Gay Games
(reprinted from Up Front, the newsletter of the East Bay Frontrunners and Walkers)
COLOGNE, Germany - At the Gay Games, August 2010. I was enjoying the warm summer night and the company of the Los Angeles Frontrunners, as we enjoyed an outdoor table at the Ristorante Grande Milano (in Germany, as here, the Italians make the best food). Just as our glasses of Koelsch arrived, my L.A. buddies called out to a passer-by they knew. He was reluctant to join us at first, still being dressed in his racing gear while we had all changed into street clothes, but we convinced him to sit down to a plate of pasta with us. I noticed some handwriting on his race number. “We started writing names of departed friends on our numbers back in the 80s, running each race in their honor,” he said, and he showed me his number. I was surprised because the number he showed me had names of celebrities - Keith Haring, artist and AIDS activist; Tom Waddell, Olympian and founder of the Gay Games. Some friends, I thought. As dinner conversation unrolled, I realized that I was dining with Brent Earle - one of the founding members of the Federation of Gay Games. He indeed counted these celebrities as personal friends, and honored them with each race he ran. He had seen the Games, from their beginnings in San Francisco in 1982, grow to international stature as they were hosted by such cities as New York, Vancouver, and Sydney, through to this year’s event in Cologne.
Cologne refused to be outdone by the larger cities that have hosted the Games in years past. The whole city welcomed us with open arms - every thoroughfare was lined with flags bearing this year’s slogan, “Be part of it!”, alternated with national flags of participating countries from all over the world. Every neighborhood had a poster, billboard or sign welcoming us. And I was, in fact “part of it.” Along with Brent and some 500 other runners, I completed the 5K road race on a beautiful course through a park a few miles from the center of town. I had been worried about my injuries for this race - just three weeks earlier, I was unable to walk normally, and had not managed to run a step. This changed only a week before the Games, when I was able to start training just a few miles at a time.
But the weather was perfect, and spirits were high - I turned in a quite respectable 20:40 for 5K. I felt so good that I set my sights on Saturday’s half marathon.
The Gay Games’ marathon and half were combined with the local community’s yearly half marathon, but this year’s races took their styling from the Gay Games. Volunteers wore the distinctive Gay Games volunteer shirts and supporters waved rainbow flags in encouragement. The finisher medallions sported a gay rainbow colored ribbon - worn cheerfully by all finishers, regardless of affiliation to the Games.
Having a good race already under my belt, I approached the Half Marathon as a long training run, putting finishing injury-free as my top priority. As such, I chose a conservative 5 min/km pace, with the intention of keeping that pace from the start. Imagine my surprise to find at 3 km (the first distance marker I saw) that I was 30 seconds ahead of that pace! My injuries didn’t make their presence known until around 15 km, but using hydration and meditation, I managed to hold them at bay until the end of the race, finishing in 1:42:12. Continued post-race hydration and rest have resulted in a quick recovery; my legs are sore but not injured.
Later the same day, the athletes marched into an outdoor theater on the banks of the Rhine for the closing ceremonies. The Deputy Mayor of Cologne gave an inspirational keynote, in which she took well-deserved pride in her city’s reputation for welcoming acceptance. She concluded by exhorting each of us to take a message from the Gay Games and from the City of Cologne - a message of love, tolerance and acceptance of all people - and deliver it to our homes, all across the world.
COLOGNE, Germany - At the Gay Games, August 2010. I was enjoying the warm summer night and the company of the Los Angeles Frontrunners, as we enjoyed an outdoor table at the Ristorante Grande Milano (in Germany, as here, the Italians make the best food). Just as our glasses of Koelsch arrived, my L.A. buddies called out to a passer-by they knew. He was reluctant to join us at first, still being dressed in his racing gear while we had all changed into street clothes, but we convinced him to sit down to a plate of pasta with us. I noticed some handwriting on his race number. “We started writing names of departed friends on our numbers back in the 80s, running each race in their honor,” he said, and he showed me his number. I was surprised because the number he showed me had names of celebrities - Keith Haring, artist and AIDS activist; Tom Waddell, Olympian and founder of the Gay Games. Some friends, I thought. As dinner conversation unrolled, I realized that I was dining with Brent Earle - one of the founding members of the Federation of Gay Games. He indeed counted these celebrities as personal friends, and honored them with each race he ran. He had seen the Games, from their beginnings in San Francisco in 1982, grow to international stature as they were hosted by such cities as New York, Vancouver, and Sydney, through to this year’s event in Cologne.
Cologne refused to be outdone by the larger cities that have hosted the Games in years past. The whole city welcomed us with open arms - every thoroughfare was lined with flags bearing this year’s slogan, “Be part of it!”, alternated with national flags of participating countries from all over the world. Every neighborhood had a poster, billboard or sign welcoming us. And I was, in fact “part of it.” Along with Brent and some 500 other runners, I completed the 5K road race on a beautiful course through a park a few miles from the center of town. I had been worried about my injuries for this race - just three weeks earlier, I was unable to walk normally, and had not managed to run a step. This changed only a week before the Games, when I was able to start training just a few miles at a time.
But the weather was perfect, and spirits were high - I turned in a quite respectable 20:40 for 5K. I felt so good that I set my sights on Saturday’s half marathon.
The Gay Games’ marathon and half were combined with the local community’s yearly half marathon, but this year’s races took their styling from the Gay Games. Volunteers wore the distinctive Gay Games volunteer shirts and supporters waved rainbow flags in encouragement. The finisher medallions sported a gay rainbow colored ribbon - worn cheerfully by all finishers, regardless of affiliation to the Games.
Having a good race already under my belt, I approached the Half Marathon as a long training run, putting finishing injury-free as my top priority. As such, I chose a conservative 5 min/km pace, with the intention of keeping that pace from the start. Imagine my surprise to find at 3 km (the first distance marker I saw) that I was 30 seconds ahead of that pace! My injuries didn’t make their presence known until around 15 km, but using hydration and meditation, I managed to hold them at bay until the end of the race, finishing in 1:42:12. Continued post-race hydration and rest have resulted in a quick recovery; my legs are sore but not injured.
Later the same day, the athletes marched into an outdoor theater on the banks of the Rhine for the closing ceremonies. The Deputy Mayor of Cologne gave an inspirational keynote, in which she took well-deserved pride in her city’s reputation for welcoming acceptance. She concluded by exhorting each of us to take a message from the Gay Games and from the City of Cologne - a message of love, tolerance and acceptance of all people - and deliver it to our homes, all across the world.