Friday, March 25, 2005
One more, just for fun. This was somewhere in the first 10k, I think, probably before we crossed the railroad tracks just ahead of the long, long freight train that cut off the people in the pack trailing us. (That's my glove on the left edge of the photograph.) The event is timed the way it is because they can't run it when the Seaway is open. A few years back a barge carrying emergency coal came down the Seaway as the race was going over the liftbridge, just like in a cartoon. It is not exactly clear to me how this race comes by the title "Oldest in North America"-- the event that it traces itself back to was run on Christmas Day, 1894,and the course has changed several times, as has the distance. When I pointed this out the Canadians I was running with all acted hurt, so I recanted. They are a sensitive bunch, and if things keep on in this country the way they have been, I may have to move there, so I don't want to upset them unnecessarily. (If you really want to waste time on this, there is a movie, which captures the event pretty well. Watch for the Bunny on the bridge-- I'm over to his left.
