The very astute among you will immediately notice that this is not, in fact my Boston Marathon finishers medal(it's from the BAA 1/2). There's a good reason for that. The actual medal is at a small cemetery in Archbald, PA. I left it there for Margaret, who always dreamed of running the Marathon, but never got to do it. I signed up to run the marathon in February of 2009, just months after Margaret passed away from brain cancer. I ran for Livestrong, because Livestrong helped us during her battle with cancer. I trained as hard as I could. I had a great first half of the race. I blew up, and had a terrible second half. But even knowing that I was very far from my goal time, I remember how elated I felt when I crossed that finish line. And I know that every single person who crossed that line will never forget it. We all took very different paths to the starting line in Hopkinton. But all of us were taking the same one for the next 26.2 miles. To think that someone would plant a bomb at the destination of our journey, to try to hurt people who had already suffered so much just to get there, and the supporters who make Boston the special race that it is, is just so heinous that it defies description. My thoughts and prayers go out to all those hurt during this tragedy, and to all the first responders and medical personnel who worked tirelessly to save all of those who were hurt.
