Stunned. That’s the only way I can describe how I feel right now about the events that unfolded yesterday. We were out of town at the time, but my husband happened to check the news on his phone and saw that there had been an some kind of explosion in Boston. I instantly thought of the Marathon taking place. I went to Twitter and sure enough, there were hundreds of tweets confirming that it had happened at the race. My second thoughts were of the people I knew of that were running in the race; bloggers that were either running it themselves or their family members that were running it. I began checking their social media accounts for news that they were safe and okay.
I was relieved to see that they were, but then the reports started coming in about all of those that weren’t okay. As an American, I was extremely upset that something like this could happen, but because I am also a runner, this tragic event hit home on an even more personal level. Runners are a very tight-knit community. Regardless of whether you know the other person or not, you still feel some kind of a connection to them because you share a love for running. I’ve only done a few races, but I’ve felt that connection at those races.
I believe that the incredible running community will pull together even more now and will come back even stronger from this. For now, I will take comfort in this bible verse that I posted on Twitter yesterday.
The Lord is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him. Nahum 1:7
My thoughts and prayers are with everyone involved, from the victims, to the families that lost loved ones, to the first responders.