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Posted by gary on January 1, 2008, 10:04 pm
we knew, who cares. I thought we had an energy crisis? The sign said it all, get an even bigger truck, one with 8 trillion horse power with even more ft. pounds of towing power just in case you might want to toss a rope around Hawaii and move it closer to California just because you can. "We NOW have diesel" said the sign at mile 3 in big red letters on an even brighter yellow background, who could miss that, I couldn't and it was still friggin dark out.
I like running and I especially like something called 'journey running'. I first heard about this technique from a article that the late Ted Corbitt wrote. Running just to accumulate miles is one thing but running to go actually get somewhere is another. Running the Boston Marathon course on new years day is a journey run, the first steps are what I image jumping out of an airplane must be like, I know I wouldn't and couldn't turn back even if I wanted to.
Framingham Mass is a blue collar town. They work hard you can tell by the industrial and gritty edge of this place. Who knew it is also home to the Mass state champion drama team? I didn't and wouldn't have except I saw the sign myself near mile 5. Wonder if the are called Framingham drama queens? Meanwhile Natick (more blue blood than Hathaway shirt collars here) has a sign near mile 10 saying they are home to the Mass state Champion boys Volleyball team.(note: here in ME we DO NOT play BOYS volleyball.) So in Framingham you can watch a suspenseful performance by their most excellent drama squad. While the tough boy volleyballers of Natick might gouge your eyes out with Daddy's platinum card, how weird. I wouldn't and haven't ever seen these signs during the real Boston Marathon. See what I mean about journey running you get to see and enjoy new stuff while you travel, whereas your daily loop is like, new day, same old everything along the same old road.
One of the best parts about true journey running is you are not a slave to time. As long as you are moving forward you are doing your job. I wore a watch, mostly out of habit and could see almost every BAA km and mile mark. I even dutifully clicked my watch but in the big picture who cares. I may purge the memory of my watch for you to do an autopsy on or I might not. This run wasn't about hours, minutes and seconds. This particular year beginning run is about looking at this infamous course through fresh eyes while quietly saluting the deep history of a stretch of very historic road where so many dreams have been realized and where even more have been crushed.
Signs, so many to look at. Most make me wonder, how about Voyager street? I was easily 20+ miles from the ocean. Did Christopher Columbus really discover Framingham Mass? Maybe they misspelled it and they all prefer to watch?? I'll never know and I bet the folks who live on this street don't know or care. If you are a marathon runner then you are a voyager and a voyeur, get used to it, I have. I like to watch and I like to participate.
to be continued....
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