I already posted today but Boston is the only thing I have been thinking about since yesterday afternoon.

As a runner, it is always so exciting to follow the race and listen to the enthusiasm of those before the race and stories when they return.

This year was no different.

Yes, I knew runners that were running it (from blogs and from races).

I work with Colleen and we started running at the same time.  We ran several 5ks together and chatted about running whenever we saw each other. She is a natural runner.  After I started running half marathons in 2011, she joined a running group and ran a 15k and then a marathon.

Last October, she ran her 2nd marathon and BQed.  She was in Boston yesterday running the marathon.

I met Melissa when I was part of a beginning runners’ group in 2010.  She had just had a baby and was returning to running. I have since seen her at many races.  She has quickly gotten back her running form and has run everything from 5ks to marathons. Her goal is to BQ and I am sure she will.  She was at the Boston Marathon with her family cheering on local runners.

Here is a FB comment from one of our group who ran the race: “...I did not finish. I saw the 1st explosion and then was directly across from the 2nd one. So I ran away from the craziness….”

When I was teaching French, I taught Laura & Michelle.  They were two of my best students.  Michelle was and is a runner.  I see her at local races.  She ran Boston last year and was running it again this year.

Thankfully everyone I knew and runners that my friends knew are fine!!!

There are no words to explain the horror of this event!  27,000 runners were there.  Probably 100,000 spectators.  As a runner, I know how hard it is to qualify, what it means to compete in a race, what is means to finish a race.  This was taken away from about 9,000 runners.  Even the ones who did finish, this senseless tragedy has taken all the joy away and has left them with memories of fatalities and injury and fear!

Here are 2 stories that I recommend reading:

•  “If you are losing faith in human nature, go out and watch a marathon“
• “Boston Marathon heroes: Kindness and humanity amid the carnage“

I am a runner. I am not a fast runner.  I will probably never run a marathon.  Hence, I will never qualify for Boston. But I am a runner.

Today I am wearing blue and gold.  I played tennis last night & will play tonight so I had not planned to run.  But I will run 2.62 miles on the treadmill at lunch in honor of the victims in Boston.

I will wear my half marathon race shirt when I play tennis tonight.  I will also dedicate my 5k race on Sunday to Boston.

Happy Running!  Did you ever run the Boston Marathon? Did you know anyone who was there?