Running on the 4th

As a kid, I loved the 4th of July. For me, it was about waving our nation's flag as a soldiers (both veterans and currently enlisted) and marching bands paraded by, getting together with neighbors and family for picnics with watermelon seed-spitting contests and grilled hot dogs, and finally getting to stay up late to watch the fireworks. Later, I got to march in the parades as part of a high school band and play taps at the Military cemetery. But somewhere along the way I lost my joy in Independence Day. It didn't seem so simple once I was old enough to figure out that the government didn't always work the way we were taught in school - the way Constitution said it should.

Last year I didn't celebrate Independence Day at all. The US Embassy of Mozambique did have a celebration and invited all Americans, but I was in the field working.

This year I got an opportunity, completely out of the blue, to run in the 39th annual Peachtree 10K road race in Atlanta, GA. Thanks for the number Stephanie! It doesn't sound quite patriotic, but there is a certain amount of red, white, and blue fever attached. Some run in red, white, and blue, some spectate in those colors. The national anthem was sung at the start. A group of soldiers ran the Peachtree in Iraq as we ran the streets of Atlanta. A couple of thousand people volunteered to help the race run smoothly, 55,000 people ran 6.2 miles/10K, and thousands more watched and cheered us on. A mega-parade if you will.

Waiting for the MARTA at 5am to take us to the start
55,000 people is a whole lot of runners. I thought I'd post a mini-photo essay on what it was like to run the Peachtree. I apologize in advance for some blurriness in the photos. I took them on the run.
Last minute pee break.

Lining up to start

At the start
The first mile - check out the billboard
A water station
Getting blessed and cooling off
Cardiac Hill - a slow, long uphill from mile 3 to almost mile 4
Just married
Some of the many spectators. Not all dress so silly. Lots of live bands too!
A final cool-off near mile 5.5
Taking the MARTA home all hot, sweaty and stinky

There's no finish line pictures. At that point I was exhausted after waking up at 3am to drive to Atlanta and run at 8:15am. I was also starving. With the picture taking and having fun my 6 miles took 50 minutes, but I did not walk any of it.

The Atlanta Journal Constitution, one of the sponsors has more pictures online - including some really cool bird's eye view shots of thousands of runners at the start.

Todos os Trabalhadores do Mundo

The Ideas of Marx, Engels Live the wall across the street from my apartment announces.
May Day was pretty quiet for a socialist, democratic country. I didn't even realize what day it was until I walked down to the US Public Affairs Office and found it closed. Many of the proletariat were still working - the empregadas, the trash collectors, the MCel card sellers, the tomato and banana vendors, the candy men, the cashew and peanut girls, the building guards...

Sr. Pedro, one of the 3 gentlemen who guards my apartment, laughed when I told him that I had forgotten what day it was. "Everyone around the world celebrates May Day, how could you forget?" When I told him that we didn't celebrate it in the US, he was shocked. "What about the workers? They deserve a day." Considering that he was working today, I wondered that he didn't choke on the irony of his words. I quickly recovered by telling him that we celebrate Labor Day on the first Monday of September.

But you know, it just isn't the same. I know that the Soviet communists usurped the Celtic celebrations of Beltane to turn May 1st into a day for workers and unions. And that fear of communism is why the US doesn't celebrate Labor Day on May 1. (May 1 is officially Loyalty Day in the US.) However, there's something to having solidarity with workers everywhere at least once a year. And I don't say that just because I come from a pro-Union family (teachers, steel workers, railway machinists, etc.)


Are you HIV positive?
My post generated an interesting response from my friend Josh. He wrote to say that,

"The HIV one was particularly striking. However, and I don't want to belittle the seriousness of HIV, Sen. Duane of NYS senate is an openly HIV positive man who is doing quite well. I know he has a whole world of difference in terms of health care availability etc. but the point I guess I want to make is that it is important to recognize the life in the individual, not the virus in them."

In a much more eloquent manner, Josh stated what I was trying to say with my post. HIV status passes through my brain briefly, and may return if I notice that someone is visibly ill, however, it is the life, the skills, the joy, the wisdom, and the love of the people that I interact with here in Mozambique that really matters. And that is what I focus on.

I found his comment to be an appropriate reminder today for focusing on what we can do to make the world a better place - regardless of our HIV status. So, I tip my hat to Josh, and to Todos os Trabalhadores do Mundo.