Today's blog post was written by Tim Brazelton. Tim is a senior accounting and economics major at the University of Notre Dame and a student in the Social Foundations of Coaching, a course taught by Play Like a Champion Today Founder and Director Professor Clark Power and Kristin Sheehan.
Monday was a great day for Boston. The Red Sox may have lost, the Celtics were far from even reaching the NBA playoffs, but there was still reason to celebrate. It was Patriots Day, the day of the Boston Marathon. In this especially important 118th running of the Boston, there was a wealth of inspiring stories to add to the celebration.
For starters: the race itself. American Meb Keflezighi emerged as an unlikely winner, beating out a crowd of talented Kenyan runners and finishing the course in 2:08:37, a personal best for Meb. Meb’s win was so surprising for multiple reasons. Not only was he facing a very difficult field that included Dennis Kimetto, the course record holder, but he also won the race at age 39, making him at least 10 years older than most of the field’s elite runners. He separated himself from Wilson Chebet and eventually finished with an 11-second lead. It is rare for an American to win a major world marathon, let alone one who is nearly 40, so Meb’s victory alone made for a special day in Boston. However, the remarkable results continued in the female race, as Rita Jeptoo finished in 2:18:57 to grab the women’s course record. Both races featured amazing runs that helped to create an electric atmosphere for this running of the Boston Marathon.
The Marathon’s 118th running also marked the end of the heartwarming story of Team Hoyt: the father son duo of Dick and Rick Hoyt. Rick, who has cerebral palsy, is pushed by his father Dick in a wheelchair every single race, and they have been a staple of the Boston Marathon for years. Team Hoyt has run over 1,000 races together, including more than 200 triathlons, 6 ironman triathlons, and 50 marathons. The 2014 Boston Marathon marked their last marathon. Team Hoyt’s story is possibly the most inspiring story in all of sports, and shows the human potential for endurance, perseverance, and compassion.
However, the biggest story of the 118th Boston Marathon was the elephant in the room: Boston’s yearlong recovery from the bombings that occurred at last year’s marathon. The bombings were perhaps the largest disaster to happen at any sporting event, and demoralized the entire city of Boston as the entire finish area became a crime scene. Truly, the city of Boston was hit at its core that day, and faced the immense hardship of picking up the pieces and recovering from a blow to one of the greatest traditions in sports. Despite this adversity, Boston clearly took its marathon back on Monday. It took the painful memories of last year’s race and defiantly reclaimed their tradition, throwing away the hardship in a celebration of what makes the Boston Marathon great.
What can we learn from this year’s Boston Marathon? Quite possibly the greatest lesson is the ability to soldier on after times of great hardship. Monday’s marathon showed that is not the hardships that define us, but the way that we react to them and overcome them. Whether it’s Meb’s amazing run in the face of overwhelming odds, Team Hoyt’s perseverance in the face of cerebral palsy, or Boston’s amazing ability to come back in the face of one of the greatest disasters in the history of sports, the Boston Marathon continues to show the world what strength really means.
