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Boston thoughts
Apr. 15th, 2013 05:22 pmThree years ago I ran the Boston Marathon. This morning I watched the elite women's race on livestream, watched one of my friends who started with the elite cross the finish line in 33rd place overall, amazingly caught by the finish camera despite being almost half an hour behind the winner and checked on the tracking for my many friends running this year. While I was cheering with other friends on Facebook, one of the people I know through an internet running forum - who was there cheering in person - posted, "Holy shit -- explosions. What is happening?" I went to Google news, and to Twitter, and watched the horror unfold real-time.
The first thing to do was make sure all the people we knew (we being the collective internet running forum banded together on FB) were okay. As it turned out, everyone I know personally has checked in, but one of the women (who I first met at Boston when I was there) finished shortly before the explosions, and said she was only 200 yards away - freaked her out! Another friend hadn't finished and was diverted away - couldn't get to her warm clothes for hours.
So far there are two confirmed deaths (one an 8-year-old, apparently) and upwards of 100 people in hospitals. At least four leg amputations and a dozen critical injuries.
I haven't managed to get much work done today. I mean, I knew I wasn't going to work much this morning, tracking my runner friends, but I have been glued to various liveblogs and news outlets and Facebook all day. It's depressing, rage-inducing, and frightening. It reminds me of 9/11, when Britt and I were at some friends' house in Denver, getting ready to fly back to our sailboat in Grenada, watching CNN and realizing we weren't going anywhere.
Nobody's claimed responsibility, and despite what various quasi-news places are saying, there's no suspect in custody according to the Boston PD. The timing on tax day, and near the Oklahoma City bombing date, makes me suspect domestic terrorism. But nobody knows yet.
I have been thinking about running Boston again; I mean, I would have to qualify, but I almost certainly will at my next marathon (hopefully this fall), so it would be a decision of if I wanted to go or not. I'm leaning toward it, now. Maybe it's a gesture of defiance.
The first thing to do was make sure all the people we knew (we being the collective internet running forum banded together on FB) were okay. As it turned out, everyone I know personally has checked in, but one of the women (who I first met at Boston when I was there) finished shortly before the explosions, and said she was only 200 yards away - freaked her out! Another friend hadn't finished and was diverted away - couldn't get to her warm clothes for hours.
So far there are two confirmed deaths (one an 8-year-old, apparently) and upwards of 100 people in hospitals. At least four leg amputations and a dozen critical injuries.
I haven't managed to get much work done today. I mean, I knew I wasn't going to work much this morning, tracking my runner friends, but I have been glued to various liveblogs and news outlets and Facebook all day. It's depressing, rage-inducing, and frightening. It reminds me of 9/11, when Britt and I were at some friends' house in Denver, getting ready to fly back to our sailboat in Grenada, watching CNN and realizing we weren't going anywhere.
Nobody's claimed responsibility, and despite what various quasi-news places are saying, there's no suspect in custody according to the Boston PD. The timing on tax day, and near the Oklahoma City bombing date, makes me suspect domestic terrorism. But nobody knows yet.
I have been thinking about running Boston again; I mean, I would have to qualify, but I almost certainly will at my next marathon (hopefully this fall), so it would be a decision of if I wanted to go or not. I'm leaning toward it, now. Maybe it's a gesture of defiance.