“Your strength doesn't come from winning. It comes from struggles and hardship. Everything that you go through prepares you for the next level.” ― Germany Kent

Last week the 127th Boston Marathon took place on the tenth anniversary of the finish line bombings in 2013. I've had the chance to participate in the BAA 5K the Saturday before the Marathon every year, with the exception of the lockdown years, so I have had the experience of crossing the Marathon finish line painted on Boylston Street and running by the two memorials that mark the sites of the blasts and honor those who perished or lost limbs or had other serious injuries.

This Weblog from last year is updated and reprinted to keep the memory fresh.

Being Boston-centric for most of my life, at this time of year, I think about the Boston Marathon taking place the third Monday in April. I was on the sidewalk in Kenmore Square to watch the Marathon for the first time more than 60 years ago.

But I also think about the Boston Marathon Bombings that took place the third Monday of April in 2013.

It's one thing to hear about bombs killing civilians half a world away in Ukraine or another troubled spot, it is quite another when they do the same in familiar places and locations you know well. The phrase 'closer to home' really applies to our reactions.

That day, the explosions of home-made bombs on the sidewalks at the finish line on Boylston Street impacted a lot of people, obviously and most significantly the victims and the families of those who were murdered and maimed in the two explosions. (See the Wikipedia page details at the end).

But the events that day also affected more than families and friends.

Even if you are not affiliated with Boston in some way, you can still understand what an emotional, hard to forget event took place at that finish line 10 years ago.

Some remember that the entire metropolitan area had to ‘shelter in place,’ because it was unknown what the terrorists were up to, how many there were and what was 'next.'

Others remember the horror of the blast scenes, and still others remember the second terrorist, captured and climbing out of a boat in a backyard in Watertown.

I remember public safety men and women running towards the blasts, while spectators were running away.

Running toward danger became a symbol for 'Boston Strong'.

And that phrase, ‘Boston Strong,’ became a mantra for the resilience of the people in our area. Some things you can’t forget, and others won’t let you forget.

The terror, the trauma, the memories come back to many when moving down Boylston Street, or near Kendall Square across the river in Cambridge where a security guard was shot in the aftermath.

Because my travels take me to both of those places on a regular basis, I might think about the terrorist acts more than others would.

Just a week before the blasts, Opening Day at Fenway Park took place, and the traffic and parking was so bad near the park, my son and I had to find a space more than a mile from the park in a garage on, you guessed it, Boylston Street. I pushed him in his wheelchair right past the bomb sites oblivious to what was going to happen just a few days later.

In my role leading a non-profit in the Boston area, I also had a volunteer committee meeting one block from the bomb sites three days after the blasts and tried to be Boston Strong and go about my business.

That non-profit also had an event scheduled at the DCR Hatch Shell two weeks after the Marathon and it was later discovered that the bombers original plans were to have the explosions take place there. (Proceeding with our event was finally approved, but we were required to triple the State Police detail and have bomb sniffing dogs on site).

So, you can see why the memories and the impact of that day regularly enter my consciousness as I make my way around the city.

I did not run in the Boston Marathon this year. Been there, done that.

But I did run again in the annual Boston Athletic Association (BAA) 5K race as part of Marathon Weekend with 10,000 other registrants the Saturday prior.

The 5K, like the actual Marathon has a finishing stretch that passes by the explosion sites.

As part of my training, I try to complete a practice run over the same route the week before. With no pressure on time, and no spectators cheering me on, I stop for a moment of reflection at each memorial and think back to those terrible April days when no one knew what was going on, and that 'shelter in place' became a familiar term. Maybe that's one of the reasons that the memory is fresh in my mind?

As I knelt at each location on that training run, I was reminded that 'Boston Strong' is a concept that not only applies to facing danger, but also describes the past of the resilient city.

The Marathon is held on Patriots Day, a holiday only in Massachusetts and Maine, commemorating the 'shot heard round the world' in 1775 that was the beginning of the end of the occupying army. Boston Strong wasn't a phrase then, but it was still a 'thing.'

