Boston, Monday, April 15, 2013

As of Monday, April 15, 2013, I lived in Boston for 1 year, 2 months, and 25 days.
64 weeks, 2 days.
450 days.

In the time that I've lived here, I've learned a lot about the city. It's loud. It's proud. It has its own iconic accent. It's full of passionate, hard working, intelligent, driven people who know the meaning of "work hard, play hard". It's a city with a rich history and a strong culture. It's a city whose residents take pride in their home. Who brave the harsh winters, embrace the cool springs and the temperate summers and frolic in the colorful autumn leaves and proudly proclaim, I AM A BOSTONIAN.

On Monday, April 15, 2013 it was a city holiday. Patriot's Day. Many offices were closed to celebrate the rich patriotism exhibited by this old city, a city that has strong ties to the founding fathers and founding governance of the United States.

On Monday, April 15, 2013, it was the 117th Boston Marathon. An event so integral to this city's history that people flock to line the race course and cheer on runners from around the world.

On Monday, April 15, 2013, at approximately 2:50 PM EST, a coward or group of cowards detonated two bombs at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, killing three and injuring nearly 200 others.

Martin Richard, age 8
Krystle Campbell, age 29
Lu Lingzi, graduate student at Boston College

Lives were lost. Limbs were lost. The impact on the familes of the three who died, the impact on the lives of those who were injured, and the lives of all of us who live in this proud city are forever changed.


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On the morning of the race, I left for work a little early. My route to work runs through the Newton hills, right along the marathon course on Commonwealth Ave. In fact, I turn onto Commonwealth Ave right at the peak of the infamous Heartbreak Hill. I had to take an alternate route that morning, and managed to squeak through right before they began blocking off the roads to protect the runners.

I got to my desk, pulled up the race coverage on one side of my screen and my tasks for the day on the other side, and watched the elite runners chase down the glory of winning the Boston Marathon while getting some work done. 

As I watched, I was awe struck and inspired. See, I've been planning to run the marathon in 2015 or 2016. Watching this triumph of human spirit was just so motivating and so moving. 

They finished up right around lunch time. I turned off the race coverage, finished up my work, and got lunch.

Right at 3 PM, Scott sent me an IM:

"Holy shit."

Followed by a link.

I clicked on the link and it was a live video of the finish line, with paper and stuff strewn about, and an ambulance. My eyes were drawn right to the video portion of the page. I didn't have my headphones on, so I didn't know for sure what I was looking at. I thought maybe the race was over and he was just trying to show me how messy the finish line looked. Then I thought maybe a runner was hurt and that's why the ambulance was there.

Then I saw the headline.

"Breaking news: Explosions at Boston Marathon finish line"

My jaw dropped. My mind raced. What?? This has to be a mistake. Maybe it was a gas leak? Maybe an electrical issue? Maybe fireworks?

A few minutes later, video of the bombs going off...the first, followed by the second 10-15 seconds later, hit my screen and I knew it was no mistake. And my mind raced even more. Are there more bombs? Am I in danger? (My office is about 6 miles from the finish line, so it was pretty close to home for me.) How will I get home?

It was one of those moments you never forget. For me: the start of the 1st gulf war. 9/11. The start of the 2nd gulf war (of which my sister is a veteran). And now, the bombing of the Boston Marathon.

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The biggest thing I think we can take away from this tragic event is to look at the good that took place during the chaos. The people -- police and civillians -- who ran right into the blast area, looking for people they could help. The people who organized to gather donations for runners stuck on the race course with no jackets (it was in the 40s that day). The people who have donated time, money, supplies, blood, and more, to help the victims. And the good that is sure to come in the coming days, months, and years.

Boston's finest will find the perpetrator or perpetrators. Make no mistake. You don't mess with Boston.

Let it be known. Boston is a city of resilience. Boston is a proud city, a strong city. a city rich with culture, passion, intelligent people, caring people, hard working people. It's a city whose residents won't let the cowardly actions that took place on Monday, April 15, 2013 at 2:50 PM EST make them live in fear. They'll just band together tighter and stronger and make this city an even tougher city than it already is. 






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Heartbreak Hill

I recently started training for a 5k (again), inspired by my drive to and from work, which takes me up and down the infamous Heartbreak Hill. I've followed the Boston Marathon off and on over the past few years and I've always thought about running it, but quickly dismissed the idea.

For those of you not familiar with Heartbreak Hilll -- here's a summary (from (Wikipedia):

Heartbreak Hill is an ascent over 0.4 mile (600 m) of the Boston Marathon course, between the 20 and 21 mile (32 and 34 km) marks, in the vicinity of Boston College. It is the last of four "Newton hills", which begin at the 16-mile (26 km) mark. The Newton hills confound contestants (out of proportion to their modest elevation gain) by forcing a late climb after the downhill trend of the race to that point. Heartbreak Hill itself rises only 88 vertical feet (27 m), from an elevation of 148 feet (45 m) at the bottom to an elevation of 236 feet (72 m) at the top, but is positioned at a point on a marathon course where muscle glycogen stores are likely to be depleted—a phenomenon referred to by marathoners as "hitting the wall."

The nickname "Heartbreak Hill" originated with an incident in the 1936 race. On this stretch, defending champion John A. Kelley caught race leader Ellison "Tarzan" Brown, giving Brown a consolatory pat on the shoulder as he passed. His competitive drive apparently stoked by this gesture, Tarzan Brown rallied, pulled away from Kelley, and went on to win—in the words of Boston Globe reporter Jerry Nason, "breaking Kelley's heart."

Late last year, after contending with what still goes down in the history of my life as being "the worst period of time I've ever lived through", I came to the realization that I have to dream, dream big, and dream bigger -- but I also have to put plans into motion to make those dreams happen. And then it dawned on me. I love running -- why not aim to run the Boston Marathon?

At the time I had zero inclination that we would wind up actually living in Boston.

I kind of let that dream slide as we got busy with the moving and settling in, and the job hunt and all the other crazyness that goes along with a move. But then, as I figured out the best route to take to work actually took me through Heartbreak Hill, I decided to start training again. Last Wednesday I looked at my calendar, tried to pick a good date to start and then in one very centered moment of clarity it hit me. I'm not going to make a plan for when to start. I'm just going to do it. Today.

That night after Angelica was in bed, I laced up my sneakers and went running and on Sunday, I completed my first week of the Couch to 5k program, again. I also learned a major difference between here and Florida: There is no level terrain in Boston. My average climb for a run in Florida was 20 feet. My average climb last week was 120. Needless to say, by Sunday night my legs were screaming. But I'm determined to keep going. (I've also found a slightly more level area to run since then, thank goodness.)

I also looked into what it would take to sign up for the  Boston Marathon, and discovered that it's too late to qualify for 2013's race (qualification starts about 18 mos before the race), and I probably won't be ready by the time qualifications start for the 2014 race (you have to be able to keep a certain pace to qualify and I don't think I'll be there yet the next time it comes around). So, I am putting it out there right now. I WILL run the 2015 Boston Marathon.

This may not seem like a big deal to a lot of people. Lots of people run every day. The difference is, I've got about 100lbs of extra weight on me to shed and people have told me time after time that I shouldn't run. Which turned into me telling myself I shouldn't. And now I'm letting go of that false belief. I can do this.

Fortunately, I have that drive on Heartbreak Hill to remind me each day what my goal is.