In what may be the clearest ever example of irony, competitors in the 2021 Boston Marathon are spending Indigenous Peoples’ Day literally running away from history as fast as they can.
As they paced through the ancestral land of the Massachusett, Wampanoag, Nipmuc, and other tribes, marathoners honored the day by running really, really fast, tossing water cups on the ground, and not trying to think much about distracting things like history and oppression.
“If I spend time reflecting on the meaning of the day and acknowledging my complacency, I will mess up my breathing and not break my PR. That would be truly heartbreaking,” said one runner.
Happy Indigenous Peoples’ Day!