AAmericans United Flag Run
VLA to Datil, NM
16 miles
November 5, 2001

In an effort to make my part of the Flag Run more meaningful, the day before running my leg, I purchased an “I Y USA” T-shirt, wrote the above description on the back, and had all the runners in my 16 mile segment sign it. However, the significance of a handmade keepsake didn’t compare to the actual running experience.

It started in the van trailing the runners in which I rode for about five miles in order to be fresh for my assigned leg between miles 5 and 10. The conversation between three pilots and a flight attendant, who ironically was driving, covered the past, the present, and the future in the context of September 11th. The attendant described how, sometime after the tragedy, a fellow attendant snuck up behind her from a seat in First Class and made a slashing gesture across her throat. Rather that an grotesque gesture, the act demonstrated the vulnerability of the attendants in First Class to assault from behind and led them to hypothesize about where the terrorists likely sat on the ill-fated flights. Jumping to the here and now, one pilot on furlough, who ran several legs of the Flag Run while in uniform, discussed with another pilot how best to collect unemployment benefits. Pondering the future, all of them wondered how adversely the reinforced cockpit doors would affect the camaraderie between pilots and attendants that they all enjoyed. The conversation made clear that while we were all running to honor our fellow Americans killed by tragedy and their families, some of us were also running for far more personal reasons.

As we approached mile 5, I convinced the pilot sitting next to me to begin running my leg alongside of me. After we pulled ahead of the runners and stopped, I eagerly jumped out of the van to gain a clearer perspective, to sharpen my thinking, and to be invigorated – all of which running does to me. Soon thereafter, yet another pilot, who was running the first leg of the segment, passed the U.S. flag to me. After some thinking, the experience of carrying the flag and running alongside American and United Airline pilots moved me to a greater understanding. Our leader has asked us to show our American resolve and to return to some semblance of normalcy in the face of national tragedy. The past, present, and future were interwoven in an eternal moment: I prayed and thought about the September 11th victims and their families; as a runner, I was running in the present; and I realized that as a chemist at Sandia National Laboratories, I am very grateful to be able to impact the future in a positive way as a small part of the U.S. response to terrorist attacks and to future threats. The moment really did seem eternal . . . since people in my running group had already carried the flag during earlier legs and did not ask to do so on mine, I carried the flag the remainder of the way (11 miles total!) to a reception held for us in the parking lot of the elementary school in Datil. Handing the flag to a young girl at the end of my journey made me prouder than ever to be an American. God Bless America.

Gregory T. Long, proud American

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