It Keeps You Running

A little over three years ago, I was dragged, kicking and screaming, into being a runner. G. the Meanie took me out behind the gym and made me run a mile-and-a-half without stopping, without walking. I was thirty-one years old, 200 pounds, and I had never run more than half a mile without stopping, even as a kid.

This blog has an endless supply of stories under the tag, "It Keeps You Running," documenting my love-hate relationship with the sport, and my wonder as I stopped hating it quite so much and found peace with it. Running is a big part of me these days--when it's going well, I'm euphoric; when it's not, I'm frustrated.

I try not to take it for granted. I obsess over the slightest tweak in my knee or that little bit of lower back pain. I stretch, I foam-roll, I keep myself in pricey Mizunos. Every shin splint I've ever suffered, every hitch in my side, is worth it on those glorious days when everything comes together and I find myself cruising along, pain-free and with a smile on my face. But every day, I keep in mind that running could be taken away from me.

That's why I feel so horrible for the runners who were injured and killed in today's Boston Marathon. I make no secret of my absolute non-desire to ever be a marathoner. I'm happy running 5Ks and going for quick daily runs to stay in shape. But I can, to an extent, understand what makes people want to push harder, to go longer, to prove to others that they can tame that 26.2-mile beast. It's the same drive that has me gloating on Facebook on those days I set a new best time. It has been cruelly taken from some of my fellow runners today; runners who set out to finish the prestigious Boston Marathon and ended up losing limbs.

Over the next few days, the politics will take over, and that makes me sad. What happened today isn't political, it's simply an act of terror perpetrated on innocent people (including, I'm hearing as I write this, an eight-year-old spectator confirmed killed) who were celebrating the triumph of the human spirit, who were pushing themselves to be stronger, and better.

So screw the politics. You can blame the right, you can blame the left. Blame the people you're afraid of; whatever. I don't want to hear it. I'm too busy running for everyone who can't.