A Brief Comment by an Irish Runner

I don’t know whether or not I have anything to do with the dude who appears in Running Boston (2), but I thought I should answer just in case it refers to me.

I'm a curly haired, freckled, and white skinned as a glass of milk young Bostonian guy. You would say I seem to be like an Irishman because my descent came indeed from Ireland. I run often along the Charles River. Sometimes, I gaze at other runners. I remember for example a guy wearing a complete black running equipment some Sundays behind. I thought he wore overdressed, but he seemed being cold. I followed him for a mile, and further I overtook him. It was a bald, thin, suntanned, and about 6-feet tall middle-aged man. It caught my eye the fact he ran with a very good style, but I immediately thought he was able to go faster. Maybe he was doing a long training. I didn't know. If he wasn't from New England, he would be an European dude. Definitely, he could not be from one else of the States. He might be Italian or French; perhaps even a Spanish guy.

It doesn't matter if he came from France, Italy or Spain: he brought the whole Mediterranean in his blood. They are very different to us, the Celtics. Although some Celtic people lived at the Cantabrian Sea, and other regions in those countries, Mediterranean people are another thing. That runner seemed also well accustomed to move through the Hub. Was he maybe thinking of living in Boston definitely ?

Two Sundays later, I saw him again. However, that time he ran faster, and he was doing acceleration series or maybe a Fart Leck training session. When we coincided under the Harvard Bridge afterwards, I was be able to see why he ran so fast: he put on a pair of brand-new sneakers New Balance 890v3 Boston Marathon Edition - M890B0S3 - Paul Revere - reflective purple colorway. I understood it all at once. How I envied that Mediterranean guy, and even more at night!!!

Patrick O’Toole

Making a Parenthesis in Our Lives

We took the final decision about the trip in early January: we were going to do an intensive English course in Boston, Massachusetts. We had to look for an academy, but my wife already knew BAE (Boston Academy of English); so we decided going there. I think the choice was right. The facilities, the atmosphere, and the quality of teaching are excellent in that academy. Thank this, we both have improved a lot our level. I had actually felt the strong call for studying English in May last year, during my first visit to Boston. I had never experienced that necessity with the Shakespeare’s language before although I had studied German in Germany twenty-four years ago. It had more to do with my preferences in Philosophy in those years than with the relative or absolute importance of these languages in the world. I have always recognized the role of English as modern lingua franca, but the course of my life didn’t permit to do what I would like to do when I was in my twenties. Consequently, English has been my pendant issue for a long time. The fact is that whereas I thought I needed first German because of my philosophy studies, I found English could wait. It was probably a mistake, not only because many very important philosophers are writing in English in our time, but also because the universal presence of English in the popular culture and in the international relationships.

Anyway, when I was in the States last year accompanying my wife in a professional journey, I had time to think, and realize it was time to resolve my hanging subject. According my manner of thinking, there is a serious contradiction between being a well-educated person and being lacking in the language which is used to communicate to each other by people around the world. It had been an inner inconvenience for decades, so finally I decided to kill the problem. Therefore I purchased a pack of courses online in June last year that I've finished in April this year, just before my trip to the USA. The plan was to get grammar and vocabulary knowledge, practice listening and pronunciation, and be prepared to do a total immersion for a month. If I was able to reach a good level in ten months, I would be able to make good use of my stay in the States. My wife did me her support, and she encouraged me at all times. Even she decided to join as student in her spare time in Boston (she had to work as well). I’ve worked hard during almost a year, and I’m convinced it has been worth it. I’m writing the present article fluently, and quite fast. I think it ought to mean something.

I don’t know if my method can be exported to anybody. Each one has his own skills, abilities, and style for learning. I’ve used tools which are in the market, and they are not unattainable expensive. It's certain I’ve had time enough to do it. However, I think the most important thing has been my enormous motivation. Studying in front of a computer (with no teacher) several hours a day during ten months; taking (alone) level exams without self-tricks; putting partial targets before finish line. All these things require time, determination and a clear objective. Taking in account this premises, and the fact that there are not two identical people, anyone can do a similar learning.

