A dream awakening

What for me began as a dream last November is now becoming a reality. Early Saturday morning I took-off from rainy Detroit to arrive 90 minutes later in summery Albany, New York. The flight was uneventful and at the baggage claim area we were awaited and welcomed by Ignition staff members. After an airport lunch we boarded the passenger-van to travel to Lake Placid. The route to the Olympic village was scenic and the Adirondack Mountain range with its deep blue water lakes, presented under a sunny sky, made for some picture perfect moments. My farewells at home over the last several days were wonderful and the hellos and reunion with the team at the village were equally exhilarating.

Boot camp is what it is, and we are busy preparing for the kick-off on Friday morning. Hands-on, and classroom style instructions, presentations, photo-shoots and team building exercises are on the agenda. We used the Olympic gym and massage center and learned the finer art of massage, fleurage and effleurage, and became familiar with some alternate stretches for our pre- and post runs. Yesterday the sports psychologist taught us our Blue planet anthem, a beautiful song of giving light, teaching peace, standing together and giving hope. We sang our heart's content and then last night from 9:00 till midnight we topped it off with a practice run through the surroundings of the Lake Placid Olympic village.

While on the global run, we will pass through a little under 1,500 exchange points, where the baton is passed from one relay runner to the next. Here media and curious locals can gather, meet and greet the runners, and hear the run message that will be recited during the exchange. It is here that we hope to touch as many people as we can on our planet route, to share and to invite people to give enlightenment and purpose to over a billion people that do not have safe drinking water today. It is here that we come together and give hope!

The Blue Planet Run Message
By Adrian Lurssen

We run like water. We run FOR water.

We run to bring news to every person in every town we pass through—urgent news of a crisis that affects one in five of all of us on this earth.

We run to remember the sons and daughters, the mothers and fathers, the 6,000 human beings who die every day, because they lack safe drinking water.

We run because time, and water – essential to our existence – is running out for all of us.

We run to tell a story that begins with suffering but ends with hope.

We run to include you in the story. You are the solution. Commitment is our only obstacle.

We run to tell a story that ends like this: twenty years from now we will have joined together to bring water – to bring life – to 200 million people around the world.

We run because, in the words of the Iroquois thanksgiving prayer printed on the baton we carry with us: “Water is life.”

“We give thanks to all the Waters of the world for quenching our thirst and providing us with strength. Water is life. We know its power in many forms - waterfalls and rain, mists and streams, rivers and oceans. With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to the spirit of water.

Now our minds are one.”

Corporate response

Every time I tell someone that I will be circumventing the world for the blue planet foundation initiative, the response most always is congratulatory, followed by some elaborate explanations and then a final question: “What about your job”? Most certainly a fair question to ask and one I often have contemplated myself prior to the acknowledgement of my participation in the blue planet run. Fortunately for me, I work for Akzo Nobel, a Dutch multi national not unfamiliar to corporate social responsibility and an organization that over the years has done much to support local communities on all five continents.

Although, not an automatic “shoe-in” the company responded with a justifiable three months leave of absence, if a temporary solution could be found for my vacated job during my absence. Elated with the response we found lots of support and willingness from my employees and other corporate citizens and I feel very good about the final arrangements. And so after the Memorial Day holiday I start my LOA, leaving behind a great group of co-workers who undoubtedly will keep an eye out for me at work and on the rocky road ahead. And thus I thank Akzo Nobel and all my friends and colleagues locally and globally for their grandiose interest and magnificient support!

Last weekend home - May 22, 2007

Springtime is finally here to stay and the dogwoods are in full bloom. Flowers are decorating the landscape and the fragrant sweet scent of snow-white Convallaria majalis, otherwise known as lily-of-the-valley is filling the air. The vernal equinox is easily my favorite season and a welcome change from the cold and snowy wintry weather. Friday night we celebrated the Sabbath with our friends Lon and Jane, who stopped in for the day on their way to Frankenmuth. After dinner we headed for Temple service at Temple Israel where we sang in the Sabbath bride and listened to a great sermon delivered by Rabbi Tisdale, reminiscing over the great and splendid past of the city of Detroit, and the belief that, the city will surely rebound and reinvent itself to return to its previous grandeur.

