Wrapping my Head Around Boston

I’ve struggled writing this post because of the events of last weekend’s Boston Marathon Bombings. While I may not have run a marathon, or run Boston – it still hit close to home. I think this attack was personal for a lot of people. For those of us who run, it hit home because we can’t imagine someone would ever want to cause harm during a race. If you aren’t a runner, chances are you either knew someone running, or perhaps knew someone in the city that day. It was very personal for a lot of people. I still can't imagine that it happened, and hope that it brings everyone a little bit closer together and not to lose faith or courage.

Feel free to skip this section – its very detailed…

Being from the east coast, and going to college in RI – half my friends were from Massachusetts and half moved to Boston after graduation. Patriots Day and Marathon Monday were ALWAYS a big deal, and one that I heard nothing but the best about. Last year I was tracking one of my best friends and her fiancé as they braved the heat and ran the race. This year, I saw all the excitement across facebook as a few friends prepared for the race and others just enjoyed the festivities. My jaw hit the ground when I first heard of the attacks. A lot of my co-workers didn’t immediately understand the spectacle that is Marathon Monday. How the entire city shuts down, how it is an event for all, how runners say the best part of the race is that fans cover the ENTIRE 26.2 miles and cheer you on the whole way. I couldn’t wrap my head around who would do this? Why? How? I immediately texted all my friends and everyone was OK.

Monday night I had dinner with my friend who had run Boston last year and it was a different mood for dinner than usual. We couldn’t keep our eyes off the coverage, we exchanged stories and luckily everyone we knew was fine. We kept discussing how horrible it was. Bombing the finish line? The best part of the race for a runner, the most tiring, but the most rewarding! So many runners for Boston may not BQ but they run for charity and raise thousands of dollars. Last year they were given the choice to defer a year because of the weather…that morning she wished she had!

The horror continued as I was awoken Friday morning from a slew of texts from my college roommates. I know when there are that many texts, that early in the morning, it is the FF wishing everyone a happy Friday or just random thoughts. I jumped out of bed when I read the text of lockdown, sirens, door to door searches. One of my roommates was blocks away from the chaos and was locked in her home with her husband in Watertown. I watched the news coverage as long as I could before I had to go to work, couldn’t peel my eyes away from whatever update I could find at work and from her texts. Friday afternoon I went straight home and just wanted to watch the coverage. I was so happy when they finally captured suspect #2 and a big sigh of relief for everyone in Boston.

I didn’t know how to exactly write what I was feeling, nor was I really sure what I was feeling or how to cope with it or what I could even do. I read that some other bloggers were doing tribute runs so I asked my friend who ran the race last year, to run a 4.09 mile run to tribute Boston since the bombings went off when the marathon clock read 4 hours 9 minutes. We met Thursday during lunch and did our small part. Some weird things:

1. First song to play as I ran to meet Jen – “Shipping up to Boston” by Dropkick Murphys
2. The song REPLAYED 2 songs later, even though I was on a 100 song playlist shuffle
3. We crossed the road “Boston Street”
4. Another song by Vampire Weekend called “ Ladies of Cambridge” came on with the lyrics I've had dreams of Boston all of my life

It isn’t anything big, but it made me feel a little more connected and time to reflect on it.

4.09 miles

Boston Street, Greenwood Village, CO