boston.

yesterday morning, i sat with my computer watching the final miles of the elite men and women running in the boston marathon cross the finish line.  i could feel the excitement from the crowd.  i imagined how the runners felt, all of them, as they would cross the finish line.  i remembered my own excitement at every race, as you head toward the finish line, and then cross over it.  accomplishing something you set out and worked your rear off for.  so many emotions happen when you cross the finish line.  happy, sad (didn't meet expectations), relief, joy.  i watched the winners recieve their awards, and then i had to turn it off and head to work.  imagine my surprise a couple of hours later, when i looked at my twitter feed and saw the words bomb, boston marathon, and finish line all together.  what?!  it didn't take long to find out what happened.

at that moment my heart broke.  it broke for the spectators, and it broke for the runners.  i felt the sadness.  many of those runners didn't get to cross that line, or get their medal that they worked so hard for.  it was taken away by an act of violence.  boston marathon is the bucket list race, if you can qualify for it.  just qualifying to run in boston is hard work, i can't even imagine being close to a qualification time to run there.  i know someone who did a couple years ago.  i know of "cyber" friends who were there, running or spectating.  thankfully, they are safe.  i felt for the runners, their moment was taken away from them. for those that were stopped and told there is no finishline.  i felt for the spectators, who must have been so confused and in fear.  

the social media outlets immediately came up with ways to support those in boston.  ideas were posted to run 4.09 miles (4:09 was the time on the clock when the first explosion occured), or 2.62 miles in honor of the race distance.  wearing yellow and blue, or a race t-shirt from any race, to show support.  #runforboston #prayforboston were hashtags that we all used to connect and to show support to the people at the marathon.

runners are strong people.  you can't scare us away that easily.  we are a community.  knock us down, and we will fight right back.  we are determined, i mean we run crazy mileage for fun.  we are stubborn and we push through.  while i was unable to run due to some foot issues, i put on my princess half shirt in honor of boston. i was proud of my mom for wearing her one and only shirt from a race that she walked in a few years ago. (Check out Amy's post of many t's being worn today here) (see a video of shirts worn all over the country here, to the most appropriate song from epcot's illuminations, love that song)

while i am not sure i could ever run the boston marathon, it has made me think of adding one of the boston atheletic association's races to my race to do list.  maybe a 5k, 10k or half will be in my future.  and when i run my next race, you can bet my mind will be on those in boston.  i will be running for them.