Well, it has been more than a week since the 2014 Boston Marathon and I have had some time to reflect on all the things that I have seen and done over the last 12 weeks and want to share some of my thoughts with you.

Teddy Bruschi summed it all up in the “Runners World” magazine when he said that the Boston Marathon is the Super Bowl of all sporting events.  For the week before the marathon, my ONE FUND teammates were unable to sleep and were texting and Facebooking until the wee hours of the morning.  It got to the point that our coaches were sending texts that said “lights out” and “Stop it, go to sleep”.  For the ones who had never run Boston or a marathon before, this was probably one of the biggest week of their lives.  I told them that they may forget their husband/wives birthday, their anniversary, the names of their children, but they will never forget their first Boston Marathon.  Even I as the senior team member, I was overwhelmed by the media coverage, fundraising and then the training with veterans and rookies.  For the last 60 or so marathons, all I had to do was show up and run.  Worrying about an injured teammate or one who may not meet their fundraising goal was all new to me.  It is the one part of this that I am glad is over.

So, I have run the big marathons.  New York, Chicago, Disney, Las Vegas, Boston 100th and 1/2 Ironman Triathlons, and one Full Ironman…but have never been so excited to run a marathon as this one.  I was lucky enough to get a hotel room right at the finish line for the entire weekend, which made getting to all the events very easy and enjoyable.  I was fortunate to be able to attend the Memorial Tribute on Tuesday 4/15/14 and the flag raising ceremony.  That same night our ONE FUND/Marathon Sports team manned the telephones for a telethon hosted by WVCB.  This happened to be the same night and two blocks away from the veiled, barefoot guy with the backpack at the finish line.  Our team dinner on the fourth floor of the South Church will be a night to remember forever.  Not because of the food or the beer, but the realization of how close our team had become.  We now knew everyone’s significant other, their hopes and fears, and everyone was so supportive of each other.

As a member of the ONE FUND team, we were given many things by vendors such as Adidas. Above all, there was one thing that was given to me by someone that I will keep forever to remember this wonder experience.  The South Church started an effort to make scarfs for the marathon runners.  In the end, scarfs showed up from all 50 States and 10 countries knitted by hand and sent to the South Church for them to distribute to the marathoners. You could see people throughout the city wearing a scarf during marathon weekend, and it was just another way to know who was running on Monday.

Looking back over the last 12 weeks, I think about what I thought was most misrepresented by the media, although I am not sure how it could have been better presented by the media.  The last few weeks the television and magazine articles had many stories of miracle recoveries by some of the victims.  Some even showed them training to run the marathon.  The problem is for every success story that was told, there are probably 20 victims that are not recovering so well.  Talking to the mother of an injured victim and the healing that the mother is trying to deal with made me realize that there must be thousands of people that really need help trying to bring closure to this terrorist act. People who thought they had hearing problems that turned out to be brain damage but only visited the emergency room only received $8,000 from the ONE FUND. The issue I also had with the media was that they really did not do a good job of educating the people in those interviews how much the ONE FUND had helped those people and how much more was needed.

If you have read any of my other blogs you will see the one “Ok I get it”.  In that one I discuss how our team trained every week going over Heartbreak Hill, sometimes even twice.  My goal was to charge the Hill and finish STRONG.  My best 5k split was Heartbreak Hill and I knew once I was over that hill and into Cleveland Circle that soon all of this was going to be over.  All the training, fundraising, and media hype was only a few miles from being behind me.  So what did I do? I slowed down, took more pictures, talked to more people and made sure I thanked all the volunteers at the water stops and intersections.  I had FUN.  I even considered running away from the finish line.  I really did not want this one to be over.  End it did, and all I can hope is that everyone does not forget that on 4/15/13 a lot of people were injured and we continue to support organizations like The One Fund that strives to assist the survivors and their families.

Last, but certainly not least, were the crowds of people all along the marathon course.  I usually run with an iPod for music because I usually run alone and my singing makes dogs whimper in fear.  I started the marathon with my earphones, but shut them off at about mile 8 because there was so much music and cheering on the course that I could not really hear my music.  By the time I came over Heartbreak Hill I was glad I had left them in my ear because the cheering crowds would have been deafening.  These people came to cheer on the runners but also to send a message.  “We will not be afraid of terrorists, and will not let them change our lives and our most cherished Marathon!”  For that, I am most thankful.

Usually after a marathon I slip my medal in my suitcase and head for the airport.  That night I wore my medal everywhere.  I must have had a dozen people try to buy me a beer at dinner and got at least a hundred “Congratulations!” and high fives just walking around Boston that night.  Boston really was ONE that night…and that is why this is Boston Strong!

Now get out your shoes and go for a run.