Category: Relay 2008
Nearing the End
The past couple of days have been utter chaos, not because anything is going wrong, but because we don’t know what is going to happen in the next few days! Today was our first full day in Washington DC, but the relay is not complete yet. Yesterday we ran to the boundaries of the District and stopped there so we could choose a more opportune time to have, more or less, our ceremonial finish! More about that in future blogs, though!
Today turned into a sightseeing day coupled with some meet-and-greets. The first thing we did was suit up for our meeting with the people at the Genocide Intervention Network (GI-NET). These people are amazing and, to a great extent, are the reasons we were able to do this relay in the first place.
Lunch Time at GI-NET!
We had lunch (pizza!) with the wonderful staff at the Genocide Intervention Network. At first it was a bit awkward, as we were all hungry and unsure of what to talk about. However, eventually conversation got rolling; we told GI-NET about our experiences on the relay and they told us more about their organization. Mark Hanis, the Executive Director, gave us a breakdown of how the organization works and even showed us how we fit in!
The most amazing thing about GI-NET is how they manage to operate so effectively and so visibly, yet have a staff of only about 20 people with nobody over the age of 30. Interestingly enough, students at Swarthmore College founded the organization during their senior year. They truly personify our belief that nobody is too young to change the world – hopefully they think the same of us!
A Truly Sobering Experience
A few of us visited the Holocaust Museum after leaving GI-NET. Even though this was probably my fifth or sixth time there, it was just as powerful and sobering for me as it was the first time. I could go on for thousands of words analyzing and connecting what I saw there to the relay, but that is something for another time and place. To put it frankly, the Holocaust Museum defines our efforts completely; in a very concrete manner, it serves as an immutable monument to the idea that genocide should never be forgotten and, through this tribute to the past, it reminds us that we can never ignore genocide when it occurs again.
If you ever visit DC, the Holocaust Museum is one place you cannot leave off your tour stops. Be prepared to feel like your heart is being wrenched out of your body though.
A Thunderstorm Worthy of Kansas
After our small group left to catch up with everybody else, I ran into a truly epic thunderstorm: lightning, thunder, horrifyingly big rain, oh my! I dodged for cover in a lovely coffee shop to avoid getting soaked, while everybody else was dodging for cover in museums, apparently. Although I didn’t witness this personally, I was told that the Museum of Modern Art was quite “interesting.” The guys who went there especially enjoyed the blank canvases worth millions of dollars.
The rest of the night has been rather unremarkable. We ate a nice dinner, worked on some media stuff, and tried to figure out exactly what would happen tomorrow. But, alas, every day is a new adventure for us!
Old Money
Nothing spells Southern history out more clearly than the old plantations and towns. Running through, it’s pretty obvious that the people of good old rural Virginia take pride in their property, and have the money to show it off. We saw acres upon acres of luscious, neatly-cut grass– a definite indication of wealth, considering gas prices. The extravagant estates themselves also sent a strong message: “yeah, I could afford this.” Even the guest houses that we spotted along the run were impressive, with many of them two stories and equipped with a garage!
A Learning Experience
There is nothing quite like running across the country with a history teacher as your partner. As soon as we hit this one small town, Coach Rogers went historical on my butt. But I didn’t mind it at all. I told him this, and I’m saying it again in case he didn’t believe me. Hearing him describe the setting to me as only a history teacher can was a fun diversion from counting how many steps I take in one mile (which I professionally counted out to be 1207 steps). Plus just seeing a cobblestone house made me giggle.
Stop and Smell the Roses
So this town that Coach and I ran through. It had to be inhabited by some really high-strung people. For when you go through their city, they make sure you see just how much history and money is held there. Upon reaching the city limits, the speed limit dropped from 55 to 25. And then just to really make you mad, they lower it again to 15 mph. Talk about a crawl. If Coach and I ran just a little bit faster, we could have gotten a ticket. Even Eastborough has nothing on this town. And you want to know how they got away with such a ludicrous speed limit? By saying the roads were “under construction”. Guess what. There wasn’t a worker in sight, let alone any heavy equipment or wide load trucks.
Capture the Moment…Not
Soon after leaving Slowbieville, we entered DC. And just as quickly as we entered, left it. We had to get hotel accommodations squared away first. So the team took some time to unpack, and I took my chance to charge up my camera battery for what was sure to be a big day of clicking. Hundreds of photo opportunities awaited upon our reentering DC. Once everyone was cleaned up from running, the team got back into the vans and headed out to begin our sightseeing. It didn’t take long for me to find a good location for a photo. So I pulled my camera out and turned it on and . . .
Oh wait. Black screen. OH WAIT. I forgot the battery. I was thunderstruck. My first chance to take pictures of the many monuments and sites of D.C., and I forgot the battery. I would soon find out that for many of the monuments and memorials, that one day was my only chance to see them. It’s a shame I don’t have photos of some the amazing places I visited on our first day, but by not having a camera to take pictures, I forced myself to remember as much as I could. In a way, I’ll still have memories that will last a lifetime.
