Endurance: The Boston Marathon in it of itself is a stunning test of human power. It pits armatures against a course that has been known to take down professionals and involves so many people that they are forced to start in 3 or more waves of runners that rush across the starting line as if they are all one living breathing creature.
And it is like this that they run for hours winding past barricades that hold back even more people who are inspired by this spectacle, this testament to that human power. So the runners run forward and they are carried by the cheers of these spectators and the counting clock and the nearing finish line. But in their way they tackle climbs and steep downhill’s that sting these runners aching legs and apply even more stress to their deeply tested joints. They huff and puff through the scream tunnel in Wellesley, the halfway point of the race and then turn towards Boston where they know an even louder cheer and an even bigger crowd will await them.
These thousands of runners climb heartbreak hill and then eventually break towards Boylston street where they know their race has ended and their life has added a new chapter not only to their own story but also to that of this storied race.
116 years after the Boston Marathon was first run, 23,000 runners participated in its 2013 renewal and much like nearly every marathon since the dawn of the information age, this event took control of much of New England and was covered extensively by most every news outlet in the area.
The race began with a moment of silence for the victums of the Sandy Hook Shooting and started on time with the first wave of wheelchair racers leaving Hopkinton just after 9:15. Roughly 15 minute after that, the band of 51 elite female marathoners got on course and 30 minutes after that then men started the race. As the armatures started later in the day, this race seemed perfect. Unlike prior races, the temperature this time around teetered around 50 degrees Fahrenheit and caused these runners to race in a rather comfortable atmosphere.
This air temperature also helped the elite runners who finished the course in very quick time with Lelisa Desisa winning the men’s race, Rita Jeptoo winning the women’s race and Hiroyuki Yamamoto and Tatyana McFadden winning the men’s and women’s wheel chair race respectively.
As these runners crossed the line there was jubilation on their part and congratulations from these fans gathered at the line to not only cheer for them but also their loved ones who would soon be finishing. 2 hours later however, the story unfolding in Copley Square would change from one about endurance to one about…Terror: At 2:49 April 15th, 4 hours and 9 minutes after the 117thBoston Marathon began, Boston was forced to deal with one of its darkest days since Revolutionary War times. That moment, that midafternoon moment was frozen in time by the terrifying work of two men and the two weapons of mutilation they constructed, planted and detonated in the middle of a massive crowd. That moment, 2:49PM, April 15th, 2013, was the last moment that 3 innocent victims witnessed and the moment that hundreds of others will associate with the physical and mental pain that it brought them.
But as we think back, as we remember that terrible day, we did not know any of that. Within minutes of the attack, it was reported that 2 explosions had occurred at the finish line of the Boston Marathon. Many reports said that it was due to an electrical malfunction but as helicopters flew in and began grabbing aerial footage of the affected areas, the sidewalks stained with blood and littered with mangled bodies it soon became a pretty obvious fact that this was no accident. These explosions were ones set off with an intent to injure and maime.
As they recognized this, many medical personal and even more unassociated bystanders rushed to aid those who were injured. But for those not immediately dealing with those who were felled by the blasts, they had their own problem to deal with. At 4 hours race time, roughly 5,000 runners were still on course unaware of what had happened at the finish line. As they quickly surveyed what had just taken place and then began to realize the possibility of additional attacks, the decision was made to end the race right then and there. 8 minutes after the bombs went off, a police lockdown was set up around the finish line and many runners were actually stopped by police forces near Commonwealth Avenue.
Across this, the metropolitan center of New England, confusion and fear ran rampant. The Boston Bruins who were scheduled to play a game against the Ottawa Senators cancelled the game less than an hour and a half before it was scheduled to begin and most everyone in and around the city began frantically watching news outlets devoted entirely to the crisis. They desperately tried to contact their loved ones.
But elsewhere, the brutality of the bombing was seen not through a TV screen but instead first hand by doctors. In the end 264 people were transported to 27 Boston area hospitals where injures caused mainly by nails and what were described to be metal ball bearings inserted in the bombs were heroically dealt with by doctors at some of the best hospitals in the world.
But for far too many, medical care could only go so far. Upwards of 16 people lost limbs as a result of the bombing, even more suffered severe burns and countless others needed blood transfusions to save their lives.
But in Boston, this week of terror was not over. Less than 4 days later, news outlets once again lit up with stories regarding the terrorist attack in Boston. This time however, the sounds these stations were relaying to their viewers were those of gunfire. To provide background to this aspect of that week, things started around 10:30PM when it was reported that an MIT police officer had been shot and killed in his vehicle by two unidentified men. Going chronologically, this rampage was updated about a half hour later when a Chinese entrepreneur was carjacked near Boston University. According to a later report done by the Boston Globe, the man was approached by two younger men wearing black hoodies. They told him that they would taking his car and not to resist because of one thing. They were “the Marathon Bombers”. Over the next hour or so, the bombers and their hostage drove back into Boston where they forcibly withdrew 800$ from the man’s bank account and then released the man at a Shell gas station about 15 minutes after midnight.
But for these bombers, the icy grip of terror that they held over this town would soon be forced to cease in its existence. As it stood, the owner of that car left his cell phone on and in the car with the bombers. After escaping, he rushed to a pay phone where he called 9-1-1 and notified them that his car had been stolen by people claiming to be the bombers. Using a stunning blend of technology and brains, the FBI (who had taken over the investigation the day before) located the two brothers and dispatched an army of SWAT and local police officers to an urban neighborhood in Watertown. At 12:45 AM on Friday April 19th, the two men opened fire on police officials, discharging hundreds of rounds of ammo and hurling several “grenades” and at least one additional pressure cooker bomb at officers.