We had to prepare the travel and the stay because we both have things to do and family responsibilities. Our resources are also limited. A well thought and calculated planning is needed to take advantage of a good opportunity like that without overspending. Waste time and money was not amongst our plans, so we were extremely careful with our spending. I must recognize we felt envy of some classmates who had scholarship or subsidy, but it’s also true that we cannot complain.

If you are thinking about doing something like this ─and if you don’t mind─, here you go some advices:

1. If you are an adult, you should be prepared to play the student role again. It doesn’t matter who you are, how old you are, what you know, how your profession develops. You are a pupil surrounded by other pupils like you. Your group consists in students with a pretty similar level in English, and your daughter could perfectly be in a superior level. If you have any problem with that, you won’t be a good student. My advice: forget who you are, and focus in your learning.

2. To optimize your learning, you should emulate a sponge. You don’t learn only of the teachers, but of your classmates from around the world too. Be aware of this fact, and leave the international atmosphere takes you. Open your mind.

3. I find that speaking often between us (my wife and I) in English has also been a good help. If you coincide with other speakers in your own language in the academy, don’t use the common language. Talk just in the language you have gone to learn. It may be difficult at the beginning, but if you get it then it'll be odd to hear them in the common language. Speak only in English (or in the language you are learning).

4. We are fortunate because we have friends in Boston, and this fact supposes an invaluable help. Knowing local people is the best option if you have the opportunity, but it isn't easy. Therefore you should take advantage of the activities in the school: events for socializing, parties, excursions, cultural visits, etc. Don’t underuse them. Do social life.

5. And last but not least: be methodical, study hard and practice full time.

We are home again. Our impression is that we have had a parenthesis in our lives: we were students again! Meanwhile our habitual life waited for us, and our routine ─with its goods and troubles─ stopped for a moment whilst we had this useful and enriching brief period. We are continuing our habitual life from now on, but we have no doubt: it has been worth the parenthesis.

BOSTON POPS

On Wednesday, May 15, our dear friends from Boston had a nice surprise for my wife and me. Like on May 13 had been my birthday, they decided to take us to the Boston Pops, that is a featured spring musical event for the Bostonians. It treats of a celebration that has been held for more than one hundred and twenty-five years with no interruption, in which the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) plays popular music in the Boston Symphony Hall (BSH). During the performance, the public may order for having something to eat and drink. They can sit at the tables which have been set instead of the habitual seat rows. The atmosphere is more informal and relaxed than when the orchestra plays classical music. The history of this event is briefly explained in the page 15 of the Week 2, 2013 Season Programs Magazine issue.

Affectionately known as “America’s Orchestra,” the Boston Pops is the most recorded, and arguably the most beloved orchestra in the country. (…)In 2010, with the 125^th anniversary season, the Boston Pops reached a landmark moment in a remarkable history that began with its founding in 1885. Four years earlier, in 1881, Civil War veteran Henry Lee Higginson founded the Boston Symphony Orchestra, calling its establishment “the dream of my life.” From the start he intended to present, in the warmer months, concerts of light classics and the popular music of the day. From a practical perspective, Higginson realized that this ‘lighter’ performance would provide year-round employment for the musicians. “The Promenade Concerts,” as they were originally called, were soon informally known as “Popular Concerts,” which eventually became shortened to “Pops,” the name officially adopted in 1900. The following year the orchestra performed for the first time in its new home, Symphony Hall. Not only is this performance space acoustically outstanding, it was also designed, at Higginson’s insistence, so that the rows of seats for Boston Symphony concerts could be replaced by tables and chairs for Pops concerts (…)

In all these years, the BSO has had seventeen conductors, being Arthur Fiedler the first American-born of them and also the longest conductor with about fifty years leading the orchestra. He introduced the Evening at Pops television series, “Bringing the orchestra into the living rooms of countless Americans.” The currently conductor is Keith Lockhart (1995-present), who has led more than 1,500 Boston Pops concerts. He has discovered a new way opening the performances to a wider, more varied public.

