In a Universe that is thirteen point seven billion years old, on a planet that has only existed for four and a half billion years; our species: homo sapiens sapien, has only been around for two hundred thousand years, in fact modern day homo sapiens with our language, culture, use of tools, barter between groups, art, game playing, music, and reliance on symbolic thought only began to arise 50,000 years ago. Civilization, as we know the word, started to arise around 10,000 years ago in the middle east, near where Iraq is today…you and I fellow runners are a part of an infant species with respect to the age of all that there is. Think about that for a moment. Everything you know….everyone you know, everything that has ever happened in the ten thousand year history of civilization of fellow human beings has occurred only on this four and a half billion year old planet three orbits out from a four and a half billion year old star in a single, typical spiral galaxy out of a hundred fifty billion in the entire universe? Our galaxy is moving through an expanding universe that will one day distance itself from all other existing galaxies such that the very atoms which comprise our long past living bodies will no longer exist in motion, and all that ever was will stop within an impossibly long distance between every other point of definable matter. Why then, do we live in a world where hatred, anger; and distrust seems to prevail? What is it about our human condition that causes us to experience such animosity and distrust? Ignoring that question, if we take the premise as fact: then what are we to do about it? Well, here’s one thing we can do: and maybe this won’t change the course of the mighty river of war, or hold back the tide of hurt, pain and hate…but if we as a community of fellow runners can demonstrate to those around us that we can be friends despite our many differences: if we can, by example, explain to anyone we interact, socialize or come in contact with that we have friends all over the world, who run together every day…and if we can take a global event like the World Wide Festival of Races and use it as an example where good people of different nationalities, different religious backgrounds, different ethnic origins, different social or sexual lifestyles and different political interests can overcome all those differences and extend respect and dignity across a little blue bubble that we share together in space: then we’ll have done our part. Thank you for being a part of this fifth annual world wide festival of races. Thank you for being a friend and helping to celebrate this community of fellow runners, who today ran all over the world: in Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, the Channel Islands, China, the Congo, Denmark, Ecuador, Finland, France, Gabon, Germany, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Liechtenstein, Malaysia, Mexico, Mongolia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Russia, Singapore, Slovenia, South America, Sweden, the United Kingdom, the United States, Vietnam and the Virgin Islands. It is an honor to run with you. Think Global, Run Local. Show Links: http://worldwidefestivalofraces.com Please support http://teamsweat.org in the fight to stop the Nike Corporation from forcing Indonesian workers into slavery. THANK YOU BLACK LAB! The Song “Start a Fire” was an exclusive release by the Official Band of the World Wide Festival of Races: BLACK LAB, from their new album “Two Strangers”. Go to http://blacklabworld.com/marathon to download TWO FREE SONGS as a Virtual Goody Bag Gift from Paul and Andy. Follow Black Lab on Twitter: @paulblacklab and Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/blacklabband and be sure to THANK THEM for the gift of music! Special thanks to Neil Bearse from http://neilbearse.com for all your iPad wisdom and hooking us up with the ear candy! Special thanks also to Kevin Gwin from http://theextramilepodcast.com for letting me borrow his HOTLINE (Now that you’ve used the number you can leave him submissions on a regular basis!) And THANK YOU to everyone who submitted a SHOUT of ENCOURAGEMENT for the entrants of this year event! Be sure to check out all their great blogs and podcasts as mentioned in the show! These are the friends and fellow runners who CHEERED for you! Cover Art: Mark A, Garlik http://space.art.co.uk