Boston, You're My Home.

Marathon Monday is a proud, 117 year Boston tradition. It's also Patriots Day, a day celebrating the American Revolution and the patriotic spirit that has created and inspired our nation to independence and greatness. 

The marathon runs through my city, Newton, effectively cutting it in half. Each year, the two side of town rise early to negotiate getting by the marathon route. I happen to love the marathon...the wheelchair contenders, looking for the Hoyts in the crowd, and seeing the Burger Brigade make French fries and burgers running up Heartbreak Hill look effortless. 

Famous along the route is the Scream Tunnel, where normally very proper Wellesley College girls scream, yell and kiss their encouragement to the runners...letting them know that they are halfway. Heartbreak Hill is a thing of legend and lore among marathoners, but for some Newtonians, it's just their morning run. The marathon is more than just a road race...it's our spirit, a source of pride and more importantly, it's the runners, the volunteers and the spectators along the way. 

Marathon Monday always brings this to mind:

But, because of the insane actions of horrible people (person?), the 117th marathon ended like this:

My heart breaks for the city my family has called home for many generations (7? 8?), the city my grandfather adopted as his home because "it was filled with smart people", the city where I met and fell in love with PC...the city we have chosen to stay within. I wept today as I saw the horror of the bombings at the finish line. I wept for my friends "in town", the families of those hurt, the people who were just there to watch their loved ones finish an amazing accomplishment... 

The people of Boston are often thought of as cold, unfriendly and a little aloof. Today, strangers ran to help. People have opened their homes to those who need one. We opened our hearts, even while they were breaking. 

The sadness and unfathomability of today has no words. Pray with me that my city heals, victims recover and that justice is served, either ( as so eloquently put in the great Boston film, The Town) " on this side or the other."

Peace Be With You, 

Kate