Lion or Gazelle: Once (and Always) A Runner: Thoughts on Boston Marathon

ALL THAT IS NECESSARY FOR THE TRIUMPH OF EVIL IS THAT GOOD MEN DO NOTHING. Edmund Burke

I wanted to thank everyone for their kind words and concern about Monday's race. My friends and I arrived home safely quite late Monday night - the lockdown on all cell service and the airport/trains etc was lifted around 9pm that day and we were able to sneak out.

Sensitive as I am to the horrors of what happened at approx. 4:09 into the marathon, I will be brief: but I wanted to let all who sent emails inquiring as to the events in Boston that it was a sad and tragic day.

I finished the race some time before 2 bombs were detonated approximately 100 meters from the finish.
As of now, they have confirmed 3 dead, including as we have last heard an 8 year old boy who was watching for his dad at the finish line. There are also over 170 injured and again the estimates are that 17 are critically injured.
At the point the bombs exploded, I was approx 1 block from the 1st detonation and can say it was scary as hell, as well as extraordinarily loud (and so unexpected and out of context).

I cannot begin to describe the shock and terror that we all experienced. To have been a part of this carnage and watched the drama unfold was both unnerving and truly frightening.

Most disconcerting was that Saturday I was with 2 close friends and we three spent 2 hours watching several "elite mile" races - standing at almost the exact spot the bombs hit at the "Marathon Sports" running store (right at the finish)(the site of the first bomb).

Then, to add more fear into the mix, I read that there was a 3rd bomb found (undetonated) quite near where I was watching for friends to finish [at Copely Square, which is approx 200m behind the finish line, and 1 block from our hotel].

A terrorist attack at a marathon is not what any of us signed up for.
I fear that this will once again tear away another layer of innocence, regardless of those responsible.
But my friends and I are all safe and really, that is what matters most. How I did in the race seems so unimportant now.

To be honest, this was not how I ever imagined my first Boston Marathon to be.

With that being said, I'm trying to focus on the positive as much as possible. That all of my friends are safe and sound fills me with an enormous amount of relief. My faith in the resiliency of the running community could not be any stronger, and I know we'll pull through this. Though I worry about how this will affect the sport that touches every aspect of my life, I'm confident that we'll endure and persevere. Heck, it's what we do.