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“What the Boston Marathon terrorists really don’t get is that they attacked an unshakable group of people who run 26 miles until their nipples are raw for fun.”
The Boston Marathon
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/16/us/explosions-reported-at-site-of-boston-marathon.html?_r=0
This is a sad day for Boston and a sad day for running. As many of you know, I’m from the Boston area and I’m still in shock that someone would actually do this to the thousands of people who have logged hundreds of miles and spent countless hours training for one of the most prestigious marathons in the country. More than 10,000 runners never even got to cross that finish line and get the satisfaction you can only get from putting in months, even years of hard work and dedication. As a runner, I have so much respect for anyone who has the drive to run an entire 26 miles. Several of my friends and family members were in that race and to see all that work go to waste is heartbreaking. And then there are the victims, there are dozens of runners who are so badly injured they will probably never run again. One of the deaths was an eight year old child who was cheering on their parents. Many of the injured were actually volunteers and supporters who were working at the finish line.
Not only that but Marathon Monday has been an important Boston tradition over the years. It has become a day where all of Boston comes together to cheer on the marathon runners. Rain or shine, from mile one all the way down to the finish line, hundreds of thousands of people line the streets cheering and yelling words of encouragement. As a child I never got the point of spending the day cheering for a bunch of strangers as they ran through the streets, but I loved all of the food/icecream trucks and balloon sellers that came along with it. As years went on and I actually realized just how hard it is run for that long I gained a bigger appreciation of what these people were actually running for. In high school we would rush through our morning track practice so that we could go and watch the remarkable celebration of Boston pride and human endurance. So many positive memories come from this one big event every year and now those memories will be tainted by this awful tragedy. Now, what used to be a day of celebration will become a memorial and I can’t see Marathon Monday ever being the same again. Who ever did this is a despicable human being and hopefully they will be caught soon.
My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and everyone else effected. Boston stay strong.
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