Runners crowd around Browns Stadium, starting line for today's Cleveland Rite Aid Marathon

Nearly 19,000 runners were registered for this morning's 34th annual Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon, Half Marathon and 10K. Runners will be on the starting line at 7 a.m. for the Marathon and Half Marathon at 7:15 for the 10K. Watch video

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- It's going to take more than a blinding wall of mist to dampen the spirit of thousands of runners getting ready for  34th annual Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon, Half-Marathon and 10K.

The roads are blocked off, the runners are stretching and milling  around inside and outside the ballpark and everyone seems primed to run. 

The marathon and half-marathon are set to begin at 7 a.m. 

Race watchers were also able to track runners online this year, including Zachary Lewis of The Plain Dealer.

The 10K starts at 7:15 and Kenyans are again expected to dominate the competitive 10K; the winner should be across the line no later than 7:45 this morning.

On the women's side, look for Kenyans Everlyne Lagat and Rispier Gesabwa and American Allison Grace-Morgan.

In the men's 10K the winner could come from this group: Kenyans Festus Langat (last year's runner-up), Aron Rono (third in 2010), Richard Kandie, Julius Kiptoo, Sammy Rotich and Moses Waweru.

Among the Americans, 1st Lt. Kenneth Foster, of the U.S. Army's World Class Athlete Program, will be competitive in the men's race and twins Tara and Kara Storage of the Dayton area.

The course records are 2:10:29 for the men, set in 2000, and 2:30:15 for the women, set in 1998.

Staff writer Bill Lubinger contributed to this story.

e-mail: mscott@plaind.com

on Twitter @MichaelScott81

Source: http://www.cleveland.com/marathon/index.ssf/2011/05/thousands_of_runners_crowding.html

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