the rest of the way.

For spectators, so goes the 1-4A Kansas state cross country meet.

It’s as if there were two races taking place. One was the obvious, which included the high school athletes who qualified with their regional times. The other, is the crowd of spectators, which easily was in the low-hundreds.

Those who have come to watch wait silently for the starter to fire the gun.

After the runners are past the crowd, everyone takes off in the opposite direction.

Their hope is to beat the runners to a certain point so they can catch a glimpse of “their” runner or runners.

When they see their runners, it’s off to another spot for the spectators.

It really is quite a spectacle to see the mob running across the golf course, some with cameras, others with kids on their shoulders.

The 3A girls’ race, which included Marion High School’s Camille Christensen, began at 9 a.m. when the grass still was wet.

I was amazed at the athleticism of the spectators, none of which managed to slip while running their “race.”

Some of them were really into the spirit of running. At one point, I was walking up a hill looking at some of the pictures I had taken, when an apparent father of one of the runners came up beside me.

As he was sprinting past he yelled, “Come on Dad, get into it.”

Yes, I am a father, but come on; I graduated from high school nine years ago. Did he really think I had a daughter in the race?

I just chuckled and moved on, realizing I had a ways to go before reaching the finish line.

After some jogging, followed by some walking and more jogging, I reached the end to get a picture of Christensen with about three minutes to spare.

When the 3A boys’ race, which included Ryan Jones and Louis Holt of MHS, began, I realized I didn’t know exactly where I needed to be to get shots because the race is farther than the girls’.

So, I decided to follow the mob once again. Up and down hills, through tall grass and slippery fairways, I was on a mission to find the two Warrior boys.

After a few shots, it was back to the finish line, which is the same for all races.

As I found my spot at the end amongst fellow photographers, I looked around and realized something rather amusing.

I wasn’t the only one breathing a little harder than normal.