What is the morally correct thing to do when we learn the truth about the working conditions for the people who make all this stuff we carry and use?  I can’t answer that for you, that’s something you have to figure out for yourself.

I’m not here to talk philosophy with you; remember: I am just a doofus.  But I think that the very least any of us can do is to LEARN about what’s going on in places like Indonesia: just so we can answer the question, as athletes, regarding this aspect of the running shoes you and I wear every day.

Think about it: right now you and I select our shoes based on fit, style, functionality, weight, price and reputation….what if we were to add to that list of aspects the adherence to social justice of the manufactures?  If, as runners, we focused on just one company: Nike, the leader in sportswear and running paraphernalia, and just learn more about how our shoes are made: that we might consider the treatment of workers in our formula for what we should be purchasing?

No one is asking you to ban Nike products, this isn’t about you and I: this is all about learning…and I urge you to consider going to Teamsweat.org just as soon as you get back from your run today, and click on the upcoming events link: please, I’m asking this as a friend, and see when Jim Keady is going to be in your area next; in fact: I’ll go further: if you attend a College or University, why not contact Educating for Justice at http://educatingforjustice.org and see about getting someone from that organization to come to your school to talk about these issues.

This is important stuff, and I’m not telling you this to make myself feel better about myself as a runner: I’m telling you this because I think it will make us better athletes, plain and simple.

This is not about me, and it’s not about you: it’s about the good people in countries like Indonesia who just want a little of the life that you and I enjoy.  I’ll spare you the angry rant about Nike or my firm belief that they are most certainly evil: but I hope you’ll listen to what Jim Keady is saying here, and I very much hope you’ll make an effort to go see him; I’m going to list some of the places where he’ll be speaking in the near future; he’s getting ready to head back over to Indonesia, so it’s important that we learn from what he finds there, and that we think for ourselves, using the information we can learn from his findings and those findings of other independent activists.

More than anything, I hope that in listening to this small portion of Jim’s lecture: behind the swoosh, you will get at least a little: angry.

Show Links:

http://www.teamsweat.org

http://www.educatingforjustice.org

http://www.educatingforjustice.org/store_main.htm

http://www.nikebiz.com/responsibility/workers_and_factories.html

http://www.brophyprep.org/summit/globalization/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Behind_the_Swoosh.swf

http://twitter.com/teamsweat

http://www.facebook.com/TeamSweat

http://worldwidefestivalofraces.com

Free Audible Book download: www.audiblepodcast.com/phedi

“Justice Will Roll Down” was by Sandra McCracken; http://www.sandramccracken.com

My full name, in fact, is Indiana Jones Walker…of the human family Walker; they being the creatures who serve me in every way and are the best-est family a dog could ever have.

This is my house, I live here with Mathew, John, my Mom and my Dad: Steve.  Dad is a runner; but he’s not as good a runner as I am.

I love to run, especially after bunny rabbits…and we have at least two living in our yard.  I can smell them every day.  Dad doesn’t let me run after them, sometimes he let’s me run through the yard sniffing for their trail.  He doesn’t seem to be able to smell them the way I can.

I can smell really well.  My nose has 200 million scent receptors compared to Dad’s nose, which has only 5 million.  My olfactory bulbs are four times as big as his so I can smell things from, far, far away.  Dad’s nose would have to be the size of a refrigerator in order to be as sensitive as my nose!

I can smell that bunny rabbit, and I want to run after him, but Dad won’t let me because he’s afraid I’ll get lost or get hit by one of those big “move-me” machines.

But, I just want to play!  Doesn’t everyone love to play?

Show Links:

http://worldwidefestivalofraces.com

The song “Mr. Jones” was by The Counting Crows http://www.countingcrows.com/

It is important to note that my skepticism with this study is related to the implied suggestion that training for and running a marathon is considered extreme exercise.  Maybe it is, or maybe after having run 21 of them…the last not much more than a controlled crawl, I see the marathon as an endurance event that homo sapiens have evolved to run as a means of hunting and gathering; chasing down our prey with persistence. 

As we listen to the results of this research, we need to understand the severity of the impact, and consider other factors which might invalidate the results; remember: 25,000 runners just finished the Boston Marathon a few weeks ago, not to mention the hundreds of thousands who will run such a distance this year; and yet the sample size for the test group in this study was only 49. 

This isn’t to say that those 49 aren’t representative of the entire human population of marathon runners; nor does it necessarily trivialize the results of this study; but it does put this study into perspective against the media interpretation that marathon’s can kill you.

Show Links:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601124&sid=aIOu08KfQ3LQ

http://health.msn.com/fitness/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100255768

http://www.healthscout.com/news/1/637000/main.html

http://www.examiner.com/x-25448-Boulder-Running-Examiner~y2010m3d15-Marathons-may-be-hazardous-to-your-health

http://content.onlinejacc.org/cgi/reprint/55/10_MeetingAbstracts/A80.E751.pdf

http://www.twitter.com/Frothyfroth

http://twitter.com/reallynotarunnr

http://twitter.com/Moultgard

http://twitter.com/Kieran1209

http://worldwidefestivalofraces.com

The song “Think For Yourself” was by George Hrab at http://www.geologicrecords.net

I know this course very well, it’s an old friend that I’ve visited throughout my youth and into my middle age.  I have experienced great things on this course, witnessed legendary athletes run with artistic form, felt intense ecstasy and crushing agony and run this race even when I had nothing left within me to get me to that finish line: but somehow, I always have.

For all my efforts in trying to distract myself to finish this race, for trying to go, in my mind, to my happy place…I had forgotten to consider this truth:  that This WAS my happy place…this race that is more than just a race, this marathon that is known by all simply by the name of the city within which it finishes:

This is my race: Boston. This is my town: Boston. This is my home: Boston

Beantown, the hub of the universe, the cradle of liberty, the Athens of America…we love that dirty water, we love our beloved Red Sox, we love our Samuel Adams beer, our Faneuil Hall, and our Patriots, Pilgrims, and minutemen…and we love our Marathon with 114 years of history dating back to the emergence of distance running in the world of athletics.

Thank you for listening to this episode of Phedippidations, thank you for running with me as I took you with me on my way to Boston, thank you for your kind words and support and for following my progress on race day; at Intervals, on Twitter and Facebook but most of all: thank you for your friendship.

You see, THIS is my happy place, running with fellow runners…and as the sky darkens upon the finishing line in the shadows of tall buildings and skyscrapers on and around Boylston Street, I can’t see the sun anymore…I can’t feel the ground anymore…but I don’t mind…you’re by my side…and I feel fine.

Show Links:

“The Curra Road” was by Fergus http://www.fergusband.com