Yesterday was a beautiful day in Boston and everyone who could showed up. Either to run or to watch. I don't live too far from the finish line so I walked over later in the day as the late arrivals were heaving across the end marker, showing the pain but also the joy in having completed the task.Many in the four deep crowd remained, cheerfully applauding each competitor, taking their photos, and straining to try to find Lance Armstrong who was running for the first time.
It was a peaceful and contented crowd, and a moving positive event.
This morning when I went by the same location the barriers were down, the litter mostly picked up, remnants of the race largely gone. By tomorrow the area will be returned to normal.
I was thinking about all that while I am getting ready to watch the results in another long-distance race... in Pennsylvania. This one is is different though. By tomorrow when the results are in, and the crowds gone, we most likely still will not know the winner --- only the losers. Us. As usual.
In that marathon the garbage will long remain, the ugly aftermath will linger, barriers still up, the political pollution continuing to foul the air and diminish our possibilities.
