Bun Run

After the race was over, they sat on the hill in the grass. They sat there and looked down on Auditorium Shores, across the river at the city shining in the sun. They sat on the hill and watched the elite runners meet at the line for a run of their own -- the African men, the Russian women, the others fast and lean.

The runners lined up, three dozen or so, and waited for the horn. They were off in a dash: speeding as a pack under the banner, down the street, around the corner, up the ramp, over the bridge, and along the street on the other side of Town Lake.

In little more than four minutes they were past mile 1. In less than nine they were at mile 2. The first of them finished in 13:34 -- barely enough time for a conversation, barely enough time to listen to the music, barely enough time to watch the people watching and waiting and pointing as the first of the runners came back down the river and across the bridge.

In barely enough time they were done.

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Schlotzsky's 5K Bun Run, Austin TX, 13 April 2003

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