For a little less than 15 minutes, those officers and the bombers traded an estimated 200+ rounds of ammunition, awakening those within immediate earshot of the firefight and plunging them into a state of confusion and terror that seemed out of place in such a peaceful part of this country. For those not within earshot of the standoff, they were provided with a harrowing bout of news coverage and conflicting stories set to explain what was happening at that moment. Even by mid-morning we did not know for sure what was happening. According to some, the bombers had robbed a convenience store and were confronted by police officials who did not know who these men were quite yet. Then there were rumors that the bombers had been camped out in Watertown and that officials had raided their home. And yet, the overall consensus was that however all this happened, there had been a gunfight in Watertown, at least one police officer had been injured, one of the bombers had been killed and another had fled the scene.
And then, at roughly 9AM, Governor Deval Patrick did the unthinkable. Using reverse 9-1-1 calls, Patrick ordered residents of Watertown, Allston-Brighton, Boston, Belmont, Brookline, Cambridge, Newton, and Waltham to shelter in place, meaning that they were not to open their doors to anyone except uniformed police officers with official identification.
For nearly 12 hours, it was illegal to go anywhere in the biggest city of New England and so we all sat a watched the news, stewing in our fear and wondering what more could happen to this city.
As the day went on, we learned about that MIT officer killed by the bombers (Sean Collier) and watched as the story about this whole situation began to solidify. However, the citizens of Watertown were once again startled by gunfire around 6PM when officers located and worked to arrest that one surviving bomber who was quickly reported to have been hiding out in a boat in a Watertown resident’s back yard. This time, the violent response by Tsarnaev was minimal as after being pelted with a volley of shots and at least two flash grenades designed to stun Tsarnaev, he eventually gave up but still did not leave the boat. It would take an close to 2 and a half more hours before a negotiator managed to get Tsarnaev to leave the boat.
For Boston residents, what happened during those 5 days in April changed their lives forever
For Martin Richard, Lingzi Lu, Krystle Marie Campbell and Sean Collier however, their lives would end during that span.
For their families, their city and this country, the theme of the ensuing, months and even years was and will be…Healing: Before the lockdown was initiated, before the names of those killed in the attacks were listed, Barack Obama addressed the country. “The American people will say a prayer for Boston tonight,” he said. “And Michelle and I send our deepest thoughts and prayers to the families of the victims in the wake of this senseless loss. Today is a holiday in Massachusetts -- Patriots’ Day. It’s a day that celebrates the free and fiercely independent spirit that this great American city of Boston has reflected from the earliest days of our nation. And it’s a day that draws the world to Boston’s streets in a spirit of friendly competition. Boston is a tough and resilient town. So are its people. I'm supremely confident that Bostonians will pull together, take care of each other, and move forward as one proud city. And as they do, the American people will be with them every single step of the way.”
On that day, in a cavernous Boston church, the President of the United States of America addressed this city and tried not to end the pain its people felt that day but instead tell them that this nation was praying for them, wishing for them, and questioning just as they were what had just happened.
As the terror of April 15th melted away, the brutal scene at the finish line – those sidewalks stained with blood, the barricades beside the street scattered as those trying to help the fallen frantically tried to scale them – was cleaned up and the sterile, official process of crime scene investigation was initiated, we were left with one piece of this tragedy that would take much longer to eliminate and frankly might never be eliminated. That is, the feeling of loss and sadness unique to tragedies like these. In those days and weeks after the Marathon Bombing, the days and weeks after the Watertown Shootout, the names and the stories were highly prevalent in Boston. We learned about 3 people, Martin Richard, Krystle Campbell, Lingzi Lu and Sean Collier and said that these people were too young. We heard about people who lost limbs, had their lives changed forever and felt sorry.
For many, once the 9 block area around the finish line was reopened a few days after the attacks, the finish line became sacred ground. People from across New England flocked to Coply Square to show that they wanted to respect and honor the victims of these attacks, slowly creating a massive shrine to those that fell in Copley Square. Leaving behind sneakers inscribed with messages of condolence, baseball caps bearing similar messages and massive poster boards where people wrote messages to anything in relation to the attacks, we saw a long, winding example of how tragedies like these bring out the best in many.
As church services continued to ring out across Boston, as the sports world joined together to honor the victims, there were no grand instances of people tarnishing this healing with bloodthirsty calls for vindication and war. We cheered when Djhokhar was captured the Friday after the attacks and moved on with our thinking of the victims. Though we boycotted Rolling Stone when it published its article and cover about the bombings, months after the attacks, there were no riots and once again no consuming anger. In Boston we are tough but there was a recognition in those days that anger was what drove these brother’s to terrorism and therefore was a feeling without place in the minds of those trying to cope with the attacks.
As the people of Boston now find themselves 1 year removed from that week, they know that forgetting those events would be dishonoring to the 4 people who died and hundreds more who were injured. Instead, they, we understand that remembering, refusing to forget those emotions is the path this tough town must take.
For years to come, endurance will be an emotion annually felt throughout Boston and the sports world as this grand race is run again and again. At the same time, the race will from now on also serve as a reminder of our toughness and our weakness, further healing what will never completely vanish. All that we may hope is that never again we feel the emotion of terror that we felt that day.
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