So what about the 2014 Boston Marathon? All season long I said that I wouldn't do Boston again next year. The fundraising was too much to do 3 years in a row, and while I wouldn't take time off from running, it would give me the chance to do other events. In fact, I had already signed up for the Goofy Challenge at Disney World next January -- a half marathon on Saturday and then a full marathon on Sunday. Part of my thinking when I signed up for this was that it was an insurance policy against being coerced into running Boston next year. The other part of my thinking wasn't working at all that day. But then after the events of this year's Boston Marathon, and the surge of resilience and commitment from Boston and the worldwide running community, it almost seems wrong to NOT run Boston next year. Luckily, I don't have to make this decision until September when our Run For Research team starts taking applications.
Our team has raised almost $1,150,000 just this year, which surpasses our goal by almost $68,000! My own fundraising totaled $7,000 for the year, exceeding my goal by $1,000. This was entirely because of one family who has an amazing story, which I will share with you. On the morning after the Boston Marathon Bombing suspects were captured, I was meeting a few of my RFR teammates for a celebratory run along the Charles River in Cambridge. Just before we set off, I got an email notification that a donation had been made online. The email notifications we get from the system just show the donor's name and the amount, but you have to log into the system to read any comments they left. I saw the name first, and didn't recognize it. Then I saw the amount -- over $1300!! My immediate thought was that this was a mistake, and that someone had donated to my fundraising page instead of another team member's page. I logged into the system from my phone to find more detail that might give me a clue as to who should have received this donation. This was the comment that was left, by a runner who had finished the marathon minutes before the first explosion:I hope you are safe and well. Now that this nightmare is over for those of us lucky enough to have avoided direct injury. I was one of the lucky ones. I was about 50 yards past the first bomb and my parents were about 30 yards in front of the second. We were going to write to you anyway as my parents followed your blog recommendations at 6.2, 16.5 and 25.2. It was perfect and the last recommendation probably saved them from serious injury or worse. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.This family, complete strangers to me, had somehow found my blog and followed my spectator guide. I was overwhelmed with gratitude, both for their safety and for their generosity. I would have been wowed with a simple email explaining their situation, but the donation was overwhelming. They even donated to the penny so that my fundraising total would be $7,000 flat, which my OCD side really appreciated. This is just one of the many stories of good people doing great things in the wake of the Boston Marathon tragedy, and there are more good stories coming out every day, and will likely continue until April 14, 2014.
See you in Hopkinton! (maybe...)
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