Boston 4/15/13 and Running in Red Riders

I had a post all set to load earlier before I went into work, but I ran out of time.  In light of today’s events, I feel like there are a few other things I need to say instead.

Wow.  Just wow.  Happiness is walking into work and finding a free pair of brand new, bright blue Nike Free 3.0 waiting for you.  Heartbreak is having a customer walk in a few minutes later and ask if you heard about the explosion at the finish line of the biggest running event in the world, which resulted in deaths and injuries of runners and spectators.  Tragic. Absolutely devastating.

I’m grateful to report that I have, in some form or another, heard from everyone I know that was running today when the explosion occurred at the end of the Boston Marathon.

I still don’t know very many of the details, but here is what I do know.  This sucks.  The fact that anything as glorious as the Boston Marathon and all that it stands for is now tarnished by this tragedy is absolutely horrible.  We all know that I’m a crier, and just because I was at work all afternoon/evening, doesn’t change that fact.  Every post I read, every story I heard, all brought more tears.  My friend Flavia posted this: And just when you think it can’t get any worse…Relatives of Sandy Hook Massacre victims were VIP guests at the finish line tent, where the bombing occurred.  The theme of this year’s marathon was “26 Miles for 26 Victims.”  That might be the saddest thing I’ve ever heard.  Something that was meant to give hope, just re-victimized those people who have already suffered so much.

I can’t believe any of this.  I can’t fathom what it would be like to have the experience of living my dream of crossing the finish line at the Boston Marathon, only to have that experience shattered by a bomb going off, and potentially losing a limb.  Not being able to run again.  Or worse, losing a loved one.

I tried to be there today.  When I went to Quebec in 2011, I went with the intention of qualifying for Boston and the possibility of being there today.  That marathon in Quebec is the one that got cancelled courtesy of Hurricane Irene.  Then I went to Dallas.  I ran the race of my life and fell just short of qualifying.  That would have gotten me to Boston today. I wanted to try again last year in Chicago, but I sprained an ankle 3 weeks out and I knew my hopes were shot.  My Smoky Mountain teammates might even remember me saying last year that this year I wanted to run Boston and then drive down to NC to run our relay 4 days later (That’s right, I leave for NC on Thursday and I’m sure we’ll come up with a way to honor the victims of Boston at SMR).  None of that had even occurred to me until I got this message from Jess: “Glad you weren’t at Boston this year!  God works in mysterious ways!!”  Oh my goodness, yes, I was desperately trying to be there this year, but something kept standing in my way.  Maybe its coincidence, but I believe it’s something bigger.  I always say that everything happens for a reason.  I know my time in Boston is coming, but now I’m so thankful it was not today.

Here is the message I have for the person or people who did this: You have tarnished something beautiful today.  You have grieved my heart and the hearts of my friends in the running community worldwide.  But we are not afraid to keep running and we will not let you steal our joy.  We will continue to do what we love and we will be united in that.

I can’t say it any better than what my friend Megan posted: It is the men and women running toward the chaos that bring hope…

My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone affected by this horrible tragedy today. xoxo…

 

On a lighter note, if you feel so inclined, here is the piece I originally planned to post…

RUNNING IN RED RIDERS

I’ve been severely out of sorts this past week. Which explains why RRG has been uncharacteristically quiet. It’s a combination of a hormonal imbalance, a completely crazy ridiculous schedule with a bunch of random life interferences thrown in and a series of bad workouts.  But…I’m Back, Baby!  My mojo has been missing for a while, but I found it on Saturday.  I’m sure my Smoky Mountain Relay teammates will be happy to know that, seeing as our race starts THIS Friday!!!

