Two of the Government Affairs Strategies team are avid runners. Meredith and Chip. Both have completed marathons. We run for the love of it and the fitness. However we found much more.
Much of it is esoteric until you've done it, but Ezra Klein of the Washington Post did a great job of explaining what a marathon represents far beyond the 50,000 steps each runner incurs that day.
It's about the humanity of the event. The greater good, and the indomitable human spirit.
At 4:10 minutes into a Marathon, you are hitting the time when the most runners are crossing a finish line. Also, Boston is a race that there are only 2 ways to get into. Qualify at a time that very few ever achieve... and most of those people were done before the blast. Or agree to raise money for charity. On average, well above $5,000 each.
27,000 runners, most raising over $5k ea for charity. You do the math.
Those runners and their families were who was targeted. The determined few who run for everyone but themselves. Those souls whose spirit reaches for a level we all strive to replicate.
The Resolute.
The Undeterred.
And what has been the reaction? Runners everywhere laced up. Tuesday you saw them wearing their race shirts in solidarity. Over the weekend runners across the country ran races with tributes to the runners in Boston. Friends from all over the country have reached out wanting me to help them run Boston next year... simply because they know I run. And I will.
Why?
Because that is who we are. The Resolute. The Undeterred. The torch bearers of the American Spirit who will not allow anything to stand in our way. Who will not let cowards dictate our lives. Who will not look to ourselves for blame, or assign politics a place here. Who know the only way to move forward is to reach out, help others, and move together -
Resolute & Undeterred
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