Where the Heart is

As the weeks approached leading up to the Boston Marathon quickly crept up on me, I became excited and also nervous. I went into the Detroit Marathon naive with no idea of what racing 26.2 miles would feel like. Lets just say it really took everything I had and so I anticipated the pain of my next to be unbearable!

Ever since I was young, I heard about the Boston Marathon. I have been a competitive runner since I was in 7th grade so I have invested 12 years of my life into this sport. To be honest, I had no idea what it would be like. I don't like to build things up to be huge because I get nervous so I down played what a big deal going to Boston was. Well lets just say when I arrived to Boston Saturday night, I quickly learned what this magic was about.

In all my years of running, no place ever captured me like this one. Waiting to check into the hotel, which was connected to the Expo (we had no idea so this was exciting for us) I met two of the nicest ladies who were so generous in sharing their abundance of information on the Boston Marathon with me. Our hotel was the Sheraton Boston which was about 2 blocks from the finish line, at the time we thought we were so lucky for choosing that one. Everything felt so right, so magical.

As the weekend rolled on, I made some of the greatest connections with people who loved running more than I do which is impressive! I met people who had run the marathon for 3,4, 5,7, even 30 years. They built up excitement in me and countless moments, I found myself tearing up at the thought of how beautiful this sport is and the breed of people it brings.

The morning of the race, my mom and I walked with the other 27,000 runners to the shuttle buses. I stood in the crowd of people, hearing bits of conversation about how many marathons they have run and where they came to Boston from. As I finally took a seat on the bus, a woman sat next to me. We quickly learned we had the same qualifying time and ended up becoming fast friends. We spent the 3 hour wait in Athlete's Village together and kept each other from getting too antsy about the race.

We met a man who told us that he had run 54 marathons but technically this was his first. When we asked him why, he said that he had gone through Chemotherapy last year and this would be his first marathon back. Both of us immediately cried when he told us, the thing about that weekend was you didn't have to hold back your emotions. Runners are passionate people and it was okay to express how you were feeling, how happy you were to be surrounded by people who truly care about life and embracing their passions.

Most of the talk about the Boston Marathon, unfortunately has unfolded into the bombing situation and so I am writing this post to also remind people of the beauty of this race and of that day before everything unfolded. I have never enjoyed a race more in my entire life. I became emotional at mile 24 thinking of how lucky I was to be there at that moment, surrounded by people who were fulfilling their dreams, by crowds who got us through the race. There is no way any of us could make it through that distance (except the pros probably) without the support from the sidelines. From the kids handing us water cups, giving us high five or from the people holding signs that say "You are Amazing."

Never in my life have I been so touched and overcome with such pride in this sport. But the true amazing people are not only the runners, but also the fans that come to enjoy this moment. My mom who anxiously waited over 3 hours for me to run a race and spend way too much money on a hotel and flight and warm weather clothes that I neglected to pack now that I am all Southern and spoiled!

When the bombs went off, my mom and I were two blocks from it. We saw the smoke, we saw the crowd run. We stayed in Cambridge that night later learning we were a mile from the suspects home. This definitely does not comfort my mind but what does comfort it is the support we received that night. The calls, texts, facebook posts, the love we knew we had behind us.

As I am trying to move on past that day, I am just looking at my life differently. I am one of the luckiest people in the world and so thankful to be here today to share this story. I hope after this weekend people are inspired to follow their dreams. It does not have to be running related or even sports related, but related to what makes you happy and brings out the best in you.

I will be back to Boston again to run that marathon, I will combine with other runners around the world to make sure our sport stays alive. Always keep in mind where the heart is...