The Boston Pops has a particular motif each year. The motif for the 2013 edition has been the music for the movies, from the Hollywood’s Golden age to nowadays blockbusters. “This season, the Boston Pops celebrates what is probably this country’s most significant contribution to popular culture around the world ─the movies,” Lockhart said. The function started with a train of sequences done from tracks of films, which succeeded each other while the orchestra was playing the proper music. It was wonderful to listen to live music watching well-known pictures that ever have moved to smile or tears the most attendants in the theatre. Hollywood films have made more for the culture globalization than hundreds of speeches and political deals. Who has not laughed watching the Laurel & Hardy or Jerry Lewis pictures? Who has not suffered and cried seeing Gone with the wind or The Bridges of Madison County? Didn't you excite watching Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn in The African Queen? Since we all were children, we have been seeing films from Hollywood in English or translated into many languages. We share the same film culture ─taking naturally into account the correspondent national additions.

I should say two words about the site where the performance was going to be. You surely know what usually happens when two couples of friends chat while they walk in the street. The four elements recombine: one of the new pairs is formed for the men, and the other one for the women. I wonder if it may be a cultural universal. So when we were walking through the city, my friend Dave ─who is a really world-well-travelled man─ talked to me about the Symphony Hall, the building where the concert was going to take place. He referred to the age (about 130 years old) of the BSH, but he realized that it was almost new compared with many buildings in the older Europe: “for Europeans, anything in America would be extremely young or new,” he told. What wouldn’t be for Egyptians or more yet for Iraqis!!! We agreed that you cannot be confused between the age of the concrete people and the age of the civilization. Human beings are young or old in years; human civilization, in thousands of years; and human culture, in hundreds of thousands of them. There are neither churches nor universities dated before British arrival in New England. However, my descent is not older than David’s descent. Not just because the whole humanity comes arguably from Africa, but in the more restricted sense that American Culture is an overseas development of the European or Occidental culture, with any world cultural contributions you want to find in it. It is certain that we can see and hear people from all ethnic groups and hundreds of languages throughout the streets of the American cities. So happens in Boston. But immigrants and even native people, whose descents had been living here for centuries before the arriving of European people, have had to accustom to live in the Occidental style, and even giving up part of their traditions if they were impossible to combine with the current life. It is not a victory or a defeat, and it can seem fair or unfair; but that's just the development of human history.

Anyway, the BSH is a praiseworthy concert building, especially because of its acoustics. The sound of the music played by the BSO had actually a high quality, and the execution was quite perfect. We listened to the music whilst we followed the rhythms with our heads, hands and legs. After the introduction, three impressive vocalists ─Donna McKechnie, Jodi Benson, and Doug LaBrecque─ performed some of the Marvin Hamlisch’s most memorable tunes from both stage and screen. The performance was also a tribute to Mr. Hamlisch (1944-2012), a well-known and many times awarded composer for both Hollywood and Broadway. The vocalists sang the pieces and also played as actors. The public were indeed enthusiastic clapping and singing when it was possible. Being amongst the presents in a so relevant Boston social event was a great pleasure for us. We felt as if we were Bostonians as well. This was possible just thanks to our hosts’ kindness.

We enjoyed the evening. Thanks Ann and David one more time.

RUNNING BOSTON (and 3)

May 13: my second birthday in Boston. I’ve got up at 6.00 a.m. and I‘ve had breakfast. Then I’ve done my homework and I’ve gone to the Academy. As daily, I’ve been learning English for six hours there, and afterwards I’ve come back home. My knowledge is going up and I am satisfied with my improvement. It is tiring to have to think and speak the whole day in a language which is not yours. However, I’m convinced that is the best form to learn any language: a total immersion in the language you want to learn. And yet, you have never the warranty you’ll be able to domain it. Although when I got home daily I feel tired, after resting a bit I can do anything. I go sometimes to run, but we have today guests for dinner. Accompanied by our best friends in Boston, we are going to have something out.

