No More Hurting People - Peace
“No more hurting people - Peace”, Martin Richard.
Countries at war, squabbling politicians, terrorist acts, school shootings and stabbings, road rage, bullying… We have become an increasingly intolerant and violent society where the acceptable norm is to place value on hate and finding what is wrong; rather than seeking good and finding peace.
Since the 2013 Boston Marathon I can remember seeing posters with Martin Richards’ photo. I didn’t connect the dots until late in the marathon this year. By the end of the run this very young victim of the 2013 Boston Marathon and his photo with the poster, “No more hurting people - Peace,” came to be my most rewarding experience and completely unexpected.
I wore my customary race day colors for the 2014 Boston Marathon - obnoxiously bright rainbow shorts and fluorescent green singlet. And in typical form, when one of the many thousands of spectators shouted “Nice shorts” “Go Rainbow Guy” or other appropriate compliment, I almost always responded with a peace sign wave. The amazing part is that when I flashed the peace sign many spectators would shout back “Peace” or flash the peace sign back. I would peace-sign them back and before long both arms hurt like hell from holding one or both arms up in the air while runningJ Around mile 20 I finally understood the connection:
“No more hurting people – Peace”
Martin Richard
I thought my 2005 Boston experience could never be outdone. The 2014 experience proved to be better than I could have imagined. In 2005 I didn’t have enough running experience to appreciate the meaning and importance of the race to other runners. Running comes easily to me and over the past 10 years I have come to appreciate the effort expended by many fellow runners for what I took for granted. For 2014 I wanted to enjoy the moment. I wanted to be a small piece of a much bigger day.
I didn’t do any special training this year for Boston. I just ran more days than not and didn’t spend time worrying about the miles per day/week. Before I knew it the Cowtown Marathon (February) and the Crazy Desert 50K (March) had come and gone. Boston was now sandwiched in the middle of a very full event calendar lasting until late September.
What a beautiful day for a marathon. Clear blue skies and relatively mild temperatures for a Texan. Once the sun rose the layers of clothing started to peel from one runner after another. Imagine the piles of clothes being discarded from 30 plus thousand runners. I certainly hope the jackets and sweatshirts donated by the runners find a good home.
The security was intense! I can’t even remember seeing a police officer in 2005. In 2014 I can’t remember not seeing an armed and uniformed person. To be honest, the level of police presence leaves me feeling sad to think this is what we have become. In 1984 I visited my first country outside of the United States. The very first thing I noticed was the number of armed and uniformed military/police in Israel. I remember thinking how terrible it must be to live in a place where everyone feared for their safety. Thirty years later I now live in a country where people fear for their safety when going to school, the mall, the theater, work, a funeral….
There were over one million spectators along the course. I know, because I think I high fived or low fived all of them. When I say low five, I mean low five. I did my best to spot the young’uns that were as tall as my knees and get low enough to slap a hand. Many times I crisscrossed the road to low five an aspiring marathoner. At Boston College I encountered my longest ever high five slap. I had to stop after about 100 yards of sustained slap slap slap slap slap slap slap slap slap slap slap slap slap….. to keep from getting spun around in a circle. Imagine the sound of a baseball card clipped to a bike wheelJ
The best kiss of the day came at mile 17. Sweetie beat the train system and managed to find a spot along the barricades in her brightest PINK attire. She says she was surprised I stopped to give her a kiss – but in reality she knows I stopped for her to kiss meJ The best kiss of the day you ask? Yes, I did get a few other kisses in the scream tunnel. In 2005 I ran past the Wellesley College girls without stopping. In 2014 I visited with the girls for a little while. Slowest mile of the dayJ
Boston was also a time for Laura and me to look back on our first year of marriage. Endurance events are inextricably intertwined with our life together. I had to change the day of our first date so I could volunteer at IMAZ, I proposed a year later during IMAZ, our wedding was scheduled between two trail events, and our first anniversary was spent at the Boston Marathon expo. Laura, I love you sweetie.
If I get a say in the matter, when the day comes to hang up the marathon shoes, I hope I hang them in Boston.
