Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Boston: A Marathoner's Pledge


Last night, I posted to Facebook that I was all in a jumble, sad and confused and angry all at once. The bombing in Boston had no right to hit this hard for me--I had no loved ones running, no one who was in danger. Friends and loved ones of friends and loved ones were all safe and accounted for, to my knowledge.

I was FURIOUS.

These are my people who have been attacked. For the rest of the country, this is just another day, but for those of us from eastern Massachusetts, it's Patriots' Day. It's like Independence Day. And yes, it is a pretty big deal.

On top of that, I'm a marathoner. One of my highest aspirations--hell, that of almost ANY marathoner--is to run Boston. It's the most talked about marathon in the world. And someone just blew it up. These people who have spent months, years of their lives training and preparing, working on their mental and physical strength until they made the cut to get into the race, and then ran it, hours and hours of pounding exhaustion, and at the last moment, as they approached the finish in the high of achievement and the fatigue of complete exhaustion, someone blew them up. Someone KILLED these people, my people, and I am so angry and terrified and I want to know why.

I hope that justice is served. I hope that our response, as a society, is careful and measured. I hope they catch the bastard who did this. They think have him on video. If they don't catch him, though, he should know one thing: RUN.


***

Today, I feel somewhat better. Boston is strong, full of good people. Every place has its own kind of strength--I connect with the kind to be found in Boston, in Massachusetts.

I ran today, a 15 mile slow distance run. I'm training for Grandma's Marathon in June. As always, I'm working to qualify for Boston, that pinnacle goal for so many marathoners. Now? I will work even harder to get there.


While I was running, I wrote this poem, this pledge. I think it captures what I needed to say:


Boston: A Marathoner's Pledge

I'll wear scarlet red for the blood that was spilled,
Emblazoned with B for fair Boston.
I'll put on the shoes that their feet should have filled
And remember the bombs they were lost in.

We'll overcome heartbreak. We know how to climb.
No fear will dissuade us or keep our dreams down.
But a word to the ones who committed this crime
Don't you know what a massacre means to this town?

Though God may show mercy to cowardly soles
Don't think that a Minuteman must
We runners know how to persist to our goals 
You never have set such pursuers as us.

--Sean M. Murphy

1 comment:

Rachel said...

I don't know that he'd have much luck running thinking of how many mad marathoners are after him! ;)