On Banditing, Stealing, & Being An Entitled Dumbass

If you've been anywhere near the Internet this week, you've doubtless heard about the "Boston Bandits" - the 4 people who reproduced a girl's Boston Marathon bib in order to run the race without qualifying, fund-raising, or paying to get in.  

There have been dozens (maybe even hundreds, I haven't read the entire Internet) of articles and blog posts about these four individuals.  People have been shaming them all over social media, and the whole running community is in an uproar.  

Then there are those who say "What's the big deal? Who cares?"  It is to those people that I feel the need to respond (not that they probably read this blog, but hey, it's my party and I'll bitch if I want to!). 

In case you were not aware, taking things that you did not pay for is wrong.  Stealing, lying, cheating, all of these things are not acceptable. 

Did these four individuals kill anyone?  Rob a bank? Kick a puppy?  No.  Of course not.  They "only" bandited a race.  They "only" copied a piece of paper.  They "only" took water from the aid stations.  They "only" took medals at the end of the race that hey, admittedly, they did run.  

No big, right?  No harm, no foul.  

Except. 

Except. 

It's fucking wrong, people!  (Sorry, mom)  What if we all decided that banditing was ok?  Who needs to pay for a race? Pfft, they are public streets, right?  And water comes from lakes and stuff, so that's free, too, right?  So why do we have to pay to run on streets and drink water?  Dumb, right?  

Well, what about all the food that's in grocery stores?  I mean, that apple came from a tree that was grown in the USA, and I pay taxes to the US government, right?  So really I already paid for that apple, so why should I pay for it again?  

Ok, ok, so maybe that's a stretch.  But you get what I'm saying.  It's a slippery damn slope, and it scares the crap out of me that so many people are willing to go down it.  When did we get to be a country of people with such entitlement issues?  When did we stop believing in working for what we get, and just start expecting people to give us things?  When did we start thinking it was ok to steal because it "isn't hurting anyone?"  

I have two small kids.  Every day I worry that I'm screwing them up in some way.  Every day I'm worried that if I do something - or don't do something - they'll end up on some talk show saying that I ruined their lives.   I do my best to make sure that they know they are loved, and that they know right from wrong.    It makes my job harder when it seems like more and more people are changing the definition of "wrong."  

Do I think that the Boston Athletic Association needs the extra money that those fake bibs should have cost?  No. Of course not.  Do I think that at the end of the day, those bandits really hurt anyone?  

Abso-freaking-lutely.  

It's a slippery damn slope, people.  We need to wake up, stop  being entitled dumbasses, and remember what we'e all known since we were children.  You don't take things that don't belong to you.  Period. 

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." 

- Edmund Burke

Meb For President

Oh, my goodness.   Did you watch? Tell me you watched.  If you're saying "Watched what?" then obviously you don't need to be reading this blog.

The 118th Boston Marathon was held yesterday and OH MY GOSH, what a race.

I won't re-cap it, because if you care, you watched it (or read about it), and if you don't care, then me telling you about it isn't going to change your mind.

I will say that I'm sorry that Shalane Flanagan didn't win, because I know that she really, really, really wanted to, but man, she did a great job.  She set a record, both personally, and for American women, and that is saying something.

And Meb.  Oh, my.  Meb Keflezighi.  What an amazingly awesome and supremely gifted runner. I will be honest, I did not think he was going to win.  When the race started, I cheered for him but was kind of expecting him to get over taken.  Ha.  That'll teach me to doubt!

By the last 400 meters, I was on my feet in my living room, bouncing up and down, yelling at the television.  "Don't celebrate! Keep running! Faster! He's behind you! Faster!"  I can't remember the last time I was that stressed out. LOL

*sigh*  What a great day. 

And, as always, watching amazing runners run got me all fired up.  So I spent some time last night looking at the calendar and fretting and came up with a loose 14 week training plan for the Endless Summer 6 Hour Run.  It looks like a crazy amount of running.  I honestly don't know how it's going to go.  But I'm gonna try!  

2 weeks till my 5K, 4 weeks till my HM, 14 weeks till ES6, and 22 weeks till NC24.  I have a lot of running ahead of me, and I am seriously crazy excited.   

Did you watch Boston?  Does watching a race get you pumped up for your own running? 

