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Clean, Clear, Calm…

A couple of years back, a friend of mine asked me to "help" him run the NYC marathon. He hadn’t trained, and his plan was to enlist 5 friends to each run 5 miles with him and support him through the race. I agreed to do my part and showed up at mile 5 in Brooklyn at the appointed time. As he neared, I jumped into the sea of humanity and found a pace chugging alongside him. Despite the chill of November in New York, I quickly began to sweat out the bottle of wine and huge dinner I had the night before. I was having a blast, though – the sights, the sounds, the supporting crowds… it was incredible to be a part of that swell of energy. As we approached mile 10, though, it became clear that the appointed friend was not as punctual as I had been. Feeling good, I decided to stick with my buddy and fill the gap. I had never run 10 miles before, but what the heck. We trudged along to mile 15, where yet another recruited runner had not shown up. Breaking new ground, I agreed to keep o
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Epilogue


ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED JUNE 2003...

Back to NYC – big cars, smooth roads. Lots of ads. Driving within the lines – more order – to Buffalo for ESPN Friday night fights - "smack the rally monkey" at the fights - commercialism, crowds, "bread & circuses" - very mixed crowd, but still feels like a lot of pale skin after Africa.
Last thoughts – amazing landscape, soon to fade away – amazing animals, soon gone, sad people, racism still there. But HOW LUCKY are we? Some African people would have leapt at the chance to be homeless in USA. Try to help out, but SO many needy people and situations. Who do you help? How can you help? Does it matter at all? A drop in the bucket? We take running water, and reading and writing for granted. Peeing behind a tree! Bathrooms in the bush. Got so used to it, almost did it after eating dinner out with Cathy's family!! How far away were we? First question when we reached a big city: is America at war yet? Amazing about Sept 11th, though – people in Africa knew almost right away, despite only a radio.

Sidenote: driving thru bus wreck from July 15th or 16th in Uganda – scorched earth – scary.
Sidenote: Richard Knocker made us take off our watches for 5 days! How cool was that? Freedom!
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