I ran yesterday. I decided to go to the Bunker Hill Obelisk and follow a track of the Freedom Trail, a 2.5 miles touristic route through Boston that leads to 17 significant historic sites. Places such as Paul Revere’s House, USS Constitution, Bunker Hill Monument, Old State House, etc. that are related with the revolution and independence of the United States in late eighteenth century. I done my usual previous preparation, and afterwards I started running towards Harvard Bridge. I crossed it and turned right in front MIT following the path next the Memorial Drive. I went down the Charles River and passed under the Longfellow Bridge. It took its name of the well-known Portland nineteenth century poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. One of his poems was “Paul Revere’s Ride”, a poetic version about the pre-war actions of one of the most popular local heroes against the British. Paul Revere was a patriot who rode speedy his horse to warn the colonists about the positions and movements of the British troops. He’s an icon in Boston. The subway red line crosses the river over this bridge in its way to Harvard Square. (Subway is also known in the Town of the Hill as ‘T’.) This zone is not pleasant for running because of the traffic, noise and pollution. While I was running, I realized the atmosphere was not the best. However, I decided not to change the way. I had my target in the obelisk of Bunker Hill, and I wasn’t going to stop.

I was running in the middle of an industrial area along Edwin Herbert Land Boulevard. Land was a scientist and inventor who cofounded Polaroid Corporation, the company who launched the instant photo cameras in the late 40s. In my route to Charlestown, where the monument is located, I crossed the John F. Gilmore Bridge. A bridge with the name of an important financial businessman sited over an industrial estate. It’s curious how they put names to the bridges. After crossing the bridge, I entered to Charlestown, a beautiful quiet residential neighborhood north of Boston. I went straight along Austin St. and Green St., then High St., and finally Concord St. I had in front the famous Bunker Hill Monument. The 221-feet granite obelisk has stairs inside and you can go up the 294 steps to the top. Last year, I climbed in 2’36”. It was erected to commemorate one of the most important battles against the British in the early American Revolutionary War. It happened in June, 17, 1775, and though it was actually in the adjacent Breed’s Hill, is known as Battle of Bunker Hill. Despite the American colonists lost the battle, they were able to cause serious damages to the British. It can be said they began to believe in that moment the final victory was not a dream. Therefore this event is so important in the history of the States. I stopped running, and I was reading brief historical reports for a while. I remembered when I did the visit accompanied of my wife. We walked the whole Freedom Trail. It had to be attractive, otherwise she wouldn’t come.

I left Monument Square towards south crossing High St., and I found the line which marks the Freedom Trail on the sidewalk. I decided to follow it to Winthrop Park, where the Soldiers Monument is, Winthrop St. down, Main St. and City Park. From there inbound, I ran along North Washington St. to pass over Charlestown Bridge. Many cars were being driven across the bridge, and the contact between their tires and the metal of the bridge surface produced a very peculiar sound. I would like to say something about my left leg, but I promised it not to talk about its situation. It told me, “Have I complained about my pain?” and continued, “Have you had to stop running?” It was right, no doubt. So I accepted not to say anything about.

At the end of the bridge, I turned right on the Causeway St., and I was be able to see the TD Garden on the right, the multi-purpose arena that is shared by the mythical basketball team Boston Celtics and the ice hockey team Bruins. When I was a child, I was supporter of the Lakers. It was a trend in my country. Afterwards, I discovered that I had so much to learn! I had left the Freedom Trail line some minutes ago, and I looked now for the Boston Common from Staniford St. I ran through Temple St., Derne St. and Bowdoin St. When I arrived at Beacon St., I was already in the top of the hill with the State House at my back and the Boston Common in front of me. I crossed the Park and the Public Garden as well, and I passed by front of Cheers’, the pub where was inspired the world-known television series. I went along Commonwealth Avenue until Clarendon St., where I turned left and ran through Copley Square to Huntington Av. The Boston Public Library ─which we are going to visit in a couple of hours─ was on the right. I’ve talked about this library in the other articles of this series. In two minutes, I got home.

The training was almost 7 miles in about 50 minutes. That is 7’19” per mile. I achieved a good pace following the Freedom Trail. I love doing running sightseeing.

