day of the race

Do you know what we celebrate on October 12th?

We call it Día de la Raza, Day of the Race; though some countries celebrate it as Columbus Day, or under other names. Let me tell you why.

In the 15th century, an Italian sailor named Christopher Columbus thought he had found a new and shorter route to India, which was a trading partner of many countries in Europe. It took him eight years to convince Queen Isabella of Spain to pay for his journey. He left with three small ships; you probably know their names: La Ni?a, La Pinta, and La Santa María. And, on October 12th, 1492, he landed on an island in the Bahamas, thinking he was in India.


Most people believe that America was discovered long before Columbus arrived, but he was the first one to really establish contact between our continent and Europe. When he found out that the new land was not India, he claimed it in the name of the Spanish monarchy.

Thirty years later, Mexico was conquered by Hernán Cortés and became a colony of Spain for the next 300 years. The Spanish conquistadors brought missionaries with them, some of whom were very impressed by the local cultures. Although Spain imposed its government and religion, the people intermarried and many native traditions have survived. Our nation today is a mixture of the Spanish and the indigenous. We call that new race and that new culture --which came into existence partly because Christopher Columbus landed in America 507 years ago-- mestizo, and that is what we celebrate on October 12th, Día de la Raza. VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF

YOUNGSTOWN ― If you decide to run in the 33rd annual Peace Race on Sunday, you'll be able to see some of the best runners in Ohio ... for about 30 seconds.

But, hey, once they run away from you, you'll still be able to enjoy Mill Creek Park. And you'll have plenty of company.

"We spend a lot of time talking about elite runners, but the main emphasis [of the Peace Race] has always been and always will be the bread-and-butter, every-day runner," race director Ted Rupe said. "We try and set up the race so it's geared toward them."

Still, this year's race should be special.

The Road Runners Club of America designated the Peace Race as Ohio's 10K state championship race this year, helping the race attract more interest among the state's best.

Although the race often takes on an international flavor ― Kenyans swept the top three spots in last year's race for men and women ― this year's event is catered more toward Americans.

The overall champion, regardless of nationality, will receive $500, along with $500 for the top American and $500 for the top Ohioan. If an Ohioan wins all three, he'll pocket $1,500.


Awards will be presented to the top three finishers in each of 13 age groups for the 10K race and in each of seven age groups for the two-mile race.

The total prize money is $6,400, presented to the overall winners in open, masters and grand masters categories for the 10K race.

"We're really trying to build up the Ohio aspect," Rupe said. "We've got a nice crop of runners and we're hoping to support them."

The two-mile fun walk starts at 9:30 a.m., followed by the 10-kilometer race at 10:15. The 10K course features a 250-foot drop in elevation. Despite construction, runners will be able to cross Silver Bridge.

You can register on the day of the race at the downtown YMCA beginning at 7:45 a.m. Entry forms are available at Second Sole or area YMCAs. Online registration is also available at www.peacerace.org.

The entry fee is $15 before race day and $17 on race day. Family rates are also available.

"Our numbers are up," said Rupe, who is hoping to attract as many runners as possible. "Last year's numbers were the best we had in a decade and this year we're ahead of that.

"This race has such a great tradition, not just in Youngstown but in Northeast Ohio. It's our one chance each year to attract masses of runners into downtown Youngstown and show what a great park and what great facilities we have."
FOR runners training to run 26.2 miles in one of the 90-plus marathons in the United States this fall, the brutally hot and humid weather of last Sunday's Chicago Marathon was a reminder of the most vicious opponent in the sport: Mother Nature.

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Robyn Beck/Agence France-Presse - Getty Images
WEAR A MESH CAP This runner probably felt 10 degrees cooler in the hat and sunglasses he wore at an ultramarathon in Death Valley National Park.
And while it is unlikely that the New York City Marathon on Nov. 4, or other late-autumn efforts like Philadelphia's on Nov. 18 and Atlanta's on Nov. 22, will suffer the same extreme conditions as Chicago's, longer summers and warming weather trends mean that athletes should start planning to beat the heat, not just the clock.

"The best thing that people can do is to be ready to adjust to the heat, just in case," said Mary Wittenberg, the chief executive of the New York Road Runners and the race director of the New York City Marathon.

So what can you do to minimize the chances of hurting yourself if, come race day, the weather is hot but you're still hoping to cross the finish line?

