Today is one of those "do you remember where you were" days...
& I don't think it's just for runners. Though it really hits runners especially hard.
I love in the 60 minutes interview they just did with Shalane Flanagan where she said, "it just really pissed me off"...
That's how I felt too.
I'm fairly new to the running world. I mean, I didn't run in my life until I was 37 years old & didn't know the first thing about runners, shoes, marathons, fartleks, pace, gels - all the things runners live & breath. So when I finally understand running & all that it is, of course, Boston is something I love to watch.
Before 2008, I could care less about Boston....
Now, I think the whole world cares about Boston....
It's always on a Monday & I'm grateful I have a computer where I can pull up the links & watch it from my desk in my office. I watched every minute of it & even the end, when the link was showing everyone crossing the finish line for about 15 minutes after the winners had finished, I took a picture & even put on Instagram how I wished they'd leave the link up all day...
I never ever tire of watching people finish a race....
But it went off... & the afternoon went on as normal...
Until I saw the tweets popping up over & over...
words like explosions, devastation, injuries...
Again, thankful for a computer I can link up too, I went onto CNN & saw the chaos that was happening.
& I was just like Shalane... I was ticked off...
I thought of everyone who trained so hard to complete this 'dream race' ... the pinnacle of races in the US... & how everything was called to a halt.
I thought of everyone injured. The blood stains in the road & the stories of limps being left behind as the owner of that body part was rushed to a hospital.
I thought of all the people who had just ran 24-26 miles & turned & ran further to become an aide or assistant to someone who needed help. How tired they must be, but how they were probably searching for their own family members who were cheering them on at the finish....praying the injured weren't one of their own.
I'm excited to see Boston again this year because I think the whole world will be watching now. Cheering on runners like never before. Seeing how runners press on.
I'll think of new words this year, like determination, triumph, STRONG....
People try to ruin events, try to ruin others....
they forget that people recover & become stronger....
Beautiful post, Rebecca!
ReplyDeleteI know I felt so much sadness and anger after last year's events. I had friends running and I knew others had friends/family running as well. I will be praying all week for all those affected from last year's race, and for a safe and FUN race for all the runner's next week. #BostonStrong
Also, I wanted to let you know that I nominated you for a Liebster Award! Check out my post today for details! :0)
DeleteI think we'll all be lifting up prayers for those runners this year... gotta reel in the insanity somewhere in this world - why not let it be in running :)
DeleteYEEHHAWWW! Thanks for the award - I'll be stopping by today! :)
Indeed, this will always be one of those "I remember I was doing... when that happened". I had actually just arrived at Fort Leavenworth and was inprocessing into my new unit when I got a text from my fiance saying "You will never run a major marathon race especially one with media and millions of people watching." Now Daivd is a very practical guy and I had no idea what was going on, so I called him and asked what that was about and he said "turn on the news". And I was in shock. At the time I was staying with my friend Kelly and her hubby waiting for my quarters to be ready and we are all runners (them even more than me) and we couldn't believe it. I think when one is a runner {regardless of how long} something like that happening at a historic race felt like an affront. How dare they? Which is why runners were pissed {aside from the families and those affected}.
ReplyDeleteYeah - I ran a big race right before the Boston & my husband isn't comfortable with them anyways & then that happened, he was like, You're done - no more races! ... you want to protect the people you love, but 'crazy' can happen anywhere, any day :(
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