When bad things happen to us, or people we know, or places we remember, they are each an announcement to us to try to be strong. Because the size of the challenge and our ability to overcome it sometimes don't match, we cannot go through life completely in ‘smooth sailing’ mode with adversity after adversity or big blow after big blow hitting us. No one can.

What we can do, however, is be as strong as we can be.

What we can do, however, is to try to bounce back.

Even if not successful, there is redemption in trying hard to bounce back. I know.

Sometimes we need a friend to step in to help, other times the wounds heal or partially heal themselves, and other times the memories keep us warm.

But things move on, with or without us, and it's important to recognize that the quicker we recover or the higher we bounce back, the more we…. admire ourselves.

And at the end of the day, regardless of how many people admire us, admiring ourselves is what really counts.

Those first responders running towards the explosions, were taking charge when something bad happened. We call them public safety personnel, but most of the time we don’t see them in that specific role. That day they were a symbol for the profession, and the city of Boston.

Several days after the blasts, the Boston Red Sox, playing in Fenway Park less than three-quarters of a mile from the sites, dedicated the season to Boston Strong and the victims.

After winning the World Series, the players brought the trophy to the finish line as a symbol of what being Boston Strong was all about.

Boston Strong is not just a phrase, it is an attitude that says when something bad happens, move forward and be strong, even when it is hard to do.

Three people were killed as a direct result of the bombings. Krystle Marie Campbell, a 29-year-old restaurant manager from Medford, Massachusetts, was killed by the first bomb.^[259] Lü Lingzi (Chinese: 吕令子),^[260][261] a 23-year-old Chinese national and Boston University statistics graduate student from Shenyang, Liaoning,^{[262][263][264][265]} and 8-year old boy Martin William Richard from the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, were both killed by the second bomb.^[266][267]

Sean Allen Collier, 27 years old, was shot and killed by the bombers as he sat in his patrol car on April 18, at about 10:48 p.m. He was an MIT police officer, and had been with the Somerville Auxiliary Police Department from 2006 to 2009.^[268][269] He died from multiple gunshot wounds.^[270]

Boston Police Department officer Dennis Simmonds died on April 10, 2014, from injuries that he received during the Watertown shootout a year before.^[67]

According to the Boston Public Health Commission, 264 civilians were treated at 27 local hospitals.^[4][271] Eleven days later, 29 remained hospitalized, one in critical condition.^[272] Many victims had lower leg injuries and shrapnel wounds,^[273] which indicated that the devices were low to the ground.^[274] At least 16 civilians lost limbs, at the scene or by surgical amputation, and three lost more than one limb.^{[275][276][277][278]}

Doctors described removing "ball-bearing type" metallic beads a little larger than BBs and small carpenter-type nails about 0.5 to 1 inch (1 to 3 cm) long.^[279] Similar objects were found at the scene.^[52] The New York Times cited doctors as saying that the bombs mainly injured legs, ankles, and feet because they were low to the ground, instead of fatally injuring abdomens, chests, shoulders, and heads.^[280] Some victims had perforated eardrums.^[274]

MBTA police officer Richard H. Donohue Jr. (33) was critically wounded during a firefight with the bombers just after midnight on April 19.^[98] He lost almost all of his blood, and his heart stopped for 45 minutes, during which time he was kept alive by cardiopulmonary resuscitation.^{[citation needed]} The Boston Globe reported that Donohue may have been accidentally shot by a fellow officer.^[99]

Marc Fucarile lost his right leg and received severe burns and shrapnel wounds. He was the last victim released from hospital care on July 24, 2013.^[281] Courtney Kelleigh who ran for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, suffered hypothermia with no permanent damage.^[282]

For the handful of readers who follow my running adventures, I did not meet my goal of running a personal best in this event.

Partially due to getting older, and partially due to a late start training due to eye surgery, I was 37 seconds behind last year's pace and 53 seconds behind my personal best.

The good news? I finished in front of 2,920 others and in my age group I was 24th out of 52. Not a bad start to the racing season.

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