For the second time in ten years we stayed in town for Grandma's Marathon instead of going to our cabin in Brimson. For the first time we not only went near it, we volunteered; I as an entertainer, my wife at whatever was needed.
My wife dropped me off after 7 close to my assigned place, which was the corner of Superior St. and Fifth Avenue West, by the Ordean Bldg. I went to the nearby Starbucks, which, as far as I knew, was the only coffee shop open at that time. It was convenient also, being only a block from my assigned place. I had my mug filled and bought a scone and a muffin.
I set up our chairs on one of the few level places on Fifth Avenue, pulled out my water bottles and music notebook, and stuck my jacket in the pack. I also wired myself with my iPod for any accompaniment I would want. I had only had a few bites of my scone before the leaders of the Half-Marathon were in view. They were some distant apart and so I only sang song snatches as they came around the corner. "He'll be runnin' down Superior when he comes" or if I thought the runner was Kenyan, "Amani Utupe Na Ustawi". This is the name of a song written by an American for Kenyan friends. It is Swahili for "Grant us peace, give us courage".
Only when the runners came in packs did I go to songs. Some I could do unaccompanied from memory; others I needed sheet music and iPod accompaniment. Several times I couldn't get to the selection on the iPod very quickly. It seemed my fingers just slid across the screen without doing anything. Of course, I was doing this as I held my notebook in my other hand.
I did a fair job of singing during the Half-Marathon, but my voice became strained. Still, several runners smiled as they went by and some bystanders gave me a bit of encouragement. I stopped singing probably 15-30 minutes before the Marathon leaders were due.
The first runner was well ahead of others, and people were saying he was a Minnesotan. Probably 6 of the next 8 were Africans. One of these did a double take when I sang "Amani Utupe Na Ustawi".
When the first woman came by, I was struck by her intensity. I don't think she even noticed me. I recognized her as Mary Akor who was featured in the Duluth News Tribune on Friday. As she went by I sang "Amani Utupe Na Ustawi". I don't think she even noticed me. But I thought, "Whoops, I don't think she's from Kenya". I read about her later; she's from Nigeria but now lives in California as an American citizen.
As the runners came more in packs, I started singing complete songs again. But my voice wasn't as good anymore. I missed syllables, I missed higher notes, and I sounded strained. Still, I got smiles from some runners and encouragement from some bystanders.
A dark-skinned woman made some friendly comment about my singing. I was too slow to sing the phrase "Amani Utupe Na Ustawi." However, from the snatches of her words, I would say she was American, not African.
I was on the lookout for green head bands or wrist bands, but the only green I saw was on shirts or shorts. I finally saw two guys running together, dressed almost identically. I think they had yellow shirts with some green, but they both had bright green head bands. I shouted "Ey Iran" after them, but they were out of earshot.
"Ey Iran" is a popular patriotic song often used by the opposition. You can find the lyrics at http://en.wikipedai.org/wiki/Ey_Iran and a good choral version at http://www.saeedgilani.com/EyIran.mp3. Note that the capitalization is important in the second URL and probably in the first.
I kept watching for two friends who would be coming sometime after three hours. But I had to go to the toilet, but I didn't want to miss them. Finally the first appeared, walking. He had told me that he hoped someone would sing in French, and so I sang bits of "Allouette". He gave a big grin. Quite a few minutes later the second friend appeared, running. He is Japanese, and I shouted, "Say What? Seigo! Say What? Seigo! Seigo! Seigo! Go! Go! Go!" I immediately headed for the portable toilets a half block away, and at least one was not occupied!
After I came back, I made a few attempts to sing, but it was with less and less energy. Finally, I sat in one of our chairs, pulled out my iPod, got a signal from the Radisson hotel, and caught up on the news from Iran, none of it any good.
Somewhere around noon my wife came from her post and we packed up. Runners kept coming, but most were walking. We headed toward the entertainment tent at the course end to use our beverage tickets. As we crossed the slip bridge, the volume from the tent was deafening and we were still over two hundred feet away. I suggested that we eat at Amazing Grace instead.
It was cool and relatively quiet inside, and there were still many empty tables. We plopped down by a window with our sandwiches and beverages, grateful just to sit. We could still hear the music from outside, but at least it didn't drown out conversation.
We stopped next at Northern Lights Books to pickup a book I had ordered. Another cool and quiet stop. Later I learned the temperature had gotten to 80; the last online prediction I had seen had said 70. When we came out, runners were still coming down the home stretch.
We headed up Lake Avenue to Superior Street. As we walked down Superior Street, we still saw runners; they had well over a mile and a half to go. We saw flashing lights up the course all across the road and figured that was the official closing of the race. Sure enough two patrol cars drove slowly past us, and all remaining runners were now on the sidewalk, almost all walking.
Although I had only stood in place, I dreaded even going uphill to where my wife had parked. We took a zig zag route to minimize the incline at any one point.
When we got home, it was all I could do to check up on the news from Iran and type a few notes about the day. Even today, after over nine hours of fairly good sleep, I have to overcome inertia to type this.
Will I do it again? Not next year because we have a family gathering at race time. I'm not even sure I'll do any more outdoor singing, especially busking for an hour or more. Frankly, I need to build more stamina for lots of singing. Secondly, I kept a long sleeve shirt on to avoid sunburn. I have no sunburn, but I have heat rash on one arm. Burned if you do, burned if you don't.
