Marathon Week

This past week in Boston has been an emotional roller coaster of highs and lows.  The week began with what seemed like an awesome spring day.  Chris took the day off in honor of Patriot's Day and I was ecstatic about going to watch the runners at the marathon.  I had hoped to watch at the finish line, but realized it would be a bit of a logistical nightmare with a stroller and a toddler, so we instead opted for mile 19, where lots of friends from church had decided to camp out for the day.

We arrived early enough to watch the wave of elite runners come through.  Sporting events in general are inspiring to me, but there is something particularly unique about the Boston Marathon.  With the history of the event and the community behind the athletes, it is an experience that is unlike any other.  Even at mile 19, the feeling in the air is electric and you can't help but get caught up in the emotion of the day.  Carter was pretty thrilled by the event as well.  The clapping and cheering was exciting for him and when the runners went by, he loved to chant, "Go, Go, Go!".

Rita Jeptoo (pictured in the orange top and blue shorts) won her second Boston Marathon this year.  Shalane Flanagan (blond hair and white glasses) was the first American, finishing fourth overall. 

 Watching the runners come through with my buddy

The winner for the men was Lelisa Desisa Benti, pictured here in the blue shirt and black shorts. 

Daddy and Bear cheering, "Go, Go, Go!"

Mile 19, Boston Marathon 2013, Newton, MA

Carter started to wear down so we decided to head home for his nap around 1 PM.  After he went down, it wasn't long before both Chris and I had conked out on the couch for a nap as well.  When we woke up, we couldn't believe the events that had transpired.

Chris looked at his phone and noticed an alert had come through about blasts at the finish line of the marathon.  We immediately turned on the TV to get more information and we were as shocked as everyone to hear the explosions were an intentional terrorist attack.  Our cell phone service was scrambled for several hours from that point on.  We fortunately could send and receive texts so we immediately started checking in with people we thought could be near the finish.  We were amazed and relieved to hear that no one we knew was affected by the blasts.  We were also incredibly saddened to hear about the human tradegy that had occured.

The remainder of the week we were glued to the TV awaiting any news of the suspect(s) being found.  It felt like a lot longer than a few days had past when Thursday afternoon the FBI released the photos of the men who were responsible.  We wondered if the men would be caught.  I assumed they had already left the country.  We went to bed with low expectations that the bombers would be found.

I woke up early Friday morning to Chris telling me he was heading out but that he had received emails that I should lock the doors and not open them to anyone.  Needless to say I didn't feel very good about him leaving.  We turned on the news for more updates.  All MBTA (bus and train) services were suspended for the day and the cities of Boston, Cambridge, Belmont, and several others were all on lock down.  Residents were not allowed to leave their homes and should stay inside.  Additionally we got updates about how the bombing suspects had had an encounter with police overnight in Watertown, approximately 2 miles from our house, and one suspect had been killed while the second was still at large.  I was pretty uneasy at this point particularly because we weren't too far from where the suspect had last been seen, but I was happy we could all hunker down together and I felt pretty confident in law enforcement's ability to find him.

By five o'clock, there had been no news of the police finding the suspect.  The press conference revealed that in fact they had not found him, but that they were lifting the ban on residents leaving their homes.  I decided to call Ian and check in with them and as we were talking I noticed several choppers overhead and then shortly after that I watched two Belmont police speed down our street at probably 50+ miles per hour. I thought it was odd, but a lot of odd things had been going on so I didn't think much of it.  We literally had just turned off the TV and started hypothesizing about what had happened to the other suspect when I checked Facebook and learned that more shots were being heard in Watertown.  We quickly ran back to the TV and watched as the police were able to apprehend the suspect.

It was amazing to see the city's response to law enforcement who worked tirelessly all week as well the general public's response to the attacks overall.  The contrast of the evil that occurred at the beginning of the week with the good that was shown after the attacks and throughout the week is amazing to me. It definitely was a reassurance that while we do live in a dangerous world, that people are good.

We love Boston and are proud of our city.  We are so grateful to be safe and we feel especially blessed that we came through the week without harm to ourselves or to others we love.  We will definitely go to the marathon next year and we look forward to cheering on the runners once again.