My name is Steve, I’m from Boston, and I am Boston Strong.  

There’s a certain amount of pride that I have, in saying that.  But the truth is, we’re all from Boston.  Boston...is more than just a city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts...for runners like you and I, it’s a idea...it’s a place where dreams come true.  

The course from the Hopkinton Bandstand to Boylston Street is more than just a paved roadway...it’s a course.  Wherever you’re hearing me right now, that course is connected to you.  When you lace up your shoes and open your own squeaky front door, you’re taking to the same road, on the same planet as I.  The phrase “Think Global, Run Local” has never been so true as it was on the afternoon of April 15th, Patriots Day...a day of heros.

I am now going to say something that is well overdue...I’m going to admit that I was wrong about something.  I’m wrong about alot of things, but I’m stubborn too, I’m a cranky New Englander...but when faced with the truth...I have no alternative but to accept my our fault.

I once said, on this podcast, that it doesn’t take courage to run, in fact I dedicated an entire episode to that silly notion back in December of 2008, episode 166 “It’s Not About Courage”.  

In that episode I said that “Just because someone says that it takes courage for you to run your first mile, does not make it so.  It does not make noble the action by affixing such terms to explain how you came to be.”   

Fellow runners, don’t you belive that.  I was wrong, and I apologize with all my heart.  

You know how much the Boston Marathon means to me; you know how much this city means to me...but the fact is, that we all have courage...the first responders, the fire, police and emergency crews who responded at risk to their own lives, and the many, MANY fellow runners who did exactly what any of you would have done: we are indomitable, we overcome pain, we use our bodies as they were meant to be used, and we sacrifice for the good of this world.

It is about courage, afterall.  When you take to the road, you’re becoming a hero...a hero who would gladly help other runners by passing out bottles of water, a hero who would walk into a little burger joint near the finish line and grab a couple of big trash bags to give to a complete stranger for warmth, a hero who would risk being with other people in an area where the attacks took place, as a way to offer fellowship and comfort.

Oh, yes, there are so many hero’s in our community...so many fellow runners willing to sacrifice, help and fight for what’s right.  The cowardly terrorists who dropped those backpacks with pressure cooker bombs thought they could scare you, they thought they could end the marathon, frighten the world and send a message of hatred that would force us to cower in the darkness.

All they did was kill and hurt some good people, and make a bloody mess of Boylston Street.  There’s a concept in physics discovered by Sirl Issac Newton as his third law of motion.

“Actioni contrariam semper et æqualem esse reactionem”

To every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction

Fellow runners, we could be heros.  We could respond to this act of terror, with acts of heroism; armed with, as weapons, kindness, respect, sacrifice and wave after wave of love.

Of course it takes courage to run, it’s something that those who would stop us most clearly don’t understand.  Instead of defeating us on Boylston Street, the terrorist’s empowered us all over the world, to set postive examples for others on how to be good animals, better people, and brave heros.

Links:

On Monday, May 5th, join my friends and fellow runners, and I, in Boston as we celebrate the life of Jacob Tinkoff and run to the finish line of the Boston Marathon. We are waves of love, and Boston Strong: el Cinco Loco: http://cincoloco.steverunner.com

Thanks for the music: http://neilbearse.com

The song “All Roads Lead Home” was by Golden State at http://iamgoldenstate.com/

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