They tried to take it from us and they failed.
On April 15th, as smoke made the air in Copley Square thick and ominous and blood stained the sidewalks of Boylston Street we felt that moment of horror and though about why this had happened. And in the days that followed, we learned the names of Martin Richard, Krystle Campbell and Lingzi Lu and we grieved for them and for their families and those who loved them but we did not panic nor did we let this tragedy make us scared.
And even when the Bombers rattled Watertown with their guns and their pipe bombs 5 days after the bombs, we were not scared and we did not panic. We kept our cool and trusted and respected those charge with the duty of protecting us. We listened to the orders they gave when they told us not to leave our homes and once again we were not rattled. And finally, that night when the final bomber was captured, we came out from our homes and cheered for the officers that apprehended this monstrous man and killed his equally monstrous brother.
In the nights after the Bombing and the manhunt that followed, our strength outweighed our weakness and our resiliency showed that our city, our little metropolis founded from an even smaller peninsula on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean was unlike any other city in the world.
In the 1770's it was a colonial version of Boston that housed just over 10,000 people served as the incubator for the American Revolution, spawning fiery personalities like Sam Adams and John Hancock and playing host to the opening shots of that war that ended with the first institution of democracy in a major government since ancient Greece.
As the nation developed around it, Boston expanded both economically and physically. By 1900, Boston was home to over 500,000 people largely because it had added tens of square miles to its geography via the creation of the Back Bay. While New York, Los Angeles and Chicago were still already bigger cities than Boston, it was the sports teams that the city had adopted that added a new chapter to the history and lore of Boston's culture.
Our teams, our players epitomized the dynastic strength of Boston as almost across the board all of our teams won. We saw the Red Sox and players like Ted Williams and Carl Yastrempski help dominate baseball's early years while the Bruins and Bobby Orr won Stanley Cups at an unfathomable clip during the days of the 6 team NHL.
But all of those teams have had low points as well. The Red Sox lost Babe Ruth to the Yankees and promptly went 80 years without a World Series victory while the Bruins slogged through almost 20 years of repugnant hockey played in the late 1990's and early 2000's. Finally it took the Patriots over 35 years to even get to a Super Bowl never mind win it which they finally did in 2001.
As great at the moments like Bobby Orr's 'the goal' and the Red Sox triumphant World Series win in 2004 were they were balanced by very bad moments like the Billy Buckner error that prevented the Sox from winning the World Series or all those Bruins defeats at the hands of the Canadians in the 80's.
But that is not true with the 5th major sporting field that Boston has fostered. Through its history, the Boston Marathon is a consistent sport that for over a hundred years ran without interruption. Because it is a road race with thousands of participants, this race does not have ups and downs. Rather its excitement never dies and even when Kenyan runners won 20 straight marathons at the turn of the 21st century, there was no heartbreak on the part of the fans who watched it simply because this race, the magic of it, went beyond just the runners themselves.
For hours, the marathon unifies the people who watch it, bringing fans from far and wide out onto a winding trail of roadway and humanity to watch and cheer for people they do not necessarily know.
The marathon is a part of Boston and a symbol of what the city, is, was and will be. The day it is run - Patriots Day - is one of the most Bostonian days on the calendar and reminds all who run it of the sacrifice and valor of the men who fought for the sovereignty of the United States. But last year, the Tsarnaev brothers seemed to forget the strength of this city.
They tried to break our spirit, they tried to halt this race but we would not let them.
In fact, the attacks on last year’s marathon that killed 3 and wounded over 200 others partially had the opposite effect to what the brothers intended. The response to the attacks produced heroes rather than enemies while the police control of the situation initiated a trust in the authorities rather than anger about how they had let this happen. And finally, rather than ending this fabled race, the bombing made it stronger.
Due to popular demand, the BAA added over 6,000 new spots to the race while also allowing all who were not allowed to finish at last year’s marathon to compete this year without qualifying again.
For example, the race held off the retirement of Dick and Rick Hoyt who returned for one last race in the wake of what happened last year. Additionally, the bombings nearly brought 66 year old Bill Rodgers out of retirement.
“After the bombing last year, I wanted to run Boston this year,” the four-time Boston winner said Friday. “And I was in pretty good shape for an old-timer, 66 years old."
While Rodgers strained a hamstring and could not run, he vowed that he would be there for the weekend.
“Runners, you have to come back,” Rodgers said. “You have to come back when you get knocked down. That’s what happened there with the bombing -- and Boston, you can’t keep [the city] down. You can’t keep marathoners down.”
But the most famous American runner in history is not alone in his being moved by the Boston response to the attacks. Two time Olympic Gold Medalist and finisher of the Boston Marathon Joan Benoit Samuelson spoke to ESPN about her thoughts on the attack.
“It will be bigger and stronger and more celebrated than any other Boston before, at the same time, we’re all mindful of what happened last year and we’ll never forget that. So many of the survivors have been so inspiring in their quest to reclaim their lives.”
Just over 1 year ago, the Tsarnev brothers tried to take our race down. They tried to make us scared and tried to ruin one of the most unique aspects of Boston tradition and we did not let them. As Boston watches the Marathon on Monday, they will recognize and feel proud of the fact that their resilience has made it so that the Boston Marathon had only been made stronger by an attack on it 1 year ago.
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