Rarely do I take current events personally. Rarely am I concerned for my own welfare when I hear about things that happen thousands of miles away. Boston is different. Though I wasn’t anywhere near there, I could have been. It could have been me.
Multiple times a year, you can find me at the finish line of a marathon, a 1/2 marathon, a 5K, or a bicycle race, cheering friends, cheering strangers along the course, cheering loved ones while the push themselves further or harder than I could push myself physically. Multiple times of year, I’m there. At a recent marathon, I circumvented the route by bike in order to bring a friend that was running the race food along the way. And I was there to meet her at the finish line too. So I could have been there… at the finish. It could have been me. I’ve brought my son with me to cheer on my friends. He’s now eight years old, the same age as one of the victims.
I enjoy cheering my friends on during marathons. Why? Because running 26.2 miles is a crazy thing to do. It’s an impressive feat to accomplish. Even more impressive when you do it multiple times. And the people that I cheer on, some have several marathons under their belt. My muscles aren’t fond of distance, but I’m happy to lend my support to my friends that train for months just to have the opportunity to run for 3 or 4 hours and complete a marathon.
Boston
I’ve spent a good bit of time in Boston. My son’s mom is from there. I have plenty of friends that are either from there, live there, or have gone to school there. I have a love / hate relationship with Boston, partially because I grew up in L.A. in the 80s. And the Lakers v. Celtics traded NBA Championships throughout my childhood. So my initial distaste for the city was formed at a very young age in sports. After visiting Boston for the first time in my late 20s, I quickly understood how seriously they take sports. And why their teams have to be competitive. Boston has the most devoted, no rabid, of all sports fans in the country. Their teams are their lives! And it’s a city where tough people come from.
So setting off bombs at a Boston marathon is no mistake. If you want to attack a city at the very heart of what makes that city tick, for Boston, it’s sports. But the one thing I know about Boston and the people from Boston is that they have heart. A whole lot of heart. And they will beat you. They don’t forget when someone crosses them. Even if it takes 86 years to exact revenge, they will.
The race will continue. And next year, it will be bigger. And if any of my friends qualify, I’ll be at the finish line to cheer them on.
To the person(s) that committed this act of terror, you picked the wrong city to mess with. You clearly didn’t understand what makes the city of Boston tick, and how long they will wait to celebrate the win. And trust me, Boston will win! Even if it takes another 86 years.