Praying for Boston

As Americans, we have become too familiar with horrific tragedy. Too many bombings, shootings, and other senseless acts of violence. All of them have caused me to think about life and how precious and short it is. All of them have made me angry.

The bombing in Boston was the same. I was going about my day as normal today when the news came on my radio in the car. While running errands I saw a friend and we spent time discussing it. He is a runner too and has ran Boston. The more we talked, the more real it became. We both tried to remember who from our local community is in the race and if their typical times would mean they were around the finish at the time of the tragedy. My heart began to ache.

For non-runners this event is a tragic loss of life. It is a brutal and senseless crime. It is all of those things for runners as well, but there is more. We have earned and experienced finish lines that were special. We have all pushed for that line, for that individual glory, for that moment in time to relish what we had worked so hard for.

Today in Boston a nameless and faceless coward took that from the Boston Marathon runners. He stole the innocence that we have all felt as we crossed the line. He stole the wonderful memories that are associated with it achieving such a goal. He tried to crush our spirits as he crushed those precious lives.

What that coward does not realize is that the same tenacity that it takes to qualify for Boston or run a marathon, for that matter, will prevail. Runners and the amazing people who support them will not whither in fear. We own those finish lines. We have spent blood, sweat, and tears to get there.

The people of Boston and the runners who came together today will stand against this act of terrorism. The entire running family is here, holding out our hands to help you stand up, brush yourselves off, and look forward to the next starting line. I have no doubt you'll find that finish line again. We'll all be there too. Celebrating the resilience that lives within the spirit of every American and every marathoner.