RUN AS ONE
The Boston Marathon is one of the running community's defining events. The beloved race is steeped in history and tradition. As you run those storied streets, you can sense the ghosts of runners past just as surely as you feel the cheers of runners future. It's a magical, mythical experience that brings together running's elites and mere mortals like you and I.
For nearly 26 miles, there is a continuous ribbon of runners connecting Hopkinton to the heart of Boston. Like an intricate tapestry, each runner represents a thread with its own story. When those threads are woven together, an even greater, more beautiful story is told. One need only to look at the bonds of friendship and family formed between running partners.
In 2013 that tapestry was ripped into many pieces as two bombs exploded near the finish line. What was meant to inflict fear and injury and tear our community apart only served to strengthen and further connect us.
Bystanders used their own jackets and belts to make tourniquets, medical personnel ran towards the explosion sites to help the injured despite the continued threat of danger, while athletes, depleted after running 26.2 miles, raced towards area hospitals to donate blood. Bostonians opened their houses up to strangers.
As former-staffer Schuyler Schuster so eloquently said, "One act of violence was met with a thousand acts of compassion".
I will never cease to be amazed by the compassion and perseverance of our running community. Runners are quick to give words of encouragement and pats-on-the-back when they pass someone struggling or stop their race to help someone who fell or is having a medical emergency. On any given weekend, there is at least one race raising funds for charity. In fact, runners raise over $1.5 Billion a year for charities.
The unknowing bystander may see a race and think it’s an individual competition. We know it’s so much more. Races, especially those like the Boston Marathon, are celebrations of the indomitable spirit humans possess and no matter our differences, we all
RUN AS ONE.