Towards the end of the service Rabbi Bennett stepped onto the Bimah and prepared the congregation for the Aleinu. From behind the lectern, after adjusting the microphone to match his height, he began with the words: “As you all know I am a runner … I immediately perked up and wondered how this unusual intro would bring us to the ancient prayer of thanks. Instead he connected it to the Blue Planet run and the journey I am about to undertake. Totally unexpected I was invited up to the Bimah to open the Ark. With Anne at my side we opened the glass sliding doors, bringing the Torah scrolls into clear view, and felt blessed and fulfilled with the unexpected honor.

Saturday morning we had brunch at Sunny’s Café, a local diner tucked away in a strip mall nearby. Under a giant mural depicting a moment of Capote’s Novella “breakfast at Tiffany’s” we enjoyed a scrumptious Greek omelet under the watchful eyes of Hepburn and Peppard. The food was great, the company exquisite and time stood still if only for a moment. Before long, and way too soon, Lon and Jane's visit came to an end and shortly after the noon hour they went on their merry way to the wedding party up North.

For Sunday morning I had signed up for the West Bloomfield rock and road 10K run, which offered a smorgasbord of asphalt roads, graveled trails and a grassy field. While many of my friends from Running Fit competed for time and placement, for me it was a final testing of the engine and various running parts. All turned out all right and the tune up concluded uneventfully in slightly under fifty-one minutes. After the early morning workout and some salty chips with guacamole dip at the finish line, I headed back home to return to my forever lengthy to-do lists.

Blue planet friends

From left to right and top to bottom:1. Michael 2. Andrea 3. Lon and Jane 4. My Russian tutor: Irina 5. Horizon Health Care: David Betts, D.C. and Krisztina 6. Robin, Jean and Deborah 7. Running Fit: Dave, Fritz, Lori, Melanie, Tom, Jan, Will, Arlinda

Going for a run – May 19, 2007

By next week I will be on my way to the Olympic village in Lake Placid for blue planet boot camp. There we will find out the make-up of the five relay teams and receive the complete instructions and logistics details for the blue planet run. Then finally, on June first we will hit the pavement, marking the beginning of a 15,200-mile journey around the world.

In preparation for going on this run I have made some lists. To-do lists for home projects and work projects to be finished before take-off. Then there are shopping- and packing lists and a check-off list for things already in process. My passport is somewhere at one of the foreign embassies awaiting fancy visa stamps from Russia, Belarus, China or Mongolia. My newly acquired regular- and sunglass frames are being fitted with progressive, scratch resistant lenses and will next week be ready for pick-up. Over the last several weeks I paid visits to my doctor and dentist, chiropractor, massage and physical therapist and underwent check-ups, alignments and adjustments. An ankle strain, incurred on one of my practice runs, put me on ice and heat packs. Medical advice had me elevated, wearing compression sleeves and greased-up with muscle balm and therapeutic warming ointment. My physical therapist, apparently knowing me better than myself, had threatened to put me in a glass box with the door shut, but after the incident changed her mind to a padded room with the key safely out of sight! “Stay healthy and off the trails”, she said with a threatening voice. “You worked way too hard to now blow it on one of your crazy run-arounds!” Oi Vay, that Tracey can be so tough!

Back at home, maps have become part of the décor. Mounted on a poster board and tagged with colored pins the Europe map is staged on a paint easel in one of the kitchen corners. I have practically memorized the route and am contemplating taking some Russian lessons, just enough to be dangerous during the twenty-three day Soviet land crossing.

But that’s not all! With our favorite daughter moving into a new apartment we drove to Chicago to come to her aid. With a carload full of Ikea furniture we went to work and assembled her kitchen-, living- and bathroom furniture. We hang curtains and mounted shelves until the wee hours and accomplished all with very little shuteye. While in Chicago we managed to get in a sushi meal and stopped-off at the mystical gallery where the elderly Seminole Indian lady foretold our future! The year ahead looked full of promise with guardian angels on alert and ready for action. Every card I picked, conjectured good fortune and with renewed confidence and a big smile we paid our dues and left the semi-dark eerie abode!

Then there is my electronics list. I had bought a new notebook for the occasion and added a PDA with wireless keyboard, mobile phone, GPS, compact digi camera, ipod shuffle and a four-gig scandisk. Now up to speed with the latest Hi Fi, Wi Fi, Blue tooth and skype technology I am ready to take on the world and communicate from whatever and wherever landmass! Add to that some electrical juice and there is another suitcase just for all the different transformers, converters and batteries. Fortunately Radio Shack had a "special" I couldn’t refuse, on a universal converter. I promise it will come in handy!

