The Marine Corps Marathon 2020 and a Great Album by Canadian Band –RUSH-

I set the alarm for 3:00 am, however I got up 10 minutes earlier since the excitement of what was coming woke me up earlier than expected. What months before I had considered very crazy now made perfect sense. The second attempt to run the United States Marine Corps Marathon –MCM 2020- was about to begin.

After facing some health issues , I had to cancel my first attempt to run this race. I decided that 2020 would be an excellent year to run it. This time I could see the Washington Monument; I would run close to the Lincoln Memorial and finish the race at the Arlington National Cemetery. Also, I imagined watching, minutes before starting the race, the military planes flying all over the city and the Marines parachuting down with the flag of the United States. I also imagined running the blue mile, a mile that is located between miles 12 and 13 and that pays tribute, displaying photos with blue frames, to Marines who have died in combat.

Much of what was going to happen in the marathon I clearly imagined it, but what I never imagined was that COVID19 would arrive and change the course of all things scheduled for 2020. While other large races decided to cancel all events, MCM 2020 stayed open until almost the end of June. Just at the beginning of July, the email arrived confirming that the in-person race had been canceled and the alternatives to run it included a virtual race and the possibility of postponing the race in Washington for next year.

The alternative of running 26.2 miles with Mario, my marathon buddy, sounded completely crazy. That effort of getting up super early and running such a long distance should be accompanied by a trip to a big city or a trip to the Disney parks. The pre-race environment, the rushing crowd on the day of the competition, and the party at the finish line couldn't be replaced by a lonely race, with empty streets and no party at the end. So, we looked for a race that was still open to run and submit that time as the virtual race. However, all the races were eventually closed, leaving us with no choice but to create our own 'marathon' environment. 

With the help of a group of runners (Angela, Carlos, Daniel C. and other members of Marathonfest), we organized a race made for us. We decided every detail as we would like it. We chose the route, the hydration points and what time to start. We invited more people to join us, running the full marathon or a portion. So we had runners accompanying us the first half and others the second. In the end, we managed to unite six runners covering the 26.2 miles (42.19 km), eight running half or a little more, another eight among friends and family giving us support by biking or walking and some sending us messages of support from Colombia, Orlando and Canada. It was a very special marathon since it is the first one in which I had friends and my two children on bicycles in the last 6 miles and my wife encouraging me at the finish line. It is the second marathon (the first and this one that was the seventh) in which a lot of emotions came to me and I felt an uncontrollable urge to cry.

During the 4 hours and 28 minutes that I was running, I spoke with my fellow marathoners, but since each one ran at a different paces there was a lot of time to be alone. I started thinking a little about how strange and special this marathon was, but then I decided to take advantage of the time and listen  a very good podcast that I had found days ago. The name of the podcast is ' Something for Nothing: A Rush Fancast ', where a couple of friends super fans of the Canadian band RUSH, talk in detail about each album, analyzing song by song, reviewing its lyrics. For almost three hours I listened to three super interesting episodes about the 1981 album called ‘Moving Pictures’.

Daniel M., a Mexican friend, was the one who brought up this album just on the day of the race. This same Saturday night, RUSH with Moving Pictures were the guests to a session of Classic Album Saturday. I say thank you to Daniel M. for helping me with the album selection for this race. Among all the marathons I have run, this has been the easiest musical selection, since I did not even have to think about it, I just trusted his good musical taste. RUSH is a band that I have grown to appreciate little by little. The first few times they seemed a bit difficult, but now I enjoy them very easily. They exemplify the perfect chemistry of three musical geniuses and talents. I already wrote about them when I heard Clockwork Angel .

One of the RUSH’s songs that I enjoy the most is YYZ. It's super dynamic and fits perfect for the marathon video. It is an instrumental song where each members of the band makes use of their abilities. There are videos on Youtube where people isolate each instrument and analyze it, each one separately sounds extremely good, but it is the chemistry of the band that makes this song unique. The last song on side A of the album, is one of the easiest  (to listen) tracks of the group, it is called Limelight and it has the perfect fast rhythm to be the sound track for the route and the marathon medal video. The lyrics reflect the personality of Neil Peart (the band's drummer), showing his discontent with the fame and how uncomfortable he felt signing autographs or being harassed by his fans. Neil left us this year and his death affected me as if he were someone close that I knew. The day Mario told me that Neil had died, I felt a great sadness, a confirmation that I could not see RUSH live again, that the spirit of his sound in concert was gone, along with the best drummer of all time. 

Part three of this saga of the Marine Corps Marahon is due to be written in October of next year. There is a long time for that, but what I do know is that I will run it, slowly, without pressure, with no intention of beating a personal record. Thinking of enjoying it, with the same uncomplicated attitude with which I ran the virtual version of MCM in this peculiar 2020. 

This has been my seventh marathon and for each one I have chosen an album and I have written something about it on this blog. Only for some I have made videos. The list of marathons, the time I ran it, the videos and the link to the blog is consolidated in the following table:

Marathons, Time and Music

No	Date	Race	Dist.	Time	Music	Video	Blog
1	1/8/2012 5:40	Disney marathon 2012	26.52	3:48:26	Calle 13		🗒️
2	10/7/2012 7:33	Chicago Marathon 2012	26.77	4:31:34	MUSE		🗒️
3	1/13/2013 5:36	Disney Marathon 2013	26.65	3:54:37	Dave Matthews Band	🎥	🗒️
4	11/2/2014 10:14	New York Marathon 2014	26.62	4:41:12	King Crimson		🗒️
5	1/10/2016 5:40	Disney Marathon 2016	26.29	4:11:57	Telekinesis	🎥	🗒️
6	11/27/2016 6:31	Space Coast Marathon 2016	26.43	4:15:38	Bob Dylan	🎥	🗒️
7	10/24/2020 4:39	Marine Corps Marathon 2020	26.28	4:28:20	RUSH	🎥 🏅	🗒️