Why I Decided to Run the Boston Marathon Again

April 23, 2013, running for Boston

I decided to run the 2014 Boston Marathon about two weeks after the events of April 15th last year. Boston 2013 was supposed to be my last marathon until my next milestone. My goal was to qualify for Boston and run it in my 40th year, checking a big item off my bucket list. But when what seemed to be a perfect day turned into such a tragedy, I couldn't leave marathoning with that memory. I didn't even look at the date of the event, I just felt in my heart and soul that I needed to go back, show support for the city and the running community that has supported me, and honor the victims of that day.

Part of me wanted to wait to see if I actually made the cut before finalizing everything, but when my friends kept asking me if I was going back, I felt that I would go no matter what so I looked up the date.

The Boston Marathon is always run on a Monday. This shocks people not from the northeast when they first hear it, but it’s Patriots’ Day, the third Monday of April, and Boston celebrates it in a BIG Way. The date of the 2014 Boston Marathon is Monday, April 21st, and as soon as I saw the date my heart sank. April 21st is my daughter’s birthday.

All I could think was “Oh NO! How can I pull this off? I can't do this, can I?”...

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