It is the worst spectator sport of all. One sees the runners for a minute; they disappear; are seen again, hurtling in a foggy distance, their singlet colors suddenly flashing brokenly between stands of trees; then nothing for ten or twelve minutes; finally, in a long, ragged stream, gasping and lunging, heads bobbing on narrow shoulders, they appear again, straining to finish at the original starting line- usually in a desperate and disjointed sprint, each trying to gain a place or two at the finish.