Yesterday I watched in horror as the bombs exploded at the finish line of the Boston Marathon. *THE* Boston Marathon, I should say. As a runner, Boston is the most prestigious and historic of all races. It is the ultimate goal. We even have the common running lingo acronym, BQ, which means you ran another race fast enough to qualify to run Boston.
Boston is also a city I deeply love. My family has deep deep roots there. My grandparents both grew up there, my grandfather went to MIT and my grandmother went to Boston University. They married there and the house my great-grandfather built in 1928 is still there and now I get the privilege of paying the bills on it. (That’s kind of an inside joke.)
Anywho, I’ve spent a great amount of time in Beantown. Plus, of course, I’m now a runner. So you can imagine how yesterday felt.
The thing about runners though…we are tough. We are incredibly resilient. We know how to punch fear in the face. If the terrorists thought this would deter us from running Boston or any other marathon again? They were wrong.
We are also family. Mainly because we’re crazy so we stick with our own brand of crazy.
Which is why my local running community IMMEDIATELY banded together to create our own tribute run tonight, in honor of those in Boston yesterday. We will meet at one of our regular gathering spots at 6:30 tonight and run 4.09 (44) miles (the race time the bombs went off) in solidarity with the runners (and spectators) in Boston and beyond. We apparently are even having tech tshirts made up because our local print shop, Brammers, who sponsors our running club, Katy Fit, is freaking awesome.
But this run isn’t limited to Katy Fit runners. All who can come are welcome. And some who can’t make it have decided to do their own virtual tribute runs in their own neighborhoods. I’m sure we aren’t the only ones with this idea, but we are good and springing into action. I hope the entire community of runners throughout cyberspace will join us.
Join us in person at the Cop Shop on I-10 in Katy/West Houston, just past the Barker Cypress Rd intersection at 6:30 tonight. All are welcome.
Join us virtually by wearing your race shirts and running where you are and tweeting with the hashtag #Run4Boston. Snap a photo and Instagram your group!
Great article! I also wrote something SLIGHTLY about the Boston bombings. Thought you might be interested. http://johngunter.net/earthquake/
Great article! I also wrote something SLIGHTLY about the Boston bombings. Thought you might be interested. http://johngunter.net/earthquake/