Dear Boston~
When I was younger and could afford to travel, if asked where I was from I said Boston. I have always lived in the burbs, never Boston. Yet it identified my roots, because Boston is Massachusetts. As a life long resident my belief is we are all Boston. That does not diminish the other cities and towns we are a proud state and our roots run deep.
The marathon hosts runners from all over the world. People come to compete in an event that spotlights grueling stamina and excellence in their field. This will be the 118th running of the marathon. There will be 36K at the starting line ready to make that run.
BU grads who made Boston Marathon history
he first Americans to compete in the modern Olympics were mostly members of the Boston Athletic Association, including BU student Tom Burke (LAW 1897) (standing, left). They brought back from Athens the idea of staging a “Marathon race” in Boston.
http://www.bu.edu/today/2014/in-the-running-1897-to-2014/
On the eve of the Boston Marathon, some would like to dis Boston. I know the term Boston Strong has been commercialized, so has Christmas. However that will not stop me or others from the pride and celebration of the event. Nor will it stop us from honoring the dead and all those traumatic injuries of that day a year ago. It's about spirit. It is a celebration of life. Boston Strong is a slogan that has been used to heal so many wounds. It brought a community a state and many around the world a sense of peace.
I have friends that are returning to the site tomorrow, they worked two doors down from one of the blasts. They helped hundreds move to safety through their back door and saw things on that day back in April 2013 that still haunt them. A relative of mine is friends with six of the RN's that worked the hospital tent last year. Five are returning, one is unable, the horror was to great. They went to treat blisters, heart attacks and exhaustion. Instead they set up a triage center to treat those that had severed limbs and severe concussions. They set up a make shift morgue.
It was never about Boston, it was about all of us everywhere that suffered a loss and as a community came together to heal. It is about our spirit.
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I wish I could be there.
I would be in tears.. for the people of Boston and for the feat of running 26 consecutive under-5-minute miles... or 15 minute miles, or whatever it takes.. They are all heros.
Enjoy...
The stories are all compelling but this is the personal story that got me the most.. Talk about being "Strong"..
"Team Hoyt was ready to retire in 2013. But after being stopped a mile from the finish line when the bombs went off in Boston last year, they decided to run the race one last time, next Monday. “We will get across this year,” 73-year-old Dick told Runner’s World. “It’s going to be very emotional"
Thank you she.. sorry if "BostonStrong is too commercial" for some people but I wonder if it is for those who were the victims and loved ones of those whose lives were forever changed.. but, will not let it keep them down?
Boston Marathon this year, she..
Amazing stamina and forbearance these runners have.. I can't even imagine being able to run for 2 hours and some change!
Have an inspiring poignant experience tomorrow when you're there in person, she~ Looking forward to hearing all about it from someone who is there for us!
We'll be there in Spirit~ 
TOD
I can't imagine running that far either, Cha.
Thank you for that beautiful memorial picture
Meb Keflezighi Becomes First American Boston Marathon Champion since 1983
http://www.boston.com/sports/marathon/2014/04/21/meb-keflezighi-becomes-first-american-boston-marathon-champion-since/wszlhky4RA1O8WG7G0DjGL/story.html
It was a thrill to see them pass by from the burbs. Several ran with prosthetic legs!
Thanks mathematic. 
Inspiring video at the link~
Photographer hopes for healing in 2014 Boston Marathon
BOSTON – For the most important Boston Marathon in history, Boston Globe photographer John Tlumacki will be posted at his usual spot, working the finish line, waiting for the runners to find their way to him. It's a job he loves.
This year, it's also a job he needs.
The 2014 Boston Marathon means so much to so many. For Tlumacki, it's a search for catharsis, the chance to start over, to wipe the slate clean, to, as he says, "hopefully make some photos that will be beautiful and wipe out all the memories of the bad photos that I took last year."
Tlumacki stood at the finish line last April 15, taking some of the 2,000 images that he made that day, when the first of two explosions went off 40 feet away from him, so loud and strong that Tlumacki could only describe it as if he had been standing too close to a cannon as it went off.
Instinctively, he ran onto the course, to a runner who had been blown off his feet on Boylston Street, with three police officers, sprinting into action,
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/2014/04/20/christine-brennan-boston-marathon-boston-globe-john-tlumacki/7942873/
obtuse insensitivity.
I just found this, a team is running for Martin.
Team MR8 ready to run for Martin Richard, Boston Marathon bombing's youngest victim
It's been a tough winter to train for a marathon. In Boston, and across the northeast, the snow covered roads and ice coated sidewalks. The wind, unrelenting, bit through layers of running gear, and seemed to always blow from the least helpful direction.
But for the members of Team MR8, as with many running this year's Boston Marathon, the tragic events of last year spurred a new sense of purpose, and power, to keep moving.
"I have unfinished business on that course," said Pat Brophy, a runner stopped with less than a mile to go last year when the two blasts turned the event deadly. This year, Brophy will run as a member of Team MR8, honoring eight-year-old Martin Richard who was killed in the terrorist attack while cheering at the finish line with his family.
For Brophy, and other runners on the team, the Richard family has become a symbol of strength.
"The fact that they get up and take a breath every morning, the fact that they get up and put their feet on the ground, the fact that they take a step every day, the fact that they live their lives with as much dignity and strength and courage as they do right now, running 26 miles seems like not that big a deal," said Brophy, who works at Harvard and lives in Dorchester, the same Boston neighborhood as the Richard family.
Martin
His sister Jane
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/team-mr8-ready-to-run-for-martin-richard-boston-marathon-bombings-youngest-victim/
an excellent way to put it. It's so heartbreakingly inspiring it makes ya want to cry..
Pat Brophy: "The fact that they get up and take a breath every morning, the fact that they get up and put their feet on the ground, the fact that they take a step every day, the fact that they live their lives with as much dignity and strength and courage as they do right now, running 26 miles seems like not that big a deal," said Brophy, who works at Harvard and lives in Dorchester, the same Boston neighborhood as the Richard family."
Mahalo, she.. I loved the article~ Running for Martin~