Most experts say the important things are consuming the right amount of fluids, wearing lightweight clothing and slowing your pace, measures that can easily be forgotten in the excitement before a race.

"In a marathon, the problems of heat are multifaceted," said David E. Martin, a heat expert and emeritus professor of physiology at Georgia State University who counsels Olympic athletes on handling extreme weather conditions. "It's not just the temperature outside ― the asphalt warms up and becomes like a Crock-Pot. Then you've got thousands of hot bodies sweating around you. And you're running out of fluids, which can be awkward to drink during a race. They all compound negatively to affect performance."

Those negative effects can range from sluggish times to cramps, fainting and exhaustion, which felled hundreds of runners in Chicago. Then there are potentially fatal effects like hyponatremia, a disruption in sodium balance often caused by excessive water intake, and heat stroke.

"Your enzymes work best at about 99 or 100 degrees, which is why you usually warm up before you exercise," Professor Martin said. "But they shut down when you get to about 105 degrees, so you have a very narrow margin between acceptability in terms of activity and a danger point."

Experts suggested a variety of ways to prepare for unexpected heat on marathon day.

CHECK THE WEATHER. Matthew Moran, an exercise scientist and collegiate running coach at the State University of New York at Cortland, urges his runners to research the record high and low temperatures for marathon day. The record high for Nov. 4, the date of the New York City Marathon, is 78 degrees and the record low is 25 degrees, according to Chris Cimino, a meteorologist for WNBC-TV. "The odds of it getting into the 80s are slim to none," Mr. Cimino said. "But stranger things have happened."

Remember that many temperature broadcasts are for the shade, Professor Martin said. "There's a difference between the shade and the sun by about 10 to 15 degrees."

MONITOR YOUR FLUIDS. In the days before the race, ensure you're well hydrated by checking the color of your urine. "Straw-colored is ideal," said Greg McMillan, an Arizona exercise physiologist and running coach. "If it's darker, you're not getting enough fluids, and if it's clear, you're probably drinking too much water."

On marathon morning, skip the urge to wake early and guzzle water. Professor Martin said, "If you drink a ton of water two hours before you do something, your body will sense an increase in blood pressure and pee all the water away, so you've wasted getting up at 4 a.m." Instead, consume energy drinks right before and during the race.

To avoid hyponatremia, drink roughly a cup of energy drink per aid station, Mr. McMillan suggested. "If you feel sloshing in your stomach, you probably have enough fluids," he said.

DRESS PROPERLY. Light-colored, loose clothing made from technical fabrics is best, said Mr. McMillan. Pack three outfits: one for unusual cold, one for ideal weather and one for unusual heat.

Since the seams and cinching of new clothes can chafe over 26.2 miles, last-minute clothing purchases are a typical no-no for marathoners. But it is better to buy a white CoolMax singlet the day before a race than run in a black cotton long-sleeve.

Mesh caps, a favorite of the ultrarunner Dean Karnazes of California, release heat while shielding you from sun. "A hat and sunglasses can make you feel 10 degrees cooler," said Ms. Wittenberg.

SLOW DOWN. Mr. Moran said: "In an incredible heat environment, blood is pushed away from the muscles as a cooling method. It's harder for your muscles to get oxygen, so you have to adjust your pace. That's the hardest thing ― you have a goal in mind and you're making a conscious decision to run slower."

Once the temperatures start climbing above 70 degrees with humidity, most runners should slow their pace by 30 to 90 seconds per mile, Mr. McMillan suggested.

Mike Smith, a 2:19 marathoner from Flagstaff, Ariz., who plans to run the Olympic trials in Manhattan on Nov. 3, said that if he hears a forecast for the 70s, he'll discard any minutes-per-mile or final goal and focus on simply finishing the race.

STAY COOL. "The day before a race, you want to stay inside, stay in the shade, stay in the air-conditioning," Mr. McMillan said.

PACK ICE. The bronze medalist Deena Kastor wore an ice vest before the Athens 2004 Olympic marathon. The next best thing is a bag of ice. Pack some under your cap and in your shorts, suggests Mr. Karnazes, who has battled 120-degree temperatures at the Badwater Ultramarathon, which starts in Death Valley.

SEEK WIND AND WATER. "Normally you hate wind, but on a hot day it helps with the cooling," said Mr. McMillan. So don't run behind, or draft, another racer; run into the wind. Look for misting stations, soaking sponges and cups of water.

