Yesterday, I was following the Boston site to follow Wesley Korir, last year’s winner who’s from my hometown. He came in 5th on a cool morning – he excels in the heat which, bless him, somebody’s gotta love it. Korir was just elected to Parliament to add to his long list of good deeds. This guy is changing the world.
A somewhat related note, I was following runner Josh Cox’s tweets – he was interviewed by one of my favorite Xangan peeps, Buyit. His was the first post I saw that mentioned explosions and the picture he posted looked like it plowed through spectators. The video posted later was deafening – I would’ve never thought it was a transformer. When WWDTM host Peter Sagal posted he finished in around 4 hours when the bombs went off, my co-worker and plowed through internet sites and were calling questions to each other’s offices – “How fast was xxx going to finish?” “Were there injuries?” “How many runners from Greenville?” “The charity runners, oh my God, they finish about that time” “Was that the grandstand seats?” “Thirty people lost legs – that can’t be right.”
Then I think of the generous cheering and volunteering in the right place at the very worst time. I’m heart broken for all of them.
Running is Funny put up a post he called ‘Heroes’. I really admire all the runners that try so hard and I have to admit, it’s easy to beatify the atheletes. Mike reminds us that most of the victims were people cheering and volunteering. He quotes a Jezebel story called “The People Who Watch Marathons“:
Without those people, a marathon would just be an exercise in self-abuse from a large group of crazies. But there is meaning in marathoning: the people who watch.
Running can be a lonely sport — hours on the road solo at times so early people can still be seen stumbling out of bars and hailing cabs home, declined invitations to evening activities, neglected significant others, and truly disgusting feet. In fact, unless a runner trains with a group that doesn’t annoy the living daylights out of them, the months leading up to a long race can be profoundly antisocial. But on race day, all of that disappears when, as the marathon runner embarks along a path lined with people — all kinds of people, they’re bathed in the encouragement of thousands of people who cheer for them without knowing their names.
When I can stand for longer periods of time I’ll volunteer for more charity runs and I’ll thank the race directors. When I run, I’ll thank the water people and try to hit the trash cans better. When I can race again, I’ll give more high fives and sweaty hugs. I love people and in these big races, the positive energy is invigorating, inspiring and sometimes downright humbling. One of my most favorite and lasting memories I have of a race is a Flying Pig where a girl in a wheelchair was cheering for us runners. In the rain. At 7am. She gave me the BIGGEST high five. She didn’t even have anybody she knew close to her running, her mom said she just likes to cheer. I want to run the Pig in the hopes of seeing her again and this time, I’ll ask her name. She didn’t even have to be there – that kills me! But she and people like her come out and support masochistic never say die types (says the idiot who lived no pain no gain). She’s a hero. I want to tell her that one day.
Please read the rest of Mike’s post here: http://www.runningisfunny.com/2013/04/16/heroes/
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