RUNNING BOSTON (2)

April 21. It is 11.00 o’clock. I’ve got up at 5.30 a.m. and I‘ve had breakfast. I’ve read The Boston Globe and La Vanguardia online as well. Then, I’ve studied for four hours. Now it's enough. My body needs movement and my mind wants to do some other tasks. Ergo… I'm going running. I follow the usual ritual: I dress, I look at the weather outside, and I stretch. Once in the street, I warm up and begin to run slowly. Hey! This is not the same than the other day: my legs are looser and my heart rate has gone up. The left leg does not bother me so much and I can stretch the stride. Without trying specially, I have reached the Charles River faster than the last day. I’m going down the ramp and then I turn to the west. I am going to visit the old John Harvard today. Just after starting running, you know immediately what kind of training you can expect. While I was sitting working, I had no idea. But I’ve already noticed that I want to force a little the machine. I should be wise, though, because I cannot be sure of the evolution of tendinitis. Yesterday afternoon, I decided to go to Harvard Yard and I am now on the way.

The outside temperature is 44°F and it blows only a gentle breeze. A little cool, but a good day to run. When I get the river, I see dozens of runners. It uses to be so all the day. Because it’s so cold in winter, people leave home on mass when the spring begins to insinuate. In the afternoon, when we’ll go for a walk, I’ll be able to confirm. We will see hundreds, thousands of people and cars in the street. Newbury St. ─the shopping street─, Massachusetts Av. ─a major north-south artery─ and the area around the Prudential Center will be overflowing with people despite frosty air (many in short sleeve). Hundreds of fans are driving or walking to Fenway Park, the Red Sox stadium. The match begins at 19.00. Boylston St., where they have been installed the finish line of the Boston Marathon since 1987, remains closed. It is not known when they will open the surrounding streets, but it is an annoying obstacle to pedestrians and traffic... as well as a financial ruin for businesses in the sieged area. The streets are full of life this Sunday. It suggests Boston wants to get back to normal.

River up, the number of runners decreases rapidly. After a mile, I'm passing under the Boston University Bridge, where its rowing club is located. Rowing is another popular sport in Massachusetts. There are a lot of boats rowing and sailing in the river. One of the three fatalities in the terrorist attack, a 23-year-old Chinese woman, studied Mathematics and Statistics at the Boston University. This is the same specialty that my wife teaches at the University of Malaga. I'm giving Lu Lingzi my personal tribute while passing near her college. I'm following the river for the right bank: the River St. Bridge, the Western Av. John Weeks Foot Bridge, and I arrive finally to the Larz Anderson Bridge, over which I'm going to cross the Charles.

Just before, when I passed the Boston University Bridge, I felt a runner glued behind me. Sure enough, after a short distance, he overtook me. He is a curly haired young guy; white skinned as a glass of milk and freckled. He has all traces of being an Irishman (descendant of Irish settlers, I mean). You can see a bunch of men and women with the same aspect in this city. The Irish people reached for thousands in the late nineteenth century, when there was a great famine in Ireland. They are today one of the largest and homogeneous ethnic groups in the city. Boston Celtics, St. Patrick and Guinness beer can testify. I follow closely the Irish runner because our speed is similar. Then, at the River St. Bridge, he turned back and went away. I 'm running alone again, advancing occasionally some runners.

I'm crossing the river and I'm entering to Cambridge trough the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Avenue. Harvard Square is about half a mile away. The street is full of cars and pedestrians, as usual. I must be careful, and often I have to go down from the sidewalk. It doesn't matter when, Harvard Square is always crowed. The Harvard University is an important economic engine for Massachusetts. Just a couple of miles to the west is located Watertown, the city of 32,000 inhabitants which is included in the Greater Boston area. The shooting between the police and the smaller of Tsarnaev brothers, before being captured, took place there. These streets were empty then.

I'm entering right now to Harvard Yard under the door that exhibits the biblical inscription "OPEN YE THE GATES THAT THE NATION RIGHTEOUS WHICH KEEPETH THE TRUTH MAY ENTER IN" (Isaiah 26:2). Reason and faith go always hand in hand in the USA. If university is really the temple of knowledge, then I'm entering to Vatican St. Peter's Basilica. And running, completely dressed in black, with long tights and a thermal T-shirt. (I took off hat and gloves before). Harvard Yard is the heart of the huge campus of the Harvard University. It takes up an about 10 ha zone (=120.000 yd²). There are buildings of the XVIII century (Massachusetts Hall, 1720), although most are from the nineteenth and twentieth. The campus is captivating: the buildings of student residences and the schools, the library, the gardens. The statue of the founder, the English clergyman John Harvard, dominates the site. This is a seated statue which was casted in bronze by Daniel Chester French in 1884. It shows the founder chairing his magnificent legacy. I approach to it, and I wait that a couple of Japanese take their pictures. Then, following the ritual, I’ll touch its left foot, polished by repeated friction of thousands of hands from around the world for years. This is one of those curious customs that believers and unbelievers perpetuate without distinction.