KNOW WHEN TO SAY WHEN. You will probably feel pain and fatigue; this is a marathon. But if you start experiencing dizziness, headaches, clammy skin, chills or goose bumps, stop at the nearest medical station. "You've trained, you've paid that huge hotel and air bill, you've got your friends back home you want to talk to and say 'I ran the race,'" Professor Martin said. "But your training has never gone to waste, it's maintaining your fitness for the next banana."

I remember when, as a child and uneducated, I thought that October 12th was the Day of the People of the U.S., and that Christopher Columbus, the white-skinned character in that silk jerkin, was a kind of Indiana Jones. But doubt overcame me when my classmates began changing their names, when Mamani turned into Maisman, Quispe into Quisbert, and Condori into Condorset. And so I began searching for the cause of this strange metamorphosis, until I found the answer in my textbooks. The Admiral of the Oceanic Sea, Viceroy of the lands of the New World, Naval Explorer and Governor, who was neither from Genoa nor Portugal, but not from Spain, either, appeared in an illustration on his knees, his gaze fixed on the wide heavens, as if thanking God that he was still alive after a long and difficult crossing. Although wearing neither helmet nor armor, he bore in one hand the royal colors and in the other a sword with protective hilt and cross-guards. Behind him could be seen the three caravels floating between heaven and sea, while from the coast of Guanahani, which looked like a paradise without snakes or sins, emerged indigenous people with copper skin, naked torsos, and looks of astonishment and terror.

My teacher, who had an aquiline nose and the prominent cheekbones of an Inca princess, was the first to share with us the conquerors?official story. She explained to us that Christopher Columbus represented civilized man, whose physical and mental skills had led him to discover the ocean� mysteries and to discover peoples living in backwardness and ignorance. I believed her as the faithful believe a priest, without knowing that we were being taught the white man� myth, and that my teacher, indigenous on all four sides, had spoken with a voice borrowed from those men who thirsted for blood and riches, as what she called �ay of the Race?was, in reality, the day against the race�gainst her own race? apart from the fact that in America, from Canada to Cape Horn, nothing remained the same after that fateful October 12, 1492.

The two faces of the conquest

Years later, reading a storybook, I learned that Hernan Cortes in the north and Francisco Pizarro in the south had set off to conquer the lands baptized with the name of Americo Vespuccio and not Christopher Columbus, who died in anonymity without ever knowing that he had opened the doors of an unknown continent where some thought they had found the earthly paradise, like the Jesuit Leon Pinelo, who, in the 18th Century, in a scholarly work, attempted to show that the Parana, the Orinoco, the Amazon, and the San Francisco were the four sacred rivers whose sources, according to holy scripture, were in Paradise.

The conquest was an inevitable fact�ur teacher told us�ecause it meant the victory of civilization over barbarity. The white men were bringing progress with them: the Bible, gunpowder, firearms, navigational instruments, the mercantilist economy, iron, the wheel and other things, while the Indians were still garbed in feather headdresses and professing barbarous religions. But what the teacher failed to mention was the cultural and scientific flowering of the pre-Colombian civilizations, such as the fact that the Mayas had put together a much more exact calendar than the Western one, that they employed the base-twenty system for math, and that they used a writing similar to Egyptian hieroglyphs; that the Inca empire built terraces and canals for farming, practiced cranial trepanation, and had a social system that respected the earth� collective community and in which all community members collaborated in the construction of public works. In brief, the teacher did not speak of what the pre-Columbian peoples had achieved, but rather about what they had not achieved.

Every October 12th, as the �ay of the Race?was celebrated in a civic event, the school principal would remind us that on Christopher Columbus?ships and in the conquerors?saddlebags came �olitical pluralism, freedom and the protection abundantly bestowed upon the Indians? But no one reminded us that on those same ships arrived deathly diseases, and that with those same saddlebags, in which had come the holy Inquisition, crime and terror, were stolen the gold and silver that ended up in the coffers of businessmen in Genoa and Antwerp, and that financed in Europe the Baroque splendor of the monarchies and the decisive take-off of Western mercantilism.

