PyongyangMarathon We were feted with a movie not too long ago of 300 naked Spartanspoised against the Persians in the Battle of Thermopylae. I did not watch themovie though I saw the posters all over Saipan with the main character lookinglike he was showing off his abs after a session at the gym. It reminded me of an earlier historicalencounter in the plains of Marathon where the Persians were also defeated butthen withdrew to sail to Athens, and a runner named Pheiddipiddes (aka Philippides,a name this guy born in the Philippines remembers) ran the 26 miles distance towarn the city of an impending Persian attack, thus, the 26-mile distance ofpresent day marathons including that of the Olympics! We could meander down Darius and Xerxes historical paths at the zenithof the Persian Empire, or, more recently, the history of the Olympics run since1896 in the Games in Athens that needed a popular drawing card and came offwith the marathon, or even the odd 26.385 mile measure once held because theKing of England was seated exactly at that distance from the starting point,but the marathon itself is not our immediate interest. It is its recent Pyongyang incarnation thatcaught our fancy, not unlike the one in Saipan, where three events were held:the main one, the half run, and the 10K meters. Pyongyang had its run earlier than Saipan and we are not afterdetails of who was first to cross the finishing line as much as we aresurprised to discover that the event has been held since 1981; in fact, hasalready been running for more than two decades (would be three but there wereyears it did not run). Further, the lastone on April 13 this year was open to foreign amateur runners where more than200 participants entered. (We shall be forgiven if we mention the first year anniversary of theBoston marathon, marred last year by the explosions at the finishing line allegedlyfrom bombs planted by the Chechen brothers Tsarnaevs, making participants thisyear on Patriots’ Day more determined – “we own the finish line”- to run theevent oblivious of any fear that may have been inflicted by last year’soccurrence, in spite of the ugly prank of a copycat who left backpacks with arice cooker at the finishing line a few nights before the run that police hadto explode just to be sure. We do lamentthe fact that we kept the young Tsarnaev alive so we can punish him for life!) Now, back to Pyongyang. I amobviously not too keen on finding out about whose legs got them fastest to thefinish line and received the medal at the Mangyongdae Prize InternationalMarathon. OK, what’s with“Mangyongdae”? That’s actually the nameof the village where founder of Chosun, Chaoxianin Chinese for “North Korea”, KimSung Il was born, sort of like Abe Lincoln’s Kentucky log cabin but with muchmore patriotic hullaballoo, though not as touristy as Mt. Vernon. I am only four hours away by regular train to the city of Dandong,China’s shipping port at the mouth of the Yalu river right across from NoKor’s Sin’uijucity with an unfinished bridge standing halfway across the river from the Chinaside. The border traffic is hardlynoticeable as the Koreans on the Dandong side, aside from being part ofKorea-in-China, previously Kogoryo of old, now formally administered asYanbian, are undocumented immigrants, or clandestine agents. There’s a tourist ride on the Dandong side of the Yalu river thatgets to the riverbank of the other side, close enough to actually see the bathersturn around and execute a cute “belfie” (butt up front) on cameraclickers. The late afternoon ride I tookhad a young couple perform an X-rated act to the delight of the men folks andgiggled embarrassment of the demure ladies. I was told that such irreverence was not sanctioned but nonetheless toleratedwhen they occurred, though occasionally, it is used as an object lesson toinstill discipline on the unruly but nature-loving farm hands. Compared to Dandong, the largest port facility in the Far East, brightlylit at night against the dark boulevards of Chaoxian’sthoroughfares, Sin’uiju is a sleepy town. In fact, the Internet has a satellite night photo of the Koreanpeninsula where the South looks like a Chicago Christmas tree and the North, areplica of a starless Himalayan night. Iwas reminded of Dandong when I visited Heihe across the Amur River from theRussian Far East city of Blagoveshchensk where China again burned the midnightoil (a resource it does not have much of) so that its Russian neighbors wouldbe reminded on the difference of public façade, never mind the actual economicrealities on the ground. The Wall Street Journal reported that the Pyongyang marathon is oneof NoKor’s tourist attractions to earn valued foreign exchange currency. With a new ski slope and the recentsuggestion of joint investigation on SoKor’s three drone attacks that Seoulthinks came from the hermit kingdom, perhaps, Chaoxian is inclined to play. Why not indulge them, to keep their skills honed on games rather than onperfecting the refinement of weapons grade uranium they are determined toattain since we accuse them of doing it anyway? Yo bosaeyo, Chaoxian! j'aime la vie pinoypanda2031@aol.com yesterday, appreciate; tomorrow, anticipate; today. participate. In all, celebrate!