Oh, and did I mention my running gear and accessories with enough clothes to last between weekly laundry services? Four pair of running shoes, power bars, glucose tablets, sunscreen and borealis Buzz-Off mosquito repellent. And lets not forget my royal Dutch orange bandanas, a water bottle, and the Stick, just to name some other items on that short list. Ofcourse there is more, but I will leave it with that. As you can see, it takes a bit of planning to go for a run, but it will all be worth it in the end! I will be ready and hope that you are too, because we are going on a journey to enrich the lives of 1.2 billion people. So give them a hand and I will do the running for you!

Water is life – May 19, 2007

Unlike you or me, over one billion people on earth have no safe drinking water. Women and children may walk up to 6 hours a day to get water, and even then, it may not be enough, or safe enough to drink. Many drink contaminated water and then get sick. 2.2 million human beings die each year from water borne illnesses. 6,000 people die every day and 240 children die every hour. But there is hope. Click this short video link and watch what is going on in front of our very own eyes, mostly unnoticed, and find out what we collectively can do to solve this crisis.

For the record - May 18, 2007

Although having lived in the United States for the last thirty years as a legal alien, I have never become an American passport holder. As such I consider myself a global citizen, calling Holland, Israel and the United States all home, and am proud as a Dutch American Jew, or is it Jewish American Dutchman, to represent the Netherlands for the blue planet run. I have traveled extensively through Europe, the Middle East and North and Central America and in the early seventies spent time in Israel on kibbutz Sdot Yam working the land and studying Hebrew. It was there that I met Anne and together we traveled the country several times over, from Ras Muhammad in the Sinai dessert to Mount Hermon in the Golan Heights. We went to seminars and Kallahs in Ramallah in the West Bank, where under the watchful eyes of the military we listened to lectures on Jewish religion, history, Israeli politics and the Arab conflict. We walked the land where biblical- and Jewish history was made, from Mount Sinai, Massada and the caves of Bar Kochba.

After almost a year, it was time to go "home", and three years later Anne and I married and settled in the US where we spent the last thirty years between Seattle, Atlanta and West Bloomfield, Michigan. I am a Reform Jew and believe in a pluralistic approach to life and a respect for all human beings, regardless of persuasion or background. During my professional career I have held and enjoyed positions in the life sciences field (NOAA) and sales and services management (Akzo Nobel). For fun I seek the outdoors and enjoy camping, hiking and kayaking. I am a runner and a bike rider (road and trail), enjoy marathons and century rides and look to expand and enrich my fitness activities to include triathlons with the ultimate goal to one day do an Iron man.

So running and traveling the world has been good to me, but when I lace up my running shoes now it conjures up a feeling far greater than before. The blue planet run is so much more than a foot race around the world. It is an initiative to instill an attitude towards reaching out to those in need of safe drinking water and by doing so repair the world and making it a better place to live for everyone. This is what inspires me daily and it feels good to be alive and able to contribute to a better tomorrow.

Why I run the planet - May 17, 2007

We continue to live in a world of disparity. While one side of the globe is handed opportunity and good fortune, the other half is struggling to survive under conditions most of us can’t even imagine. Born in the Netherlands, and currently making a living in the United States, I have lived a sheltered life without concern for basic life essentials. Having taken all of that for granted while growing up, I now as an adult am very aware of this imbalance and feel the need for speed.

With less than two weeks to go before the kick-off in New York City, I am contemplating the potential we will awaken by this race around the world. Each runner has been assigned a village in need of a water project, and my designated village is Nafadji in Mali, Africa. For sure you will be reading more about my newly inherited friends-in-need over the duration of the run. I am hopeful that together we can bring safe drinking water to Nafadji and similar communities all over the world and by doing so eradicate waterborne diseases often resulting in tragic and unnecessary death.

Yes, we are collectively responsible to take care of one and other, near and far, no matter what creed, color or religion. Only by our actions can we be an example for our children, so that they can learn this most valuable life lesson and sustain this obligation from generation to generation. Because making a positive difference is our duty and should be a human response for living on this planet. Please share the wealth and reach out generously to the people of Nafadji and similar communities all over the world in desperate need of safe drinking water.