I also had friends and acquaintences from the Boston area who ran the marathon as well. And for the past 3 years my niece, Kate, has run it, finishing in a respectable under 4 hours.
One of my dreams was to run the Boston Marathon, but after some hard training and having run a half marathon, I knew my knees wouldn't survive, so I contented myself with local 10K races around the Boston area. I also ran the Falmouth Road Race, The Freedom Trail Race, as well as finishing 3rd for women in a 10K race in central Massachusetts on a steamy 4th of July.
I loved running. Many times I felt what runners describe as a "runner's high." I could have gone on forever running the back roads and byways all over New England. I've also had the pleasure of running in many beautiful cities and towns across this country. Louisville, Kentucky's Cherokee Park, downtown Indianapolis, Boca Raton and Clearwater, Florida, Santa Clara, California, Saratoga, California, San Francisco, California, Wilea, Maui, Seattle, Washington. And the happy runs I had in Europe, running in Italy, France, and Germany.
The Boston Marathon was and is a festive time for our family and friends. After the race, we often held parties serving lots of pasta, beer, and other carbs to the runners and the wannabe marathoners. It was always a day when we took the children either to Wellesley or Newton (we lived in a western suburb of Boston) to see the runners pass, wave to them and shout encouragements, and catch a glimpse of our friend, Warren, from London, as he sped by.
Now that I am living in Boston, marathon day is even more fun, since the runners gather here in the North End to load up on carbs at our fine Italian restaurants. And the festivities continue even after the race when the runners, looking to reload those carbs they used up during those grueling 26+ miles.
The last three years I've been to Copley Square to watch for my niece, Kate, as she completed her run. This year she did not. This year Kate sustained a running injury that prevented her from competing. This year I was not in Copley Square. This year I am in central Massachusetts with family visiting from Florida.
And this year the unthinkable happened.
What has been a highlight in our life every year, the Boston Marathon, has been turned into a tragedy. What has always been a time of joy, festivities, meeting old friends and new, has been turned into a hellish nightmare. The images I've seen are too much to watch.
My heart goes out to the family and friends of those who died and were injured. To those who simply went to watch a magnificent foot race, and who saw the happy day turn into unspeakable horror.
It's too much to think about; it's too much to endure.
22 comments:
Shaw, I know you are emotionally broken right now, and my heart goes out to you, your family and all those in and around the marathon. All those injured and so sadly, murdered. But I'm glad you are physically okay. When I heard of this tragedy, I thought of you and wondered if you were near it. I'm so relieved you were not.
((HUGS)) my friend.
Thank you, Pam.
An eight year old child died in that horror today.
It unbearable to think of all the injured and the dead. But an eight-year old. It is too difficult to endure.
I'm so sorry Shaw. i just posted on FB asking if you were okay. I'm relieved to see that you are - at least in body if not in spirit. Like Pam, I send hugs to you and everyone else.
Thank you Leslie. I can't get on fb, I'm in an area where the connections are very poor.
This has been a terrible day.
________ A Meeting with Despair ________
As evening shaped I found me on a moor
__ Which sight could scarce sustain:
The black lean land, of featureless contour,
__ Was like a tract in pain.
“This scene, like my own life,” I said, “is one
__ Where many glooms abide;
Toned by its fortune to a deadly dun—
__ Lightless on every side.
I glanced aloft and halted, pleasure-caught
__ To see the contrast there:
The ray-lit clouds gleamed glory; and I thought,
__ “There’s solace everywhere!”
Then bitter self-reproaches as I stood
__ I dealt me silently
As one perverse—misrepresenting Good
__ In graceless mutiny.
Against the horizon’s dim-descernèd wheel
__ A form rose, strange of mould:
That he was hideous, hopeless, I could feel
__ Rather than could behold.
“’Tis a dead spot, where even the light lies spent
__ To darkness!” croaked the Thing.
“Not if you look aloft!” said I, intent
__ On my new reasoning.
“Yea—but await awhile!” he cried. “Ho-ho!—
__ Look now aloft and see!”
I looked. There, too, sat night: Heaven’s radiant show
__ Had gone. Then chuckled he.
~ Thomas Hardy (1840–1928) - Wessex Poems and Other Verses (1898)
I too thank God that you are OK, Shaw.
I pray for the dead and wounded and their families.
Boston is a great American city, and you're in good hands. I heard the press conference with the governor and the city police commissioner. They are on top of it.
Shaw, I thought of you as soon as I heard about this. At least the emergency services seem to have responded superbly and gotten the injured to hospitals -- many will be saved who could have died. And as the President said, the murderers will be found, and they will pay for this.
I too thought of you knowing your love for running. I am relieved to know you and your family is physically unaffected by this terrible tragedy. At the same time my heart goes out to the victims and their families.
Awful, awful day.
Keep in mind, that was the objective.
This was not sports related. Rather, the Boston Marathon is an international gathering. This is te kind of thing we will likely see more of. I am surprised we haven't see more to date.
My take: we will continue to see this type of attack where there are numerous cameras to record the mayhem, and there are large numbers of people (especially internationals and families) that may be injured/killed.
The attackers goal, my guess, is to plant fear.
I thought of you too. Glad you are ok, but my heart goes out to your great city.
Shaw,
Relieved to know that you are okay.
Quite a stroke of good fortune for your niece. Still, I know that what happened yesterday took your breath away.
I have a former student in college in Boston. Usually, she would have been as close to the finish line as possible so as to take photos. This year, however, she was behind in studying for exams and stayed in her room to study.