More than five hundred years of discrimination and racism

The principal spoke to us admiringly of Christopher Columbus?deeds and of the Christian faith which the conquerors taught us, but no one said a word about the predatory and devastating genocide of the indigenous peoples; about the new beliefs and customs imposed by blood and fire; and, what is most important, about the social and racial marginalization of the indigenous and black peoples in the new colonies, where the Creoles became lords and masters of the conquered lands, with the right to enjoy social and economic advantages and privileges but also the right to become the ruling class; a sort of white man� supremacy that, from October 12, 1492 on, is reflected in the latent racism that inhabits the collective subconscious of America, where not a few indigenous and black people change their identity: they change their language, their name, and their clothing, though the black person dressed in silk is still black, and the indigenous person, even with a medical degree and European last name, is still indigenous to the marrow.

When I finished school, I understood that the truth or falsity of the same history depended on whose voice was telling it, because when I began to read the version of the conquered, of those at the bottom, I realized that the arrival in the Americas of the Europeans was a bloody event, and that the Christian religion, born as an instrument of struggle on behalf of the oppressed, had become an instrument of oppression during the conquest, that the so-called �iscovery by Columbus?meant the annihilation of vast civilizations, and that October 12th was not a date to celebrate, but rather to reflect upon.

All in all, my teacher taught us to despise ourselves, as if teaching how to tell black from white, because in her lessons she spoke in negative tones of the Indigenous�erhaps with more cruelty than Pizarro and Cortes, and with less compassion than Bartolome de Las Cases and Vitoria�nd because the knowledge she passed on to us from the official history books did not correspond to the version of the conquered, but rather to that of the conquerors.

Many years have passed since then. I ceased being a child, and she ceased to exist. But I can no longer accept that October 12th is still celebrated as �ay of the Race? despite the fact that we, the mestizos of America, though we may look at ourselves in the mirrors of Europe, will not cease to be the bastard children of the conquest, of the plundering and the rape, just as were the children of La Malinche in Mexico and the daughters of Atahuallpa in Peru.

Still, if we can still blush from embarrassment, let us have the courage to recognize that the only thing we have inherited in over five hundred years of plunder and colonization is the shame of being what we are, that social pyramid where the dark is at the base and the light at the peak, where skin color and last name continue to be among the factors that in America determine a person� status, both social and economic.
Columbus Day is a holiday celebrating the anniversary of the October 12, 1492 arrival of Christopher Columbus to the Americas. Similar holidays, celebrated as Día de la Raza (Day of the Race) in many countries in Latin America, Día de las Culturas (Day of the Cultures) in Costa Rica, Discovery Day in The Bahamas, Día de la Hispanidad in Spain, Discoverer's Day in Hawaii, and the newly-renamed (as of 2002) Día de la Resistencia Indígena (Day of Indigenous Resistance) in Venezuela, commemorate the same event.

Contents
1 Discovery of the Americas
2 United States observance
2.1 States and city observations
2.1.1 California
2.1.2 Colorado
2.1.3 Hawaii
2.1.4 Minnesota
2.1.5 Nevada
2.1.6 South Dakota
3 Día de la Raza
4 Opposition to Columbus Day
5 See also
6 References
7 External links



[edit] Discovery of the Americas
Further information: Christopher Columbus, European colonization of the Americas
Columbus Day commemorates the discovery of the Americas in Columbus's famed expedition to the West, in which he hoped to find a naval route to India. Instead, he found an entire continent that was mostly unknown to Europe, Africa, and Asia at the time. While other Europeans had sporadically visited the Americas earlier, and there are varied theories of even earlier contact by East Asians, Phoenicians, and others, Columbus's expedition triggered the great wave of European interest in the New World. Unlike the earlier visitors, Columbus aggressively popularized his discoveries and arranged for return voyages.


[edit] United States observance
The first Columbus Day celebration was held in 1792, when New York City celebrated the 300th anniversary of his landing in the New World. President Benjamin Harrison called upon the people of the United States to celebrate Columbus Day on the 400th anniversary of the event in 1892.

Italian-Americans observe Columbus Day as a celebration of their heritage, the first occasion being in New York City on October 12, 1866.[1] [2] Columbus Day was popularized as a holiday in the United States by a lawyer, a son of Genoese immigrants who came to California. During the 1850s, Genoese immigrants settled and built ranches along the Sierra Nevada foothills. As the gold ran out, these skilled "Cal-Italians", from the Apennines, were able to prosper as self-sufficient farmers in the Mediterranean climate of Northern California. San Francisco has the second oldest Columbus Day celebration, with Italians having commemorated it there since 1869.