Intoxicating Views
Nothing starts a morning off better than the cool mountain air and a good stretch. During our warm-up, I took the liberty of surveying my surroundings, looking for any good “photo opps”. And I found one. A rock path to my left led to a pristine clearing, perfect for a complete shot of the hills and valleys. Or at least I thought. My jubilant walk over to the spot caught the attention of the others, and they too began to follow me along to the rock path…OF DEATH. The person who placed the stones down must have known that they had a tendency to slide from under your foot. I mean, come on. A little warning sign wouldn’t have hurt. But I don’t think the creator of said path was worrying about some visitors trying to climb up the hill. Either way, the whole team kept losing balance on the way up, also meaning that we almost hurt ourselves just a few days prior to reaching DC. Imminent danger didn’t matter to us though, so we just kept climbing.
Uphill Both Ways – If You’re Jacob and Michael
Realizing that the first bit of the day’s run would have some hills, we ran Jacob and Michael first because: 1) nobody wanted to run it, 2) we called nosies, 3) Darham wanted them to have the experience anyway. Starting up that hill, we all enjoyed watching them struggle for a little bit. We made it a game to predict when the next downhill would come…but that’s the funny thing, it never came. At first, we found it amusing as we kept turning corners and there was no downhill in sight. But, after about three and a half miles of consistent uphills, we realized that we should be merciful to Jacob and Michael. So, at the four-mile mark, we picked them up and stuck Matthew and Kiet out there instead. Funny enough, about a quarter mile after they started, the uphill stopped and there were nice, gentle rolling hills. I tried to feel a little sorry for Jacob and Michael, but I couldn’t!
Inclement Weather
Way to rain on our parade. During Matt and Kiets’ run, lightning made an encore entrance. And boy did it pick a perfect place to strike. The area we were in meant no cell phones, and due to the winding roads and hills, the walkie talkies we brought along were no good at the communication thing. And to top it all off, the vans were too far apart from one another to make hand signals, or smoke signals for that matter. End result? Matt and Kiet kept running while the lead van scrambled to get everyone together. But as you by now know, no one got struck by lightning.
Posing With Jared
Just a little side note, but I was able to take a picture with Jared, the poster man for Subway Inc! Ok, so it was just a cardboard cut out of him that you can find in any measly old Subway, but it was still a fun picture.
Inclement Weather: Part Duex
Matt and Kiet were sadly lucky that day. During their second run of the day, they once again brought upon the wrath of Mother Nature. Thunder and lightning made another encore (it was getting annoying by this time) and made the handoff to Coach and me the last thing the team did for a while.
Warning: 9% Grade Downhill, 5 Miles
More like throw caution to the wind. That warning only applies to big trucks and semis, not runners. Have you ever tried running 5 miles completely down a hill? Not one bit of flat land, just winding curves and descents? Well I have, and man is it exhilarating. The only problem with going downhill is the tendency to let your feet overheat, just as mine did. One and a half miles down the road, and I had to stop. Blisterous heat was taking over my right foot, and running any more could have jeopardized the rest of the relay for me. Oh, it also rained on Chris Parker’s pillow, but that’s a whole new blog post in itself.
Crazy Hills
In my previous writing, I marveled at the hills of Illinois, and detailed the trials and triumphs of running these hills. I also described Missouri’s relative flatness in comparison to Illinois. So it may seem a little odd that I am writing almost the exact same thing about Illinois in comparison to West Virginia. But West Virginia’s hills make Illinois seem like a pancake. The elevation got higher than 1400 feet, meaning steep hills that left us gasping for air, and left our legs drained of energy. Now, being a cross country runner, I consider myself a decent conqueror of hills, and hills such as those of Illinois I can coast up with relative ease. But the hills of West Virginia had me whipped, only one thing kept me at a good pace: the downhills.
One good characteristic of these hills is that they crested and immediately changed into ridiculous downhills, steeper downhills than I have ever encountered in a cross country race. At the bottom of each downhill, an immediate steep uphill cheerily greeted you, so the intense momentum of the downhill would drive you up the hill at a decent pace. This is how Michael Gurley and I came to run the fastest four-mile yet on this trip. We blasted the downhills, our legs flying, and then pounded up the hills. I felt like puking at that run’s conclusion, but it was probably good for me.
Scenery
Looking off the top of a West Virginia hill and seeing into a valley that is interrupted by hundreds of subsequent giant hills may be the most wondrous thing I have ever seen. To see what seems like miles of tree-topped hills stretching into the sky is truly a beautiful sight. I fell in love with West Virginia’s nature.
Pennsylvania
The Mighty Hills of West Virginia were tamed at the border of Pennsylvania. The hills continued, but not as severely, and the running was considerably easier in Pennsylvania. Otherwise it was not much different– though the scenery wasn’t as good.
Two Days…
Prior to writing this I was informed that we only have two more days of running. I was blown away and saddened by this news. I will miss all the states we have been through, and the experience of a lifetime that consists of running, eating, and trying to entertain oneself in a van. But I also anticipate going home to my friends and family.
