My wife ran in the Prague half marathon today. Well, she ran as part of a 4 woman relay, which means she ran a 5k. I’m still really proud of her. Not because she’s a great athlete. She’s not. Still, she stepped up and participated. Admittedly, she did it because the other girls at work were doing it but she did her bit, she trained for it, she got through it and she actually had a respectable time. So, I’m proud.
I enjoyed watching it. We waited for her at her end point, which was at 15 kilometers.
Every Runner is a Hero
We saw the first runners almost as soon as we left our neighborhood. These were the speediest runners and, as expected, a great percentage of them were African. I’d planned on walking to the checkpoint, but decided against it. Too complex. We’d have to either cross the route or skirt it.
So, we took the tram to Palmovka and walked across Libensky bridge. It is a lovely spring day today and everywhere you go in Prague, there are always lovely and interesting views. While crossing the bridge, we saw the main body of runners, a parade of great athletes. These were the people who were still all running, over half-way through. They were lean, they were fit, they were young for the most part. It was an impressive sight.
We got to the check point and waited, while the parade of people, the stream, the seemingly endless mass of moving legs, pumping arms and flushed, determined faces moved past us. I was surprised at the number and tried to do a quick crowd estimate by counting one hundred runners, which took me less than a minute. We’d been there at least 20 minutes at that point, and it had taken us about 10 minutes to get there. It had to be several thousand, at least. (My wife told me later there were 9,000). 18,000 legs moving despite their aches, 18,000 lungs sucking in the oxygen, 9,000 hearts pumping fiercely, 9,000 minds thinking “Jesus motherfucking Christ how in the world did I ever let myself get talked into this?” It was a magnificent and inspiring sight.
Human beings, individually, are frail things. Mankind is a mighty machine, a juggernaut, a colossal force of nature. If we could harness that energy for good, there is no limit to what we could accomplish. Watching a marathon makes me proud to be a member of the human race. It really does.
www.gurukalehuru.com 
I’ve run a few large races in Chicago, New York and Seattle and the mass of humanity is both inspiring and infuriating: why do the 8:00 and slower people insist on starting so close to the front, slowing down the whole field? At the same time, dodging past those folks is part of the fun. Another big part is the post-race snacks. When my son was small, he loved grabbing the goodies from the vendors in Grant Park. It was much like a mob scene, but exciting since the worst thing that might happen was that you didn’t get a strawberrry yogurt if someone beat you to it.
5k is too short for a 4-man team doing a marathon. Marathons are roughly 40k. Did she team up on a half marathon?