The flame burned brightly in the dark, pre-dawn air. It was still a bit cool before the sun came up in Austin as we started our 51 mile relay run around the city from Pleasant Valley Park. Just before we left the park to start our full day of running, a stranger rode up on his bicycle wanting to run with the Torch. Gordon Alexander had read about our run in the local paper and had planned his busy morning around being able to start early with us and get in a few miles.

By the way he was dressed we thought he may just be a biker who wanted to jog a few slow miles to carry the torch and offer his goodwill. But by the time he dressed up in his running clothes and finally took off with the Torch, accompanied by Aklilu our local coordinator here, it was obvious that he was a serious runner who wanted to get in a quality workout while carrying the Torch. Gordon carried the Torch for a full 7 miles only taking a few short water stops to break his very fast pace with Aklilu barely keeping up. By the time they had finished about an hour later, the sun had come up and the temperature was rising fast. Gordon was very grateful for the opportunity and we were grateful to him for getting us off to a good start before the heat started to slow us down.

Along the way we were also joined by our good friend and a member of our team, originally from Seattle but now living and working in Dallas, Jalal. He is only 25 years old but an experienced runner who is also training for an Ironman Triathlon. He carried the Torch 10 miles at a good training pace and also allowed us to use his car as one of the service vehicles. Jeromy’s parents and younger brother also drove out from Abilene, four hours away, to join us for a few miles. The whole family carried the Torch a few miles until Jeromy took over after they had to leave. We are very grateful to Bob, Kathy and young Josh Cheatham for their support and encouragement.

By noon it was really heating up, 86 F or about 30C. The sun beat down heavily on the hot asphalt roads as the hills began to get longer and hotter. Inevitably I would have to get out there and put in my share of miles. Luckily we were also joined by a few other local runners, inspired by the Torch and news of our events. One runner, John Castillo, is a teacher at the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired and was part of our ceremony there yesterday. He took a taxi out to the course to meet us and then ran with us for 10 miles, which is more than he usually runs.

Berrett Sandberg, another local who had read about this event and had never met us before, came out to put in a few miles. He said he usually does not run more than 3 or 4 miles a few times a week but by the time he finished accompanying us he had completed about 7 miles. Along the way we were also briefly joined by Melinda Cantu and her two children. Melinda met us at the ‘Safe Place’ meeting we had the day before as well and was quite very excited about getting a chance to run with the Torch accompanied by her children.

It was not easy to stay in the service car the whole time we took care of the runners, so Francesco and I decided to run with John when he arrived, planning to each run ten miles or so until we completed our full loop around the city. Inspired by all of our visiting runners, we both ended up running 20 hot and hilly miles to the park where we had started out nine hours earlier.

Feeling the results of over three hours in the hot sun running with a flaming Torch, we finally got to rest in the shade of the beautiful trees at Pleasant Valley Park. We eventually made it back home to a cool shower and short rest before dinner. We are extremely grateful to all those who came out to support us and carry the Torch to spread goodwill and harmony around this lovely city of Austin.

We ended theevening with a wonderful meal at Aster’s Ethiopian Restaurant. Aster and her daughter Judy held the Torch outdoors with us as Judy, a novice runner with plenty of enthusiasm, got so excited as she held the Torch that she almost started to run away from her workplace carrying the Torch. She promised that she would run with us the next time we come to this area with the Torch. All of us hope that it will be soon as Austin has been truly welcoming, encouraging and inspiring to us in many, many ways in the past few days.

Gratefully,

Arpan, Francesco, Bangshidhar

---

Harmonemail:
You can send a message to the runners or read the messages.

< USA 11 May

USA 13 May >