Remember Dorothy’s ruby slippers in the Wizard of Oz?  Well, here are my new ruby slippers…

RRG's Ruby Slippers

RRG’s Ruby Slippers

Red Mizuno Riders.  Dorothy was right, there is NO place like home.  I’m ashamed to say that my first marathon was completed in a pair of cheap, crappy, worn out shoes from Famous Footwear.  GAAAHHHH!  Did I really just admit that?!  It’s a miracle I didn’t get injured, and another miracle that I decided to do it all again.  6 more times and counting.  I treated myself to some “real” running shoes shortly after that first round with the Chicago marathon in 2001.  That was my very first pair of Mizunos.  I’ve been running mostly in Mizunos pretty much ever since, careful to replace them every six months or so, until last year, when I put myself in a pair of the Brooks Glycerin 10.  I love my Glycerins but a couple weeks ago I went out for a run at Babler and my shins were killing me.  My body was telling me it was time for new shoes.  One of the great things about working at a running store is that I have easy access to trying lots of different shoes.  And ultimately, I ended up right back where I belong, Mizunos, which just feel like…home.

If you read about my 20 miler last Monday, you know how awful that was.  On Thursday when I ran 6 with Nicole at Queeny, I was resisting the urge to puke the entire run.  Of course, that probably had something to do with the Chick-Fil-A I ate just an hour before.  We’ll chalk that up to a lesson learned the hard way. Then, later on Thursday I went off to lead the social run and ran 4 more miles with Nick.  I’m not sure which one of us was hurting more though, because at one point I felt like I was pulling him along, which doesn’t ev-errrr happen.   I topped out for 10 on the day, but none of those miles felt particularly good.

And swimming last week? Well, that was a total disaster.  I was having so much anxiety in my life that I already felt like I couldn’t catch my breath.  Not a good state to be in when you jump in the water.  I think I barely managed 500 meters and at one point I was so frustrated with myself I ended up at the end of the lane with my head on my arms, clinging to the side of the pool, sobbing.  Rambling Runner Girl turned into Crying Swimmer Girl.  Or as Steve said when I told him that story, “Lately you are Crying Everything Girl.”  Seems that way sometimes, doesn’t it?

So, after a rough week of workouts and life in general, it felt so good to go out for a run Saturday morning before work and feel like I was finally getting back to being the girl that I know I am.  I was also reflecting on the things that had gotten me down over the past week. Seeing how I got through all of that made me realize just how far I’ve come over the last year.

So, here’s the question:  Is it really all about the shoes?  Well, I work in a shoe store, so the obvious answer is Yes!  But it’s also about the person wearing the shoes and what they do with what they’ve got.  The shoes aren’t going to run themselves.  There are times where you just have to put on whatever shoes you can find and get the job done, but once you learn to do that, it makes it so much better when the shoes really fit.

During my run on Saturday, I was listening to the Rascal Flatts song Unstoppable.  “You find your faith has been lost and shaken, you take back what’s been taken, get on your knees and dig down deep, you can do what you think is impossible…”

Over the past several years, my faith was lost and shaken.  By that, I primarily mean my faith in myself.  But slowly I’ve been rebuilding that.  I am taking back what’s been taken.  It’s hard, and I’ve had to dig really deep, but I’ve been willing to do that and I’ve learned that I really can do what I used to think was impossible.

While I was out for that Saturday morning run, I felt like I was sliding effortlessly across the blacktop, kind of like I was flying, in my red Mizuno Riders and it made me think about something my friend Luke said to me a while back.  Luke is one of my best, best, best friends from High School.  Which means that, obviously, we’ve known each other for approximately…a very long time.  He has seen me conquer countless battles in life and he’s been there through a lot of heart aches. He was also my Homecoming date Senior year since nobody else wanted to take the weird girl who cries all the time and only talks about running. As things have finally started to fall into place with my life, I feel like I am finally getting my groove back and I told Luke that I felt like I was soaring.  His response was “Babe, you’ve always been soaring.  You just didn’t realize how high you could go!”

He’s absolutely right.  And I think it’s finally time for me to find out.

One thought on “Boston 4/15/13 and Running in Red Riders

  1. Luke

    Lin, thanks for the shout out! If I were single this could’ve been the dating version of being on Oprah’s Book Club.

    It was easy to call this out because it was easy for me to see. I think other people who know you, who don’t know me, probably would agree…Plus, it seemed much more helpful than telling you to watch “How Stella Got Her Groove Back”.

    Reply

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