This holiday was first introduced by a lawyer, which was the son of Genoese immigrants who came to Cali.[citation needed] This lawyer then moved to Colorado, which had a population of Genoese miners, and where, in 1907, the first state-wide celebration was held. In 1937, at the behest of the Knights of Columbus (a Catholic fraternal service organization named for the voyager), President Franklin Delano Roosevelt set aside Columbus Day as a federal holiday.

Since 1971, the holiday has been commemorated in the U.S. on the second Monday in October, the same day as Thanksgiving in neighboring Canada. It is generally observed today by banks, the bond market, the U.S. Postal Service, federal offices, and most state government offices; however, most businesses, stock exchanges, and schools remain open.


[edit] States and city observations

[edit] California
The city of Berkley, California celebrates Indigenous People's Day instead of Columbus Day.


[edit] Colorado
The Columbus Day parade in Denver has been protested by American Indian groups and their supporters for nearly two decades.[3] Denver has the longest running parade in the United States. [4]


[edit] Hawaii
Further information: Discoverer's Day

Discoverer's Day is celebrated on the second Monday of October in Hawaii; it honors Captain James Cook as the first European to document Hawaiian society.Hawaii does not officially honor Columbus day and instead celebrates Discoverer's Day on the same day, i.e., on the second Monday of each October. While many in Hawaii still celebrate the life of Columbus on Columbus Day, the alternative holiday also honors James Cook, the British navigator that became the first person to record the coordinates of the Hawaiian Islands and share with the world the existence of the ancient Hawaiian people and society. Some people interpret the holiday as a celebration of all discoveries relative to the ancient and modern societies of Hawaii.

Many Native Hawaiians decry the celebration of both Columbus and Cook, known to have committed acts of violent subjugation of native people. Discoverer's Day is a day of protest for some advocacy groups. A popular protest site is the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace and the Chancery building of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu. Such advocacy groups have been commemorating the Discoverer's Day holiday as their own alternative, Indigenous Peoples Day. The week is called Indigenous Peoples Week.


[edit] Minnesota
Columbus Day is celebrated in the state of Minnesota.[5] Some city offices in Minneapolis were closed in 2006, as well as libraries across the Twin Cities.[6]


[edit] Nevada
Columbus Day is not a legal holiday in Nevada, but it is a day of observance. Schools and state, city and county government offices are open for business on Columbus Day.[7]


[edit] South Dakota
In the state of South Dakota, the day is officially a state holiday known as "Native American Day", not Columbus Day.[8]


[edit] Día de la Raza
The date of Columbus' arrival in the Americas is celebrated in Latin America (and in some Latino communities in the USA) as the Día de la Raza ("day of the race"), commemorating the first encounters of Europe and Native Americans. The day was first celebrated in Argentina in 1917, Venezuela in 1921, Chile in 1923, and Mexico in 1928. The day was also celebrated under this title in Spain until 1957, when it was changed to the "Día de la Hispanidad" ("Hispanic Day").

In 2002, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela changed the name to "Día de la Resistencia Indígena" ("Day of Indigenous Resistance").


[edit] Opposition to Columbus Day
Opposition to the holiday cites the fact that Columbus and many of the conquistador followers treated the American Indians with great cruelty. Columbus directly brought about the demise of many Taino (Arawak) Indians on the island of Hispaniola,[citation needed] and the arrival of the Europeans indirectly slew many indigenous peoples by bringing diseases previously unknown in the New World. An estimated 85 percent of the Native American population was wiped out within 150 years of Columbus's arrival in America, due largely to diseases such as smallpox, that spread among Native American populations. Additionally, war and the seizing of land and material wealth by European colonists also contributed to the decline of the indigenous populations in America.[9]

In the summer of 1990, 350 Native Americans, representatives from all over the hemisphere, met in Quito, Ecuador, at the first intercontinental gathering of indigenous people in the Americas, to mobilize against the quincentennial celebration of Columbus Day. The following summer, in Davis, California, over a hundred Native Americans gathered for a follow-up meeting to the Quito conference. They declared October 12, 1992, International Day of Solidarity with Indigenous People.

The largest ecumenical body in the United States, the National Council of Churches, called on Christians to refrain from celebrating the Columbus quincentennial, saying, "What represented newness of freedom, hope, and opportunity for some was the occasion for oppression, degradation and genocide for others."[10]


[edit] See also