After the initial shock and disbelief, my feelings turned to anger. Deep, hateful, anger. The deeper I reached into the news, the deeper the anger became. I'm still not sure who, or what, my anger was directed to, but it was anger nonetheless.
This cowardly attack hit close to home. It infiltrated a lifestyle that I have been a part of since 2007. My thoughts did not wander far my friends and acquaintances that had prepared for their Boston journey for months, if not years, also of the family and friends that had traveled to show their love and support.
In an effort to be first with the news, speculations began to hit the news wires. This was making me angrier. On social media, reports of blame began to surface and sides where pointing fingers. This was making me angrier.
The news reported that three people had died and several, over one hundred, were injured. Some of the injuries were severe. I kept praying.
I found out this morning that a little boy had gone to the finish line to hug his dad as he crossed the finish line, then returned to his mother and sister just as the bomb went off. The little girl lost a leg, the mother was seriously injured. The little boy, well... he was the eight year old that died. That feeling of emptiness and sickness returned to my stomach.
As I quickly realized last night that from where I was, there was not much I could do to help, I did the only thing I knew to do. I went for a run. And yes, as I posted on facebook, it was "the best damn 6 miles I've ever ran."
As if often happens after any tragedy that strikes our society, we find unity and comfort in each other. We cry together, we pray together and in this case, we go running together. Whoever the perpetrator(s) of this cowardly act was, did not take into account the grit, gut and determination of a mad-as-hell running community.
I understand better than you can imagine, that focusing on the negativity and the anger is not productive. I know that. I live that. But, this is different. Very different. So I apologize if I seem a little out of sorts today.
So where do we go from here? We need to refuse to allow fear to take over our lives, for if it does, we're doomed. We need to continue to pray, for many are hurting today and will for a long time. But most importantly, we need to continue to run, and if you're not a runner, start today. There were nearly 5,000 runners who went through the final checkpoint at 40K (24.8 miles) that did not finish the race. When you cross the finish line of your next event, and the one after that, and then all the others beyond that, do it on behalf of them and be thankful that you stood up and refused to be taken down.