I'm going to the northern limit of the yard to watch the Memorial Hall, which characteristic tower is visible from many miles around, and it constitutes an excellent point of reference for locating Harvard. The building is fully functional. It contains a space dedicated to the memory of the fallen soldiers, a large theater and also a canteen for the academic community. It was built through a fund-raising which organized some alumni just after the American Civil War (1661-1665). It is a memorial for the sons of Harvard who sacrificed their lives in defense of the Union abolitionist values during such a bloody fight. I can't avoid thinking in Lincoln, the Steven Spielberg’s film about the last moments of that war.

I turn north and look for the School of Philosophy. "WHAT IS MAN THAT THOU ART MINDFUL OF HIM?" (Psalm 8:4), is written under the north eaves of the Emerson Hall. The question that, according to Immanuel Kant, summarizes all other possible questions is directed to God. I wanted to greet Ralph Waldo Emerson and his fortunate foot but the building is closed. I turn back and pass by front of the main building of the Harvard University Library, the first private library in the world and the third in America by number of volumes. It comes after the Congress Library and the Boston Public Library. On the fly, I tell John Harvard "See you soon, dude, but the next time I'll be walking with my wife." I'm going towards the exit, and I'm leaving Harvard Yard in search of the Charles River.

The visit to the campus has topped me up. I'm running down beside the river at a good pace. I'm now running at 6'50" per mile and I have spare clothes. Although temperature signs 47°F, I would prefer wear short sleeves. If only I wore shorts!, but runners have no caddy... yet. I'm keeping the pace during the about two miles and a half until the Harvard Bridge. Gradually, it is increasing the number of runners and walkers, but not excessively. I can run at willing. Ducks and squirrels have woken up, and they have animated the grounds. A row boat crewed by eight guys pass me river down. They must go at less at 6'00" per mile. That reminds me that, the other day, I saw a sign on the roof of one amongst a lot of rowing clubs they are along the river: “Row classes”. It caught my eye.

I've reached the Mass. Av. It's a mile and a quarter to home. The appearance of the trees has changed a lot in three days. Many are already blooming. It seems that the spring is definitely here. At the same latitude, the weather in New England is very different from Spain. Today, two days before St. George, temperature has oscillated between 32°F and 42°F. However, you could see many people in shorts and flip-flops.

I get home: 9 miles in 1:05:00. That begins to go better. 7'14" per mile is a good average in a circuit as urban as this. By the way, I didn't remember of my leg. We'll see how it wakes up tomorrow.

RUNNING BOSTON (1)

April 18. It’s 9.00 o’clock. I had breakfast a couple of hours ago and I’m preparing my training gear. I’ve gone up to the terrace and realized it was cold in spite of the shining sun. I’m looking for weather information on the internet: 49°F right now (it feels like 43°C). I decide to wear a short sport tights and a long sleeved T-shirt over the short one. Probably, the temperature will go up and I will be able to take it off when my body starts to warm up.

A new pair of sneakers was reserved for today. I bought them some time ago, but I waited for wearing them for first time in here. They are a red version of the Nike Skylon 11, a model which is great for my feet. They are like gloves for the feet. I don’t get blisters with this model and that it occurs often. I start running slowly. I have tendinitis on the inside part of the left knee that has been bothering me for over a month. Before traveling, I stopped running for almost three weeks. During this time, I’ve just been swimming in the pool. It seemed to have improved somewhat, but it is not completely healed as well as I expected. Yesterday, I didn't know if I should still rest the knee a little more or just start running. The way home from the airport following the river cleared my doubts: seeing so many people running, it costs to resist to train.

