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.