We participated in the peace trot double this year. So fun!!
 a couple scattered thoughts!
- James and I have been enjoying a daily walking routine since quarantining in March. But in honor of the upcoming Trot we decided to get running shoes and started trotting last weekend. During this Peace Trot week we went on three runs, and we’re excited to continue this practice! - Growing up with Peter and family living upstairs, I remember knowing that he went for runs, and that getting daily exercise was crucial for him. As I grow up I have gradually come to empathize with this feeling, although I’m still learning to love running. - When I remember Peter, I think of his steadfast commitment to peace and justice, but also his attention to keeping his body, mind, and spirit in shape to do the work.  We had a wonderful time trotting together as a family through the Botanic Gardens, celebrating father's day, and remembering many past Peace Trots. We are always appreciative of the work you all do.
 Like so many people, I am separated from loved ones this Father's Day, but I am privileged to live in a beautiful and peaceful place, not far from the Clarendon Way, a well trodden footpath between Winchester and Salisbury cathedrals in southern England.
 All four of us went for a short walk in the plantations
and then Tom and Maya hiking in Shindagen Hollow for the rest of the 5K.  We trotted in Texas too, and it was steamy!! It felt like a swim.
 "Here’s Antonia. She hiked in, did some climbing, and hiked out for her virtual trot."
 Kim and Steve, from the Norfolk Catholic Worker, trotted this morning in Norfolk, VA.
  Greetings from Detroit!
For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Cait De Mott Grady. I’m Peter De Mott and Ellen Grady’s second daughter. I live in Detroit, MI where I work as a felony public defender and organizer. It’s so good to be with all of you virtually tonight, though I long to be with you all in person. We mark this 11th year of the Peter De Mott Peace Trot in the midst of an unprecedented global pandemic that continues to ravage communities and lay bare staggering imbalances of power both in the United States and around the world. We mark this 11th year of the Peter De Mott Peace Trot in the midst of national and global uprising and rebellion in response to the killing of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Ahmaud Arbery and countless others, disproportionately Black and brown and poor, who have been murdered by the police. We mark this 11th year of the Peter De Mott Peace Trot as US military spending continues to outpace any other nation in the world while 40+ million people in this country have filed for unemployment. We spend on war and weapons of war while our schools go unfunded. While people in Detroit and across the country fight for access to water. While people fight to keep their homes. While people fight, every day, to put food on the table. While Black people in this country fight to breathe. We mark this 11th year of the Peter De Mott Peace Trot as the Trump administration rolls back environmental regulation after regulation while global temperatures continue to rise at a rate that puts human survival in the balance. It’s fair to say that we are in a moment of reckoning: Reckoning with militarism as we see tanks roll down our city streets, teargas fly, drones circle Reckoning with white supremacy as we see again and again and again how the police murder with impunity -- how Black and brown lives are constantly in the crosshairs of state-sanctioned violence Reckoning with limitless consumption as our planet screams for us to stop Reckoning with a loss of community and connection, amplified by social distancing and quarantine and fear And in the midst of this reckoning, we’re seeing the impossible becoming possible. In the streets of Detroit, the energy is palpable and infectious! Young people, especially young people of color are leading. the. way. Who knew that in 2020, we’d be having a real national conversation about defunding the police?! Sit with that for a minute. For decades on decades on decades we’ve seen our schools defunded, our infrastructure defunded, our healthcare system gutted. All while police budgets grow, while more prisons and jails are built, while more and more laws are passed to criminalize poverty and Blackness. This rebellion is making space for us to reimagine what our world looks like. It’s posing big questions: What does safety actually mean? What would it mean to respond to harm without putting human beings in cages? What would it mean to provide health care, housing, and education to all? It’s in those spaces that I feel my dad’s spirit most alive. In the fearless confrontation of these interlocking systems of oppression. It’s in these spaces of possibility that I want to live. May we all, each and every one of us, find our place in these spaces of possibility. May we organize and march and chant and put our bodies on the line, may we cook and share food, may we divest from white supremacy, may we be open to hard conversations, may we love and support each other, and may we find beauty and joy along the way.  time: 32:17
It was an evening that I NEEDED to run, to feel the calm it brings me. The beautiful skies also did not disappoint. I was proud to run to continue to honor Peter de Mott’s legacy. Peace! ❤️ Just completed the Peace Trot Double! Time: 46:57 Thursday evening after a heavy rainstorm, Tom, Steve, and I ran the old Peace Trot course at the Arboretum. Then Sunday, Fathers Day, I ran the new Peace Trot course at Cass Park and it was hot! The time above is my combined time for both courses. Definitely not my fastest but that's ok! It was great to get out and reflect on what a special event this is, and all the work that has been put into making a "virtual" Trot happen this year. Nice job team!   time: 29:37 The weather cooperated as usual and made today hot, hot, hot!
Next year we will all be together!  time: 27:07
Of the many wonderful routes posted (thanks Tom and Amelia and ..), I went back to the fast and flat Cass Park 5K. Got briefly confused at the Marina and might have been a bit creative getting back to T-Blvd. This is much better than my first P Trot in the Plantation when I crossed the finish line going the wrong way. Thinking back to being an IHS cross country parent, I remember Dan Dracup doing a start of the season 16' 5K time trial at Cass Park. Another happy memory was meeting from a few P Trots ago, Jessica Ryan, a great peace activist and teacher, who not only met Molly Huddle, but had an unfair advantage that day of wearing shoes that Molly had autographed. Amelia, you have to let us know what your latest ultra running adventure has been. Best wishes for your next one! Thanks to all the disorganizers for this P Trot. I deeply appreciate the noble cause and hope the best for Claire G. and her family and Dan F. Bottom line for my Trot: Once again Tom Joyce handily bested me. Next time Tom!!!
time: 51:51 for the Back-to-Back Peace Trot Double!
I loved Tom and Amelia's invitation to combine the Cass and Arboretum courses for a Peace Trot Double. I ran the Arboretum course Tues evening the 16th, but shorted the course by 2/10ths. But oh so beautiful there that evening. Decided to redo the course in its full length and do Cass on the weekend. I invited fellow Trotter, Kurt Pipa, to participate and we realized our schedules only matched up to do the courses back-to-back Sat afternoon (in the 85-90 degree heat!). So we did! So beautiful again, both courses. We saw several other Trotters and Strollers out hittin' the courses, which was super fun! Thanks for the good work your organization does for peace in the world and to create community in our area!
time: 37:00
I put away my mountain bike for a run around Shindagin Forest with a good friend. Beautiful day, great experience. Happy Peace Trot! time: 35:00
I felt rather privileged to be enduring a somewhat arduous bit of cardio in the sunny humidity at a substantial distance from any other humans in the COVID stricken "first world." At least it wasn't "a day without sweat"! |
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