I'm leaving for the street to starting the warm-up: I'm jogging up and down for a few minutes through a small park and I switch my Garmin on. What a pleasure, after so many days, to go running again! Back Bay is the neighborhood where we stay in Boston thanks to our good Bostonian friends. It's quite old and has those garden streets with the emblematic red stone buildings, which are characterized by a bloc of stone stairs to reach the main gate from the street. Sometimes, the basement and the main floor are disposed in a half level in relation to the street. Many period films have been shot in places like this. I get to Huntington Avenue and I turn left. Then I must wait that the white figure that appears in the pedestrian traffic light. I follow the street looking for the intersection with Massachusetts Avenue, which takes me to the river. At the height of the huge church of the Christian Science Center ─nothing to do with the Tom Cruise's Church of Scientology─, I turn right. I run slowly, very comfortable with my new sneakers despite a slight discomfort in the left leg that does not stop me from running loose.

At each street intersection, from this point to Charles River, I'm finding two pairs of policemen, one on each side of the avenue. Suddenly, I remember I read this morning on the digital edition of The Boston Globe, that there is an interfaith religious service at 11.00 in memory of the victims of the Marathon bombing ─three people dead and over 170 injured─ at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross. The service will be attended by the highest authorities of the city, the state and the nation, with President Obama at head. The presidential convoy will have to pass along the Massachusetts Avenue to get the cathedral from the airport.

Later, once at home, my wife and I will follow the discourse of religious leaders and civil authorities. Naturally, it's up to Barack Obama concluding. He doesn't disappoint. A speech full of strength and compassion at the same time; a speech thought to be optimistic about the future despite being hurt by the circumstances. "You will run again," he says. "We will finish the race," he insists. A few minutes before the end, he manages to take the audience to climax. After the applause and shouts of enthusiastic support from the public, he changes to being intimate and respectful to the victims and their relatives. He controls the tempo and finishes gently and compassionately. His feeling of empathy with those affected, his clarity of ideas, his strength of spirit and his determination in the communicate action make me feel a great envy of this country. When have we heard something similar to the Spanish political leaders? I'm afraid never.

I cross Boylston Street, the street that annually hosts the finish of the Boston Marathon. I cannot help thinking that now for three days, more than twenty thousand pairs of sneakers ran over there, and some didn't get to walk on the word FINISH, painted on the floor at the arrival line, because of the blasts. The target of the terrorists was located near where I am now, at the height of the Boston Public Library, “FOUNDED TROUGH MUNIFICENCE AND THE SPIRIT OF PUBLIC CITIZENS,” according to the inscription beneath the eaves of the southern facade of the magnificent building which houses the library. I experienced envy again. “THE PUBLIC LIBRARY OF THE CITY OF BOSTON BUILT BY THE PEOPLE AND DEDICATED TO THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING, AD MVCCCLXXXVIII,” says on the main facade that looks at Copley Square ─a military camp since the attack. The exclusion zone reaches one or two streets round the perimeter of the library.

The postulated “THE COMMONWEALTH REQUIRES THE EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE AS THE SAFEGUARD OF ORDER AND LIBERTY” dominates the north wall, just over the finish of the race. Two guys deposited the rucksacks with pressure cookers inside ─it seems that they were manufactured in Spain; what a pity. The cook pots contained explosives and shrapnel, and they were left on the street a few meters from the arrival, in the midst of the crowd. One of them looked at the eyes of a concrete person, and he was be able to keep his head cool. If they had looked up, they would have been able to read the message engraved on the stone. Perhaps they couldn’t understand the meaning of those words, but I wish they had looked up. Hatred and bigotry blind the minds of these individuals, and their hearts are hardened against any emotion of goodness. It is ironic that one library ─one of the greatest symbols of human civilization─ has been witness to a terrorist act ─one of the greatest human atrocities. Sports, in particular the marathon, also exemplifies an essential aspect of civilization. The Boston Marathon is the oldest popular marathon in the world (1897). I don't know if it was also the reason it was a target, but clearly it is an attractive place because it concentrates tens of thousands of people in an open space. A race that runs on public roads and hasn't doors, which prevents establish checkpoints.

