I’m in my September.

Monday, Twin Cities In Motion tweeted this:

City officials have informed us that the St. Paul chapter of Black Lives Matter is planning a disruptive protest... https://t.co/2YdLobau5S

— TwinCities In Motion (@tcmarathon) September 28, 2015

Yesterday, Nina forwarded an article from Runner's World,

Black Lives Matter Says It Plans to Disrupt Twin Cities Marathon

"Our plan is just to disrupt business as usual and try to create as much awareness as possible," [organizer Rashad Turner of Black Lives Matter St. Paul] told Runner's World.

"Our hopes are that when the marathon runners reach us at the finish line, instead of being more concerned with finishing the marathon, that they’ve been able to do some critical thinking throughout this week and understand how powerful it would be if we all stood together in solidarity against the injustices that are plaguing our society and plaguing the community right here in St. Paul, Minnesota.”

- Runner's World, 9/29/2015 

Runners World states the activists intend to "stop runners from finishing the marathon."

Distance: 3 miles
Duration: 23:22
Avg Pace: 7:46
Route: Forest Hills Loop

I approve of civil disobedience, and am a supporter of the Black Lives Matter campaign. As has been pointed out, time and again, the only appropriate time for BLM to have their voices heard is at a specific time in a specific place of someone else's choosing where no one can hear them except those who already agree.

Having openly criticized those supporters of Bernie Sanders who got the vapors over BLM disrupting one of his events (wrong time, they said, wrong place) I do not feel it is my place to criticize the proposed Oct. 4 protest at the marathon. Why is our event sacrosanct?

However, I will say it makes me uneasy because it is a marathon, and we have had a big city marathon "disrupted" quite recently and I regret the comparison this action will create. I have assumed that security at the finish line of any large scale marathon would be higher since Boston, and I do not want anyone to get hurt.

Having said that, I wish them luck in stopping me, because I do intend to finish and as you know, I am fast. However, after I cross that finish line I'd be happy to listen to anyone who cares to have a conversation.

Temperature: 59°
Climate: misty, light rain
Weight: 157 lbs.
Intake: bagel w/cream cheese & preserves
Hydration: yes

What's That Lyric?
No Sympathy From the Devil - Public Enemy

I know it's growing strong.

No kids in the house, no lunches to be packed nor breakfast to be served.  Time for a morning run.
 
Temperature: 60°
Distance: 2 miles
Climate: cool, rainy & damp

"I'm gonna finish this race on my hands and knees if I have to."
- Kathrine Switzer

Sorry, I have already played the 1967 playlist this year ... so in honor of Kathrine Switzer, the first woman to (officially) run the Boston Marathon (1967) how about this:

1969 Playlist
Come and Get It - Badfinger
Sour Milk Sea - Jackie Lomax
Bad Moon Rising - Creedence Clearwater Revival
Ain't That Cute - Doris Troy
Sweet Caroline - Neil Diamond
Friendship Train - Gladys Knight and the Pips

On the upbeat.

"Every mile out there is a gift."
- Amby Burfoot

As it turns out, I will not be available to run the Earth Day 5K this Wednesday evening. I will also be unable to participate in this event, sponsored by Second Sole. It is not a race, it is a group run, and they will be selling shirts and stuff with all proceeds going to assist those affected by the Boston Marathon tragedy.

Temperature:38°
Climate: Snowed this morning, but the sun came out for me.
Distance: 3.25 miles

1978 Playlist
Who Are You? (155 bpm) - The Who
Jungle Love - Steve Miller Band
Double Vision - Foreigner
The Model - Kraftwerk
Next To You (172 bpm) - The Police
The Beat - Elvis Costello & The Attractions
Shadow Dancing - Andy Gibb
Got To Be Real - Cheryl Lynn

Five more years in the 47 Playlists for 47 Years series ... what should I include for 2013?

Go out into the world.

There's not anything I can contribute to the responses to the tragedy at the Boston Marathon that has not already been said, better or worse, than anyone else. It's just horrible.

I will admit I was thinking recently, what's next? I mean, this week, I was wondering when the next event would occur. There have been so many, for so long. But this is not some kind of "new normal". These things have always happened.

Running on Tuesday morning, the morning after, heading down Taylor, listening to Let The Sunshine In, I was reminded that on April 25, 1971 -- 42 years ago next week -- someone threw an incendiary device at the entrance to the Hanna Theatre, which may or may not have had something to do with the production of Hair which was currently playing.

The year before that, someone (neither of these crimes were ever solved) blew up Rodin's The Thinker outside the Cleveland Museum of Art. These things have happened before. They will happen again. I realize the difference in these examples, of course, is that those targets were things, and not people. But they were hardly the only planned acts of violence of their era.

When an attack like this is perpetrated, the specifics of where it happens can be relevant, or not. The midnight showing of a violent superhero movie is a symbolic place to kill and maim a lot of people, or not. It is definitely a place to find a lot of people. Like a tall building. Like a school.

The assault at a sporting event, at the finish line of a race, makes it very visible, and deadly. Because it was a running race, however, and a marathon, makes it personal to me. There were those who asked if I were all right -- me, in particular, they wanted to know on the off chance I was there, or if I knew people who were, was I all right? I didn't even know how to respond to these queries. I couldn't. Yes, I'm fine, thank you. People think of me as one who runs marathons ... so, they asked me, I guess.

Following Hurricane Sandy, and the cancellation of the New York Marathon, I have had a plan to apply for those (presumably) few spaces available when the lottery opens later this month. First of all, I would like to run the NY Marathon again, but after the cancellation last November, this year's should be a uniquely amazing celebration.

But that was a natural disaster, not a terrorist attack. The desire to run the Boston Marathon has already been expressed by others I know, and I share it. I never considered Boston, never thought I might qualify. Then again, I never thought I could run a marathon at all, ever.

The reasoning is different, however. I was a toddler when people were chucking bombs to "protest" something or other. An anonymous, public act of terror is inflicted not to make a statement, but to make people afraid. Fear is the greatest device against freedom. Fear makes people flee the city, look sideways at those who look different, deny rights, carry weapons. Fear makes people hide, speak bitterly of others, and close off.

We will not fear. We live to go outside, into crowds, to be with others, unarmed, and unafraid. Because that is what live free or die actually means.

Temperature: 64°
Climate: balmy
Distance: 5.15 miles

1998 Playlist
Closing Time - Semisonic
Spybreak! - Propellerheads
Super Disco Breakin' - Beastie Boys
Sexy Boy - AIR
MMMBop - Hanson
One Week - Barenaked Ladies
Chair - Sister Soleil
Jump Jive An' Wail - Brian Setzer Orchestra
Metal Firecracker - Lucinda Williams
Sea of Heartbreak - Johnny Cash
Millennium - Robbie Williams

“Running is about finding your inner peace, and so is a life well lived.”

― Dean Karnazes

Temperature: 59°

Climate: perfect spring morning
Distance: 3.25 miles

1968 Playlist

America Is My Home, Pt. 1 - James Brown

Think - Aretha Franklin

Son of a Preacher Man - Dusty Springfield

These Days - Nico

Lady Madonna - The Beatles

Crossroads - Cream

I Will (alt. take) - The Beatles

Hurdy Gurdy Man - Donovan

Daydream Believer - The Monkees

Let The Sunshine In - "Hair" Original Broadway Recording