Whatever kind of terror attack yesterday's was, the attack was the first such attack on American soil since 9/11.
This time, of course, technology is far ahead of 9/11/01, so there are photos, cell phone video footage, etc. The perpetator(s), if living, may well be caught.
I am so grateful that -- so far -- no one from any of numerous factions has attempted to gain political leverage from this horrific event.
I take that as a healthy sign.
We seem united in grief for the victims, which is far better than being polarized in pursuit of some perceived "enemy" to blame.
If there could be anything good to come from this dreadful thing, that just might be it.
If nothing else, at least it has acted as a wake-up call to renewed awareness of our common humanity.
Godspeed to our President, police and others as they seek those responsible, bring them to justice, and prevent this from happening ever again.
Thank you to all the commenters who have come here with kindness and concern for the people of Boston and everyone who was affected by yesterday's tragedy.
Your thoughts and good wishes are very much appreciated.
We all hope that the people who committed this heinous crime are caught and punished to the fullest extent of the law.
I agree with what someone who was interviewed this morning in Boston said: This horror will not bend and break us. We are all Americans and we WILL pull together help one another.
... and it happened on the day when Boston is its most hospitable and friendly.
Visitors from all over, lots of amateurs going for the thrill of finishing the marathon for the first time.
Kind of welcoming the return of warm weather.
Just a fine happy day and before you know it there are two dozen trauma surgeons working flat out.
Thank goodness the victims were in the center of a cluster of some of the best hospitals in the world or the deaths would have been much higher.
I can't quite grasp this level of evil. A women sees her two sons each lose a leg. A man finishes the race and his 8 year old son is killed and his wife and daughter are still in intensive care.
I have always wanted to believe Kerouac when he said the universe disposes of its own evil but that just isn't the case. Hard justice is needed here.
And they will run the marathon next year and I'll catch the early Sox game and have a slice of pizza on Yawkey Way. Ain't gonna stop us.
Just heard through grapevine that several extended family from Wisco are ok. There were about six of them in Boston. No other news.
I am getting so tired of the incessant violence in America. Tired. just plain tired. &depressed.
all the best to you. peace.
It's hard to face facts in the face of death, but we brought this on ourselves, like the British brought on rebellion throughout their empire. When oppressed, people will rebel just as we did against the British.
I think Juan Cole has an instructive post.
Let's assume these bombs were planted by a Muslim in some mangled sick sense of revenge. What about a drone that kills a number of Afghani children? It has certainly happened.
Or even if this were an anarchist or a right winger striking at "liberal" Boston out of some mad political agenda, does it matter who did it.
An eye for an eye till we go blind.
I'm going to think of mangled limbs every time I go past the Boston Public Library and wonder how we can turn this into some sort of moral growth.
Just still terribly saddened and yes, angry. But you're right, FT, the anger serves little purpose.
http://www.juancole.com/2013/04/bombings-increase-sympathy.html
This horrific wrongdoing shouldn't be a stain on the Boston Marathon or any popular event of any kind. Evil lurks in society, and our freedoms leave us vulnerable to the crazy, evil people in our midst and from elsewhere in the world. We need to get smarter and more adept at preventing these outrages but absolute safety isn't an option. The closest we could come would mean police-state rule, which is unacceptable.
I have a hunch the FBI and other authorities have harnessed the power of supercomputing to facilitate their investigation. Not necessarily to provide them with one or more suspects, but to rule out a wide range of suspect types, delivering an odds-based result to help them focus on the most likely. Rapid development of a credible suspect might result in a potent deterrent, at least for certain kinds of fiends.
okjimm, I share your feelings. A big part of the answer lies in how children are brought up, what they learn from early on, examples set, attitudes expressed by parents, entertainment and others in their lives. We'll never perfect society, but plenty could be done to instill in more people the notion violence is unacceptable; something you just don't do, no matter how PO'd you, no matter how wronged you feel, no matter how right you believe your cause to be.
EJ Graff, a Bostonian, tries to process yesterday’s events:
"To cripple the city all you’d have to do is take a gasoline tanker and crash it in one of the tunnels built by the Big Dig—you could take down a couple of major arteries and shut down the city for months. On the other hand, if you wanted to strike at our symbolic heart, at what it means to belong to this ludicrously snobby little city built on a harbor that was filled in, if you wanted to grab international headlines on a day when ordinary and extraordinary people from around the world were cramping their legs and exercising their hearts with ordinary and extraordinary joy, if you wanted to make a statement about what it means to be an American, then attacking the Marathon—which belongs to us all—on Patriots’ Day might be just right."
Ducky, your last post is great. I winder if you'd mind if I copied it and transferred it to my blog -- giving you full credit, of course?
Or perhaps you'd like to do that, yourself?
Your point about the drone strikes is well taken. Such action might be appropriate if we were still fighting WWII and the victims were Germans or Japanese, but that doesn't mean we should "like" using such tactics.
The logic in your line "An eye for an eye till we all go blind" is superb.
Unless and until "we" -- whoever "we" are -- realize that people "we" regard as "enemies" are creatures of flesh and blood just like "us," the earth will continue to be soaked in blood from pointless acts of violence of every magnitude.
This does not mean we should embrace pure pacifism, but allowing ourselves to be driven primarily by thoughts of "getting even," is the deadly sinful passion that that keeps the cauldron of human misery forever at the point of boiling over.
As you wish, FT.
Post a Comment