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Wednesday, July 4, 2007
Miles of red, white and brews
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
Fortunately, for the nation’s psyche, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Peachtree Road Race is equal parts serious, fun and goofy. Otherwise, the bosses of the Atlanta Track Club would have to ponder whether to move their event to Nairobi or something.
Once again, an American wasn’t the fastest among men in sneakers from Buckhead to Midtown on a Fourth of July. Once again, a slew of Kenyans dominated the thing. Once again, most of the other 55,000 runners couldn’t care less.
The same was true for the thousands on Wednesday who yelled themselves red, white and blue along the journey to Piedmont Park.
“Almost there.”
“Finish strong.”
“Only a few more yards to go, and you’re done, baby.”
It nearly worked. For a while, Abdi Abdirahman from Tucson, Ariz., via Somalia, ran well enough in his first Peachtree to make the Kenyans look destined to chase his back. Then Jesus Junction became Cardiac Hill. With his legs tiring, even in the mild conditions for an Independence Day in Georgia, Abdirahman told his subconscious that second place isn’t bad. “Then, when I finally decided to make my move, there was a point where I didn’t even want to chase those guys and just settle for third or fourth place,” said Abdirahman, who eventually refused to fade, because the crowd wouldn’t let him.
Added Abdirahman, “Those people were just screaming good things at me, and some were calling my name. I said after a while, ‘I’ve got to go out there and fight, man.’ I wasn’t just running for myself. I was running for the whole nation.”
Still, Abdirahman didn’t become the first American men’s winner in 16 years. He finished 11 seconds behind Kenya’s Martin Irungu, but he did take the USA Men’s 10K, which ran concurrently with the Peachtree for the first time. That was nice, but winning and losing doesn’t define this race that emphasizes the everyman. To quote Baron de Coubertin, the father of the Olympic Games, “The essential thing is not to have conquered, but to have fought well.”
No problem there for this Peachtree race that featured a striking number of determined participants of all ages, backgrounds, colors and shapes. They trotted when they couldn’t run, walked when they couldn’t trot, but they finished. Then again, they had a lot of encouragers.
For the third year in a row, Matt Page, 16, stood at the corner of Peachtree Road and 10th Street with his little white bell. His mother and twin brother also had bells, and they jingled for hours. They began at the sight of the first runner, and they continued until the last runner made that left turn heading downhill. Does the ringing inspire the runners? “I guess it does, yeah,” said Page, grinning and ringing.
There also was the brew crew. At the 6-mile mark, Scott Stiber and Derek Browning, both 30 and from Sandy Springs, continued their six-year tradition of giving free cold ones to runners. “We had five full coolers, and our goal was to give out 200 cans before 9 o’clock, which we did,” said Browning, who joined Stiber and others in purchasing the libation.
So what do you and Browning do for a living? “Um, I can’t say,” said Stiber, laughing, before handing out six beer cans to joyful recipients in 10 seconds.
Just so you know, that rolling group hug throughout the race wasn’t just for Abdirahman. It was for everybody. The four guys running as the irritable cavemen from a popular television commercial. All of those superhero wannabes. That woman with her braided hair dyed as an American flag. The folks doing an impression of the running of the bulls.
There also was Walter Barnes, a Vietnam veteran from Decatur. For each of the past 10 years, he has gathered his son, Walter Jr., and his daughter, Jennifer, on July 4th for the MARTA ride to Peachtree’s starting point at Lenox Square. “When I first started running this myself in 1983, there were about 5,000 people entered, then 20,000. Now look at it,” said Barnes, 62, with his son and daughter nodding nearby.
Where’s Mother Barnes? “She’ll meet us for lunch,” said Jennifer, laughing.
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July 4 birthmates bigger than life
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
It’s Independence Day. So how about an oddity involving “July 4?”
No, not THAT one.
You probably learned in history class that, not only did founding fathers and U.S. presidents Thomas Jefferson and John Adams die on July 4, but they perished in the same year.
The odds of that happening were as great as “July 4” also serving as the birthdays of Al Davis, the king of the Oakland Raiders, and George Steinbrenner, the king of the New York Yankees.
How appropriate. The 78-year-old Davis and the 77-year-old Steinbrenner are clones, and that’s a good thing. While Davis has spent 44 years with the Raiders, Steinbrenner has spent 34 years with the Yankees. They’ve both won multiple world championships as unconventional owners (six for Steinbrenner, three for Davis), and they’ve both been famously stubborn.
They’ve also both been suffering physically. Davis has befriended a walker, and Steinbrenner has vanished from the public after being as visible at Yankee Stadium as pinstripes.
Here’s the biggest contrast: While Davis’ Raiders have reeked for years after decades of dominance, the Yankees have flashed signs of becoming yesterday’s powerhouse only in recent months.
Whatever the case, Davis and Steinbrenner have remained what they’ll be forever: Bigger than life.
That, along with American icons birthed into red, white and blue.
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