Super Human
A grand 4th it was! Although, as I feared, this year it was not a day marked by American Exceptionalism. Take for instance the Mount Marathon race. The course record for women was demolished by Miss Forsberg, a French woman who hails from Calais, France.
I caught her cruising to the finish line, her hair barely mussed from the effort, like she’d just come from the bathroom after freshening up
To be fair, a young Alaskan woman who finished second, her first year competing as an adult, also beat the course record by a few seconds. She will be one to watch in future years.
In the men’s race, a Spaniard, from Spain — nothing gets by me! — also set a course record. Nobody in sight behind him either as he also cruised to the finish
If you think this a race only for the young, think again. I captured this old timer as he approached the base of the climb. Must’ve been 65 or older. Alone in his thoughts I’m sure. Clearly he’s not in it to win. It’s about bragging rights if I had to venture a guess. Or something he does every year because of a promise he made long ago, probably to himself. Whatever it is he had a long time to think about it. That’s a steep mountain to get up and down.
Another one of the men approaching the start of the climb
Some return a lot more beaten and ragged than when they left
Here’s a look at the summit from near the finish, should you be thinking, “What’s So Hard, It’s Half Downhill.” Less than 42 minutes up and down? These people are not human
