A Sad Day in Boston Marathon History

It was a tragic day in Boston today as two explosions killed three people and injured 144 others during the Boston Marathon. I cannot help but reminisce about some of my own experiences back in 2008 and 2009 when I ran the Boston Marathon for Dana-Farber. For me, the Boston Marathon represented so much more than achieving a certain distance or satisfying a personal time goal. The race stood for "a world without cancer." It represented hope and a cure for my loved ones. It disturbs me to think that someone might want to taint the tradition of the Boston Marathon and all that the race represents. However, perhaps it makes sense to instead focus on the more than 2,500 good people in this world who decided to run for charity in the first place today. I would like to use this blog post to dedicate my prior runs to those charity runners who trained and poured their heart and soul into this marathon, but who were unable to finish this afternoon as planned. I hope that today's terrorist acts do not dissuade you from pursuing future endeavors for causes that you believe in. Whether you finished the race today or not, your efforts have already had a significant impact on your charities and on your supporters.