My heart is absolutely heavy right now. As a runner, I feel like someone has attacked my friends and my family. As a human being, I am just horrified. Words cannot even put together how heavy my heart is and how I feel for the running community. I cannot watch the coverage without getting chills and fighting back tears. I am devastated for the runners and the volunteers and the supporters that I do not know and the lives that were lost and the lives that are forever changed.
When I was running A LOT and running marathons, Boston was a goal. A goal that in all reality was probably not reachable. Boston is a runner’s dream, it is the holy grail of marathons for many – runners work SO hard and train SO hard to be part of this race. They voice their opinions when the race sells out insanely fast and when they change the qualifications and make it harder to get in. But all that is just so small and inconsequential right now. I HATE that finishes were overshadowed by tragedy. I HATE that many runners who trained long and hard had today stolen from them. Today was supposed to be a day full of joy and pride and personal victories. Not this. As a past marathoner I can say with my whole heart: A marathon is a place for unity and perseverance. Not this. But I can tell you that it will unify us & we will persevere.
Just watching the running community checking in on each other makes me remember that though we may not know each other personally and we refer to each other by our blog names & twitter names until we meet in person at expos and pasta parties we are one big running family. It has been inspiring today amidst the heartbreak and shock and sadness to watch and read the compassion and thoughtfulness just pour our out. We are a family. We care about each other. We just want to know that we are all okay.
We run marathons to test the strength of the human body. What happens after today will show the strength of human will.
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