Thoughts on Yesterday's Attack on the Boston Marathon

It’s now 8 hours after the attack on the Boston Marathon. As a dedicated runner having completed over 100 marathons personally, I am unable to comprehend the series of emotions that a few of my close friends and thousands of members of the marathoning community must be feeling tonight. I’m still trying to digest the event and struggling to put together a few coherent thoughts – and I wasn’t even there.

I am curious to learn what kind of demented human being is responsible
for this particular cowardly act of terror. Clearly, anyone who would cause a tragedy like this has a very sick mind but I am envisioning a very ‘special’ perversion was at work today.

I would not be surprised if the responsible person(s) are in some way a part of (or at least familiar with) running and marathoning in particular to have selected this particular event as their target. One must understand the emotional and physical highs and lows that a marathon runner experiences while covering the 26.2 miles between the start and the finish to comprehend the true evil of what occurred today.

After struggling emotionally and physically for hours the finish line comes into view. There is excitement and euphoria in the air. At this point spectators line the course often 6, 8, 10 or even 20 people deep in a premier event such as the Boston Marathon. All are cheering and shouting encouragement to all the runners. Suddenly the tiredness is lifted away - - replaced by a new burst of energy and elation at the realization that the struggle is nearly over, you have finally reached the end and are about to conquer the holy grail of running. You’ve ‘Done Boston!’ This may not be the best analogy but to many marathoners this must be second only to struggling through a long and painful illness only to look up and see Heaven’s Gates opening before them.

The last thing one expects is to have that euphoric moment snatched
away in a heartbeat by a coward attempting to make a point. There is something
especially devastating about an attack at the end of a marathon - - not only is
it an attack on life itself – it is an attack on the human spirit.

It’s too early to know who is responsible – and for the moment it doesn’t really
matter. Once again, humanity has been dealt a devastating blow but just as every time before — we will recover. Thankfully, only a few lost their lives today and many others sustained physical injuries - - but we have ALL been shaken to the core. We ALL feel the pain...

Like a freshly injured runner we are not only hurt – we feel helpless. Yet what we want to do more than anything is to get up, face the challenge and run again. But, like a runner we must be patient and wait a bit for the pain to subside, allow the natural healing process to begin, consider our situation and plan an appropriate comeback strategy.

Our full recovery may take a long time and other events may cause setbacks along the way, but like a devoted and determined runner we will be back on top. We will win this race!