I was on the T today, several hundred meters away from the marathon finish line. I was watching the many finishers taking the train with me, being slightly jealous that I was not able to run this year. In my head I was thinking about the training plan that would allow me to qualify for next year's marathon, making small adjustments of what seemed possible or not. Ten minutes later, when the train pulled up at Harvard square, I saw my Twitter feed lighting up with news of the bombing.
To say I was upset is probably an understatement. I have felt like a part of the running community lately and felt personally targeted by what was happening downtown. Heck, I remember being extremely disappointed that I couldn't get an earlier flight back to Boston, so that I can stay at that exact same finish line.
After unsuccessfully trying to get some work done, I started walking back home. On the way, ambulances and police cars were flashing by much more often than usual. But there were also tons of people just walking their dogs, sitting at coffee shops, or even jogging. Then it occurred to me, the best answer to such acts of fear is normalcy. Of course, this by no way means not respecting the grief of those personally affected, or not wanting due justice for whoever is responsible. But for the rest of us, it is a matter of not giving in to fear and not spreading it around. Doing otherwise would mean whoever organized today's attack succeeded.
So, I will just do the normal thing. Tomorrow, I will go on my Tuesday 13-miler around the Charles, then I will do my speedwork the day after and keep going with my qualification plan. This way, a year from now, I will be able to line up at the starting line in Hopkinton, among the thousands athletes who choose to stay normal. I will power through Heartbreak hill and eventually reach the same spot around the finish line that was covered in blood today. I will save a runner's nod for those directly affected, the very least that they deserve. But other than that, I will choose to stay normal. Because that's the only meaningful response to acts of terror.
As a runner I am saddened and angry at what happened at Boston. The sweat and blood which runners have put to make it to BQ should not get wasted and like you rightly said the best way to reply them is getting back to normalcy by going for a run. Thats what I did.
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