Good People

Tragedy can happen anywhere and at anytime.  Monday was supposed to be one of those days where you have to pinch yourself to remind yourself that it was real.  Marathon Monday!  Many people have this race on their bucket list.  Runners trained months to qualify for Boston and many were running for their first time.  Then the unthinkable happened.  I sat watching the coverage along with everyone else not quite able to wrap my head around what had happened.  How can you ruin people's perfect day?  How can you cause so much trauma to runner's support systems (family and friends) and in many cases to peoples legs.  The very thing that just carried them 26.2 miles!  It just baffles me!

As I was talking to different people on Tuesday, I realized that you can't focus on the bad things in life..but the good that comes out of life.  I know easier said than done since I wasn't there.  One co-worker asked me how the running community was feeling after Monday.  My answer, the same as most people, shocked, sad, angry.  Another co-worker told me how mad she was, to which I told her you can't focus on the bad.  Bad things happen and there is not much we can do.  What you need to focus on was the fact that it was amazing how quickly people responded.  How after running 26.2 miles a doctor turned around after he finished and dug deep to help where needed.  People came together Monday afternoon and helped each other out.  Shop keepers were giving runners orange juice as they were huddled on the sidewalk in shock. It was a great reminder of how awesome runners and people in general can be.  It is easy to focus on a bad decision we have made, or something bad that happened, but sometimes we just have to focus on the good. Sometimes we learn the most about ourselves and others when we are faced with the unexpected.  We have the opportunity to choose how we deal with both good and bad things that happen in life.  It is always easy to accept the praise and awards whether it is from a race well ran, a new PR or a job well done.  What may be a bit more difficult is to look for the good in a dark time.  Well, looks like many runners are looking for the good.  Tonight I went to run at run club.  We had a moment of silence before we took off.  I wore one of my many race t'shirt in honor of Boston.

There is something just great about hanging out with runners!  My friend Rob talked about how I shouldn't be nervous for my first full and that I will do great!  We also talked about how I'm not a hugger but I do hug at run club.  Something about friendly runners makes me more comfortable with hugs!

My friend David got his shirt from running 10 runs at run club!  He was very excited!

All of this reminds me that I am proud to call myself a runner!