One Year

There are different events over the course of a lifetime that you will always remember. There are certain tragedies that you will discuss with friends and the conversation will start, "I remember exactly where I was when. . ."

A year ago today, I was parked in the car loop at my son's elementary school, checking Facebook on my phone. It was there that I read the words "bomb" and "marathon" and I thought it had to be a horrible practical joke.

Then the reports started rolling in. 

Today, many have healed and attempted to move on. But we all remember, and a little part of our hearts will always belong to Boston. 

A different kind of Shock and Awe

After dropping the kids off at school yesterday, I went to Panera, grabbed some breakfast, and hightailed it home to watch the Boston Marathon.  I used my cellphone to chat with friends on Facebook as I watched the race on my husband's laptop.  After the elite women had finished, my mom made a comment on Facebook that made me realize that she, too, had been watching.

I called her and we chatted a bit, laughing and happy, in awe of what we'd seen.   It was a great day.

Fast forward three hours to me sitting in the car loop line at my son's elementary school, my daughter sleeping in the backseat as we waited for school to get out.  I checked Facebook (I'm slightly addicted) and saw the words "marathon" and "bomb" in the same sentence. It made no sense.  I Googled and found nothing.  I went back to Facebook, and there were more posts.  I Googled some more, and there it was.  Bombs had gone off at the finish line of the Boston Marathon.

Immediately, my feed was filled with "The girls were at the finish line - have they checked in?" and "Oh, my god, B was running, what time was he expected to finish, has anyone called him?" and on and on.  I sat with tears in my eyes, not knowing if runners, volunteers, and spectators that I knew had been hurt in the blasts, or if they were safe.

A few hours later, after everyone that I know had been (thank heavens) accounted for, I started thinking about the victims of the explosions.   Not just those who had  been killed and injured (though, obviously, my heart went out to them and to their families, and I cannot even imagine the horror that they all endured), but the runners, volunteers, and spectators who were there.

The Boston Marathon is a Big Deal.  It's a great day for Boston, and a great day for runners. Qualifying for Boston is a life-long dream for some, while others work tremendously hard to raise money for charity so that they, too, may be allowed to run along the same streets as elite athletes.  Boston aside, Marathons themselves are a Big Deal.  Hours upon hours are spent training for a marathon.  Hundreds of miles are logged, injuries are sustained, sleep is lost.  People who run marathons endure so much for the chance to cross the finish line, their arms raised in triumph.  To be able to say I Did It!

For thousands of people yesterday, that moment of glory was taken away.   OF COURSE the main focus should be on the actual victims of the bombs.  OF COURSE the runners who were not injured are grateful for their health and safety.  OF COURSE.   But I can't help feeling sad for those runners who trained so hard and fought for so long, only to have their happy ending taken away from them and replaced with unspeakable horror.

Fortunately, the general consensus seems to be, "We will run again."

My thoughts are with the people of Boston, the victims of this horrific incident, and runners all over the world.  God Bless.

Boston, baby!

Before I started running, the Boston Marathon wasn't even a blip on my radar.  I'm sure I'd heard of it (maybe), but certainly didn't CARE about it.  Last year, however, I watched it live on my laptop.  It's amazing how different things are now that I've become a runner.  My world has expanded.  I read magazines I never would have touched before, I watched the Summer Olympics and shouted at the television as Mo Farah and Galen Rupp came into the final straightaway in the men's 10,000m race, and I watched both the mens and the womens Olympic Marathons - without fast forwarding.  I was riveted.  

The 117th Boston Marathon will be run in just over a week.  I will be watching it again.  This time, though, I know someone who will be volunteering at the race - and I'll be thinking of a friend who "BQ'd" in her very first marathon (which also happened to be her very first race!).  Couch to BQ.  Not exactly something that happens every day! Not to mention, she didn't just squeak by.  She could have walked for awhile and still made it.  Unreal. (BQ = short hand for "Qualified for Boston."  Qualifying standards can be found here.) I  barely made it from couch to 5K!

Speaking of my lackluster running ability......... I didn't run today.  Eek.  Today was supposed to be my last run before my race on Sunday, and it just didn't happen.  Too much going on, the day got away from me and now it's dark out, my back hurts, and I'm just beat.  Bad Di! Bad!  Oh, well.  Nothing I can do now but wait and see.

So, are you going to watch the Boston Marathon?