Running, Remembering, and a Happy Accident — Memorial Day Weekend
ERA of WTF………………………..resistance and Joy
It's Sunday, May 24th, and Memorial Day weekend feels a little off this year. The holiday usually falls around the 28th or 29th, but she's early in 2025. The weather matches the mood — wet, cold, and gloomy. Not exactly the summer vibes people look forward to. No grilling out this weekend.
I wanted to get a run in today. Full transparency: I have a half marathon coming up — #4 in my 6 for 26 running plan — and I need to get my butt in gear. The plan for today was a simple 4 miles, early, while it's quiet and I don't have to fight for a parking spot downtown.
I decided to run along the Common because they always line the path with flags to honor fallen soldiers. Seeing them stirred something in me. Honestly? In my head, I wished they'd fly every one of those flags upside down — the universal signal of a nation in distress — because that's where we are right now. The democracy experiment is struggling, and we should say so.
And what gets lost on so many people is this: Memorial Day is Black history. It began as Decoration Day in 1865, started by formerly enslaved people in Charleston, South Carolina, who gave Union soldiers a proper burial and held a ceremony to honor them. The history is right here if you want to read it. I wanted to honor that legacy by visiting my favorite memorial along the route — the Robert Gould Shaw Memorial, honoring the 54th Massachusetts Regiment, one of the first Black military units in the Civil War. That was my running exploration goal for the day.
I parked in the South End and set off on my out-and-back 4-miler. I saw the flags. I saw the memorial. I saw the ducklings. The rain hadn't started yet. I noticed police had blocked off several streets — I figured maybe a Memorial Day parade was being set up — so I wanted to get my miles in before I got trapped downtown.
As I kept moving and exploring, I spotted a large group of runners near Government Center. A big running crew on a Sunday morning — cool! I kept going. Then I saw a water station with volunteers. Hmmm. Then a solo runner with a bib number. Must be a race. Then more runners on Boylston Street.
And then it hit me.
Today was the Run to Remember — and this was my very first half marathon back in 2015. I had completely forgotten they hold it the Sunday before Memorial Day. I got such a kick out of seeing the runners in their bibs, though I had no idea where they were on the course — so I couldn't exactly scream "You're almost there!" and risk lying to someone's face. That was a happy little surprise on an otherwise gray morning.
I stopped, explored, took pictures. You know how I do.
4 miles | 53:34 | 13:23 pac
