Paying My Respects to Boston Marathon

Over the last week I was out in Massachusetts and Rhode Island visiting family, friends, and going to a wedding.  I'll dedicate this post to mostly the running related stops in Boston and Copley Square, the site of the Boston Marathon bombings.

My wife, daughter, and I spent the day up in Boston, and I lugged around my daughter as seen below:

She behaved very well!

We stopped for a bite to eat at Saus, which was a delightful experience into waffles and yummy sauces.  We then took the T down to Copley Square to pay our respects at the site of the Boston Marathon Bombings.  The weather was scattered showers for most of the morning and set a slightly somber tone when we visited.  I had trouble putting together deep thoughts as I walked around, had trouble accepting that the tragedy was real. I took a few photos to capture the memories and hopefully find new meanings to them over time.  Right now I am at, humanity always bands together and pulls out ahead (sounds very Dr. Who-esque).  We will never stop evil, and we are pretty sheltered in America to its magnitude compared to a lot of the world, but there is always love to overcome whatever happens.  And with that, here are my photos:

I didn't bring anything to contribute to the memorial, just my thoughts, prayers, and determination to keep running stronger, Boston Strong even.

Walking around Boston, the Boston Strong shirts and swag were everywhere.  Not sure where the proceeds are going from them all.

I stopped at the +New Balance store across the street from the memorial, since I couldn't resist visiting almost every sneaker and athletic store I walked passed (it was a bit hard to try on shoes with my kid om my back!).  I noticed they had a sale on the M890v3 Boston Marathons shoes (I currently run in M890v2), 20% off! which brought the price down to $90, which was pretty decent price and the mood was right. Plus, I was going to need new shoes in the next couple weeks. My daughter just fell asleep on my back as we walked in the store, so my wife had to get them on my feet to try on and tie them, bless her heart.   Here are the photos of the new kicks!

I tested them out on a couple runs (PR'd my half marathon time with them on Sunday, but that will be a different post) and they work great!

In the afternoon we grabbed some sandwiches from Sam LaGrassa's , then some cannolis from Mike's Pastry. Here is my daughter enjoying them on the way back home:

Nom Nom Nom

So that was my jaunt to Boston. My next post will recap my road running times in a not very run friendly area, a sub 1:30 half marathon time, and a video of me getting chased by a wild turkey in my mother's back yard!

Have you been able to get out to the memorial?

Are you a fan of cannolis?

Can you catch me up on the last week of running blogging in Chicago in short so I don't spend hours reading 100+ blog entries???

Hope runs eternal

I went to bed last night contemplating joining a run for Boston run with some area group today. Most are starting around 6:30pm, and after this last weekend, its just not going to work.  After talking with my wife, she was kosher with the idea of at least joining a running group every week or two.

Get up today 4:45am, mid 40s temp, just a little brisk to start. This jog is for Boston, now if I can only Boston qualify.

The day after a long run is always a slow run where you practice patience more than anything.  As expected, there were not many people out. Some regulars, one even changed it up and tossed the peace sign up for me.

Note: if you see me out running, wave, I treat morning runners like jeep owners treat each other. You get a wave, and you get a wave (Oprah voice).

Stomach still felt a little off, better today than tomorrow. I'm a really weak drinker apparently.

And what good is a slow run without taking in the scenery.

2nd Suspect In Custody!!

Syrians send their condolences to Boston

Just some brain food for the morning. 

(source: reddit.com)

Boondock terrorists

I woke up this morning ready to make some mental complaints about how its a below freezing windchill and gusty outside, fml right?

I check Reddit.com for any news or hot things on the internet and see one of the two suspects was killed and the other is on the loose. Check Facebook and see my Massachusetts friends are lit up and on this like white on rice.  I won't attempt to be a news outlet, but be safe and stay inside if you live in Boston or its greater area (follow reddit.com/news if you want a lot on info ). Hopefully I can make some post later about this coming to more closure.

