I've been trying to make sense of a senseless situation. Yesterday, after excitedly watching my colleague's progress online for three hours, I emerged from a short meeting to hear someone say, "there were explosions at the Boston Marathon." Words and horrible pictures have been spinning in my head ever since.
Everyone that I know in Boston is safe. But that doesn't make me feel better about yesterday's events. As a marathon runner, I feel part of a larger running community. This hits too close to home. Finish lines are supposed to be the place where you feel relief, euphoria, joy. It's supposed to be the place where you can stop running, take a deep breath, celebrate, and be with your family. Thinking of my own family waiting for me at countless finish lines takes my breath away.
As runners, we are constantly reminded that we are human. Injuries, black toenails, lost toenails, soreness, cuts, bruises, endless pairs of sneakers remind us of our humanity every day. But at the end of a marathon, a runner should feel invincible. At the finish line, we should feel like nothing can get us down or stop us.
The only thing that I can think of to do is: keep running. We will run through the hurt, we will run through our tears. With each run, we will get stronger and at some point, someday, we will again feel that after 26.2 miles, we are untouchable. Runners are a funny group of people; we don't quit.
Our hearts are in Boston today, but I know that our feet are firmly on the ground, taking the next step forward and running, running, running. We will pause to solemnly lower our heads and pray for those who we lost. But we will never stop running.
Everyone that I know in Boston is safe. But that doesn't make me feel better about yesterday's events. As a marathon runner, I feel part of a larger running community. This hits too close to home. Finish lines are supposed to be the place where you feel relief, euphoria, joy. It's supposed to be the place where you can stop running, take a deep breath, celebrate, and be with your family. Thinking of my own family waiting for me at countless finish lines takes my breath away.
As runners, we are constantly reminded that we are human. Injuries, black toenails, lost toenails, soreness, cuts, bruises, endless pairs of sneakers remind us of our humanity every day. But at the end of a marathon, a runner should feel invincible. At the finish line, we should feel like nothing can get us down or stop us.
The only thing that I can think of to do is: keep running. We will run through the hurt, we will run through our tears. With each run, we will get stronger and at some point, someday, we will again feel that after 26.2 miles, we are untouchable. Runners are a funny group of people; we don't quit.
Our hearts are in Boston today, but I know that our feet are firmly on the ground, taking the next step forward and running, running, running. We will pause to solemnly lower our heads and pray for those who we lost. But we will never stop running.
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