I'm leaving Boylston St. and I'm approaching the Harvard Bridge. I love running across this bridge. The Charles River is under me, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is in front, just on the other side of the river, in Cambridge. Beacon Hill on the right and the golden dome of the State House ─seat of government of the state of Massachusetts─ reflects the sunshine from the top. As background, there is the skyline of the Financial District. It’s blowing a cold breeze from the sea and I’m not training comfortably. If only I wore more clothes! After the 6-hundred-metre bridge (656 yd), I'm reaching MIT, a world leading university in technology. The Harvard University, which is the oldest university in the States (1636) and one of the most famous in the world, is located two miles and a half from here. Obama is one of hundreds of illustrious alumni that have studied there. I'm thinking about the solemn speech in the cathedral that he is going to pronounce into an hour: "I've lived here for a long time," he'll say. "Therefore Boston is my home." "For thousands of us, it has been something personal," he'll state, referring to the attack.

I am thinking, “If my leg goes well, I will run to Harvard Yard in the coming days. But I am going to go along the river, because the way is longer and more beautiful and healthier than jogging along the Mass. Av. traffic jam.” After leaving MIT, I couldn't imagine that a shootout would begin in its streets twelve hours afterwards, and would murdered a police officer, and would lose his life one of the bombing suspects. It seems now likely that the two terrorists are brothers and come from Chechnya (now it's known that they had lived in the neighboring Republic of Dagestan). Alarms are triggered: the hypothesis of Islamist terrorism regains prominence. Chechnya, in the Russian Caucasus, is a tinderbox, and it has been one of the preferred regions for Al-Qaeda to recruit fanatics. We'll see how it all ends. Boston is going to be restricted today. Curfew: authorities have asked people to stay home. So the streets will be empty, the schools closed, there won't be public transportation, nobody will be able to enter or leave the city by bus, train or plane. Now I don't know yet, but tomorrow we won't go to the  Tribeca Film Festival of New York as we had planned as a result of what is going to happen tonight just some meters from where I am now. What a strange, the course of events! We'll have to leave the journey for the next week. If this nuisance helps to catch the other criminals, it'll be a minor cost to pay two taxi races in vane tomorrow.

I am crossing the river again, this time through the Longfellow Bridge, and I'm going to The Esplanade. This park on the right side of the Charles is very nice and there are always dozens of runners who go upstream or downstream. And helicopter remains static in the air over a point in the southwest. It must be near the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, where the religious service is about to begin. I've run almost seven kilometers and I feel good. I've increased the pace a bit and I'm already in short sleeves; this is a good sign. I can still feel a slight pain in the left leg, but it might also be because of the muscle stiffness after our long trip. I'm beating the jet lag as well. Muscles and joints get stuck, and it takes a couple of days to wake them up. And the brain takes even more time.

I'm going up the ramp of the Harvard Bridge and I'm turning left in the Massachusetts Avenue to do the last two kilometers to home. I’ve run a bit over 5,5 miles in 45 minutes. Not bad, being the first time after many days of rest. After a futile trip by taxi that we'll make at a quarter to seven in the morning, during which we'll see more police patrol and secret service cars than citizens, we are going to spend the full day glued to the TV and internet to see how the manhunt for the second suspect develops. Hopefully, he will soon be captured to do justice and restore normality. When they declare the state of emergency anywhere, the life of ordinary people is altered. Boston is a community particularly quiet and civilized, one of those cities where people, perhaps more than elsewhere, are longing to recover the lost peace and calm .

"We'll run and finish the race." So be it.

Here is Explained Why the Blog is Written in English and Why I Have Chosen that Title

There are two concepts in the title of this blog that I consider a key in my current life. 'New England' is the geographical area of the United States whose main city is Boston. My wife has an especial feeling towards this city since a decade ago, and here I found the inspiration and the strength for learning English last year. This blog can be understood as an English language practice.

'Mercury' is the name of the divinity whose job was to bring news among the ancient Olympic Gods. He was a sort of messenger. I have been reading the news on the papers since I was a teen.

Therefore I've joined these concepts together in a title as if this blog were a newspaper. However, I won't publish just news but some thoughts and other things as well. You are invited to read whatever I write.