Boston Marathon Tragedy

(Thanks for Ken Fang of Fang's Bites for creating this sign for all of us to use.)

I'm not from Boston (discussing sports with me will make that a dead giveaway), but I have understood that the first Monday in April is a huge day. Patriots' Day allows for a celebration of Massachusetts' important place in the American Revolution. It gives us morning baseball as the Red Sox annually play at 11AM and it gives us the Boston Marathon. As much as I enjoy the New York City Marathon because it gives a wonderful look at the city through all five boroughs, I do accept the fact that the Boston Marathon is more intertwined into the city of Boston's fabric than the marathon here is to New York's.

Obviously, we have all heard about the awful bombings that occurred at the finish line at today's marathon. Once I heard about the attack, all I could think about is that warm September morning twelve years ago when I was a high school student and heard about the attack on the World Trade Center. Yes, this attack wasn't on the same scale as 9/11, but it makes it no less tragic. The fact that many people in the city was flocked to Copley Square to witness the end of the marathon (a place that gets plenty of people walking through on a normal day) has us lucky that the attack didn't strike more people, yet anyone in Boston (and frankly, around the country) will never forget this happened.

Being that this occurred during a sporting event, I felt in particular a need to address this on my blog. The past twelve months have been brutal for those who test the limits of their body by running marathons. Hurricane Sandy forced the cancellation of the NYC Marathon and lost the chance for tens of thousands of people to feel the cheers of the city for their dedication to fitness and to charity. Today's Boston Marathon was supposed to give those who sacrifice to compete against oneself a chance to have a stress-free run, so to speak. Also noteworthy; the 26th mile was dedicated to the victims of the Newtown shooting, showing once again how both New York and Boston have been out in front of that tragedy; to support and honor those from Sandy Hook Elementary.

Unfortunately, that couldn't be the case as these attacks were put on the finish line. Thus, many had the chance to run the full race. When they finally complete it and achieve a goal that had been set months and years in advanced, their joy gets taken away in one fell swoop. Now it's time for New York City to honor the Boston Marathoners (along with those who were cheering on the runners) who were killed or injured from this act. My friend who will be running in the NYC Marathon this fall told me he has more motivation to run; a man so motivated since he was particularly devastated that he couldn't run last year and perhaps might be good enough that he could run Boston if he chose to do so.

Sunday, it was settled that the Knicks and the Celtics were set to due battle in the first round of the NBA Playoffs. It was a time for typical New York-Boston allegiances to show it's head as the rivalry between the two cities was to continue. Right now, we would all love it if Knicks and Celtics fans could engage in trash talk for the next two weeks. We all hate that this can't happen.

I wish I could write something that does it justice on the impact of this attack on Boston, but as an outsider, I can't. Besides, Kevin Cullen of the Boston Globe seemed to hit just about everything on his reaction to the horrible day, among many others who live and/or work in the city. However, I knew I needed to write something, because this feeling of heartbreak and suffering is something I'm very familiar with and writing for me is the only way I can truly release some of that feeling.

Now that I'm done writing, I will go back to praying for Boston. Praying that they bounce back like NYC did twelve years ago.