As for my own run, the lakefront was weirdly vacant for the first 4 miles. Saw one person and my two duck buddies. I intended to turn this run into a temp run, but I need more time for a warn up. I have trouble getting pace so soon after waking up. My legs told me its Federal Friday and they chillen.  I tried to override that and the wind wrestled me back. Just one of those days.

Pray for the law enforcement out there, especially in Boston and the safety of everyone in the reject of humanity's way.

Adidas just released a Boston Marathon support shirt. 100% of all proceeds go to One Fund Boston

Adidas just released a Boston Marathon support shirt. 100% of all proceeds go to One Fund Boston

The Boston Marathon, My Cheese Sandwich

Reading the support, unity, and love people have shared since the tragedy in Boston has given me great hope.  I originally come from the greater Boston area and moved to Chicago 8 years ago, I had family volunteering at the Marathon, and I'm a runner.  The event struck me a lot deeper than I thought it would. 

And that bothered me, not because I had the feels, but because I've sheltered myself over the years, something I would have detested years ago.

I received my graduate degree in International Studies and have put myself through a wealth of tragic information and news. It angered me to see what goes on in the world, and at most, only the worst might make the feed at the bottom of CNN if Lindsay Lohan isn't back in court.

What best summarized it for me was a quote from Philip Gourevitch, We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families (1999). This is a book about the genocide in Rwanda.

Hold on you are saying now, you are really going off the deep end now.  Wait a second and see where I am going.

In the book, the journalist interviewed and American Military Officer (AMO) and the following is part of that transcript:
--
"AMO: ‘Do you know what genocide is? A cheese sandwich. Write that down,’ he tells the journalist, ‘Genocide is a cheese sandwich.’


Journalist: ‘What does anyone care about a cheese sandwich?’

AMO: . ‘Genocide, genocide, genocide. Cheese sandwich, cheese sandwich, cheese sandwich. Who gives a shit? Crimes against humanity? Where is humanity? Who is humanity? You? Me? Did you see a crime committed against you? Hey, just a million Rwandans.’
 --

Now to bring you back to Boston.  There are so many atrocities in the world, that there is no way we can extend a useful support to all of them as individuals, but  we should at least extend a moment of our thoughts or prayers to them. The Boston Marathon is our cheese sandwich. Its our event, our country, our history, and our people.  We can connect with it. Its a sandwich we eat and get mad when someone poisons it. It should also serve as a reminder to remember to reach back out to the world, with the same support they have shown us.

 Just scan BBC News or Al Jazeera's English's website, and thank yourself for our fortunate we have it.  The Boston Marathon is an iconic event and the attack is more than just threat against people, its a threat against our culture.  Every day, you can find incidents whose fatality and and injury count will dwarf most of our tragedies.  Indiscriminate killing, children and families falling prey to evil.  It really breaks your heart if you get to reading the articles. And maybe that's good. A reminder that we need to give back, give our support to causes that are organized to help.  Let Boston not just be about us as runners and Americans, let it also serve as a remind talk about the incidents outside our boundaries for at least a moment, give the fallen a moment of our day.  We are all humanity.

And if you really do want to be progressive, check out http://www.charitynavigator.org/  and find a cause that you can get behind.

If you want to do something with your daily runs, consider an app like http://www.charitymiles.org/ which runs along with your Runkeeper or what not. From its website: runners earn 25¢ a mile, up to our initial $1,000,000 sponsorship pool. Pretty easy and has charities such as: The Wounded Warrior Project, Achilles International, World Food Program, Every Mother Counts, and so on.

I am proud to see the unity and open hearts,  I hope that they stay open for people across the world, and I hope I don't turn a blind eye to the world as well just because it makes me uncomfortable.

Unity Run Tonight (16 April) at 6pm at Foster Beach

CARA is organizing a unity run tonight at 6pm at Foster Beach give runners the chance to begin to "work through" what happened at Boston.

Anyone going?