The race began and we were off. I needed to hold the corner of the flag for the first few miles so it wouldn't flap somebody in the face. When there is that many people running, it stays pretty crowded for several miles. Now if you can picture the excitement of thousands of people, most of which were wearing garbage bags, finally getting to start their goal they've been working toward for four months. Can you hear it? No Blue Angels this year due to the weather. Just the shuffling of many, many sneakers on pavement with plastic swishing, and a few shout-outs as we left the start area. I noticed a woman looking on wearing her military outfit watching the flag as is passed. I thought, "yep, this is for you!"
One of the first runner's to talk to me, was a man from Atlanta. He was curious, as so many were, why I was carrying the flag, how I had trained for it, and if I had done this before. He thought it was pretty cool, thanked me, and wished me luck.
Another man, who had run 13 marathons, caught up with me. We chatted for a few miles. He asked the same questions, and was especially curious how I was going to solve the problem of not using my arms like I normally would without the flag. The arm swing is a crucial element of running, especially long distance running. I told him that I simply alternate hands with the flag every mile or so. Then told me how his past experiences have been with so many marathons. He'd run Grandma's before and knew exactly where the "Elvi" were which we were quickly approaching. Anyone who had ran Grandma's knows what I am talking about. There are always more than one Elvis in a group somewhere before mile 13. There is, of course, Elvis music accompanying these wonderful performers. Any way to get marathoners to get their mind off of any negative thoughts (like the distance still ahead or pain they might be experiencing) is a welcome sight!
The first 17 miles are pretty slim as far as spectators, simply because it is not easy to get to these locations along the route. The weather certainly didn't help! But, when there were people, they were cheering, clapping, giving out high-fives, holding signs, ringing cow bells...it was a refreshing sound and sight.
It seemed that as one person would leave my side after a nice chat, another would slide in. I welcomed the conversation. What wonderful people they all were! Otherwise, all that is heard for those first 17 miles is the shuffling of feet on asphalt, and in this case the waves of the lake, once in a while. So picture this, try to visualize about 50 runners around you, all so very focused on their big goal, and the only thing breaking the silence of the beautiful North Shore nature is a hundred feet all around you shuffling on the road. Then, a spunky young gal came up alongside me. She had headphones on with her music pretty loud. She raised her hands to give me a double thumbs-up and shouted, "I THINK IT'S SO GREAT WHAT YOU ARE DOING! THAT'S AWESOME!" I gave her a thumbs-up back and kept running as did she. That kept a smile on my face for quite a while.
It seemed anyone that passed me, thanked me. Some mentioned to me that they were vets themselves and really appreciated my gesture. Others who passed just thought it was just plain cool! Some had seen the news report on TV. A Canadian man shook my hand and thanked me for running for America. He thought is was pretty cool I'd do that for my country.
Maybe around mile 10 or so, there was a group with megaphones, announcing how all of us runners need to repent and give our lives to Jesus. How we can all have a clean slate with Him. Now, I'm a Christ follower, but I don't know that this was the appropriate time or place to be telling these people, who were trying to run 26 miles and focused on other things, to repent and change their ways. A girl who was running with me, said to them, "I don't feel like being preached too!" I guess I couldn't blame her. My feeling is that, if Jesus were there, he would have been cheering us on to accomplish our goal, and loving each of us as he did it. One of the megaphone people shouted, "Did you know that someone died for you?" In no disregard to Christ, I felt like saying, "Did you know that more than one person has died for us! That's why I'm carrying this flag!" But I didn't...I just kept running.
Around mile 15 or so, I had passed a man dressed as Uncle Sam. He had something posted on his back referring to a political opinion. He had a wig and hat plus a red, white and blue vest with matching shorts. Once I was ahead of him, I heard him say, "I want YOU to marry ME! You're my girl!" I answered, "I'm taken, sorry!" And kept running... it did make me smile, though. I mean, how often do you get proposed to while running??
About a mile later, out of the silence I spoke of before, I heard in song format, "There she is...Miss America!" It turned out to be a retired champion boxer by the name of Zach Walters. We talked for about a mile or two. He told me how he had just retired, but might want to box some more because he loved it so much, so for now, he wanted to run a marathon. He was intrigued to learn that my grandfather, Francesco Montanari, was the welterweight champion boxer of Italy, Spain & France. You just never know what you might have in common with random people around you. One thing we do know is that in the USA, we are all united with FREEDOM!
As we approached Duluth, spectators who were sitting, silently stood, removed their hats, and covered their hearts. If they were in uniform, they saluted. No one asked them to do so, they chose to, without calling attention to themselves, just for the sake of being grateful for what this flag represented. This single gesture is what gave me goosebumps more than anything. So humbling. So wonderful. I couldn't wait to find what lay in store in the remaining of the race...
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