The day the running world turned tragic

I, like everyone else in the world, was shocked today by the news from the Boston Marathon. I received an email from the New York Times around 3, alerting me to the bombings on this Marathon Monday, and raced home to find that two were confirmed dead. At this time, over 100 people are injured. Who knows what will happen in the hours or days to come.

The pictures from this scene are horrific. Literally, there are images of people with lost limbs on the sidewalk. These pictures are like nothing I've ever seen. It makes me so sad to see these poor spectators and runners who intended for this day to be so very different than it ended up being. 

I keep putting myself in the position of the people involved. I've been a runner... a runner so weary at the end of a race, I don't even know if I would have been able to process what happened. I keep imagining the runners who didn't finish, wondering what was happening. I've been a spectator too, eagerly awaiting the arrival of my loved ones as they accomplished their goals. 

But mostly, I keep thinking about my loved ones who wait for me at the end of my races -- my parents at the Princess Half, my Dan at the Indy Mini, my friends who have been at both. I can't imagine how this must feel to the runners who have been impacted. 

Runners, as a whole, tend to be a tight group. Most runners I know aren't racing each other -- they're racing themselves -- and they want to see the best for their fellow runners. Runners support one another, boost each other, and keep each other moving. I keep thinking about how much joy running brings to the lives of those who do this sport, and how today that joy was stripped for so many. 

My heart is breaking for them.