This post is going to come across as a rambling jumble of words, but that's okay, because, I'm trying to process what I saw in Boston yesterday afternoon.
I am a runner, pure and simple, I love to lace up and go out for a run, with my favorite four footed running partner. I run because, it is a release, a way to get away, to decompress. Throughout my runs, I have run 4 marathons, and about 14 or 15 half marathons and countless 5 and 10Ks, the part I love more than anything is the camaraderie of the runners and spectators, people are cheering for you, even though you don't know them and they don't know you.
I get a thrill out of giving high fives to the kids along the course who are there watching for their moms, dads or simply excited to get a high five from a runner.
I know I'll never win a marathon, but that doesn't keep me from feeling like a competitor, a real athlete. I have an awesome sense of being, when I "race", because I am on the same playing field as the professionals. I might be a decent football player in a backyard pickup game, but I know that I will never be a starting quarterback in the Super Bowl, however, in a marathon, I'm potentially on the same course on the same day in the same conditions as the world record holders and that gives me the sense of being part of the brother/sisterhood of runners.
My dream is to one day run the route from Hopkinton to Copley Square, making that turn on to Boylston and crossing the line at the Boston Marathon. I have a lot of work to do to get a qualifying time, but that doesn't mean I won't stop trying.
What makes this whole Boston Bombing hard to process for me is two things; first, the time on the clock is pretty close to my average finishing time, and I can't help but feel that my family and friends would be watching me cross the line and could have been affected by the blast; second, this feels like an attack on my dream, a dream I share with many other runners around the globe.
I know I will recover and continue pursuing my dream, but right now it just stings!
I am a runner, pure and simple, I love to lace up and go out for a run, with my favorite four footed running partner. I run because, it is a release, a way to get away, to decompress. Throughout my runs, I have run 4 marathons, and about 14 or 15 half marathons and countless 5 and 10Ks, the part I love more than anything is the camaraderie of the runners and spectators, people are cheering for you, even though you don't know them and they don't know you.
I get a thrill out of giving high fives to the kids along the course who are there watching for their moms, dads or simply excited to get a high five from a runner.
I know I'll never win a marathon, but that doesn't keep me from feeling like a competitor, a real athlete. I have an awesome sense of being, when I "race", because I am on the same playing field as the professionals. I might be a decent football player in a backyard pickup game, but I know that I will never be a starting quarterback in the Super Bowl, however, in a marathon, I'm potentially on the same course on the same day in the same conditions as the world record holders and that gives me the sense of being part of the brother/sisterhood of runners.
My dream is to one day run the route from Hopkinton to Copley Square, making that turn on to Boylston and crossing the line at the Boston Marathon. I have a lot of work to do to get a qualifying time, but that doesn't mean I won't stop trying.
What makes this whole Boston Bombing hard to process for me is two things; first, the time on the clock is pretty close to my average finishing time, and I can't help but feel that my family and friends would be watching me cross the line and could have been affected by the blast; second, this feels like an attack on my dream, a dream I share with many other runners around the globe.
I know I will recover and continue pursuing my dream, but right now it just stings!
Thank you for your perfectly worded post.
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