Yesterday is a day that I will not forget soon, while I don't watch many races or sports myself, I kept a close ear on the events of the Boston Marathon. I tried to listen to it throughout the day while at work, but when I started reading posts on facebook about explosions at the race, near the finish.... I focused all my attention on the race. It is still hard to believe what happened, the people that were hurt and the 3 that died because of the explosions. I am now in fear of having my son or husband at any of my half marathon races, I am not so much worried about myself but for them.
The St. Louis race was great and all, except for one little thing: the mile long exit after the finish. There were 6 foot tall fences on either side of me for what felt like a mile but was probably a 1/4 to half a mile long, I couldn't get to the grass or anywhere to sit until I got out of it. I know why they had it, so nobody would bottleneck and screw up the finish for anyone else but it would be nice if they could have a couple of exits along the way (of course with a volunteer guarding to make sure spectators don't just keep popping in and crowding it). My husband was very nervous, though he and my stepson had their guns on them, there wouldn't be a whole lot you could do about a bomb or explosion.....
I am curious to see what happens over the next few months before my 3 half marathons in the Fall, I am curious to see how they handle this and if anybody responsible will be caught. I am concerned if this is just the beginning of atrocities like yesterday, if we will have to fear large crowded events from now on. I honestly feel that this wasn't a coincidence though, Boston is a symbol of America and it's freedom and strength, the Boston Marathon is a symbol to all over the world, it is one of the oldest marathon races and revered by millions. This was planned and thought out very well, whoever did this knew what they were doing... I hope they are caught and dealt with, but I wish they could be dealt with by the families of the victims.
Today I am going to run an unplanned 2.26 miles dedicated to the victims and their families, I might not be able to do 26.2 miles but I can do 2.26 instead. Yesterday evening I ran 5 miles and thought about Boston the whole way, going over it all in my head and trying to understand why humans are the worse creatures on Earth but then many are the best and most compassionate creatures, it is so messed up. I ran the 5 in 49:59, close to 50 minutes with an average pace of 9:59-10:00 min/mile and my splits were:
Mile 1 - 10:47
Mile 2 - 9:49
Mile 3 - 9:59
Mile 4 - 10:03
Mile 5 - 9:19
Today's 2.26 will be along the Evansville riverfront and I will stop near the Freedom Monuments and think a little, take pictures of it and think to myself what freedom means to me.
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