Antwerp Marathon 2013

Some tragedies hit home harder than others and the Boston Marathon bombings hit home harder than any other for me.

To run a marathon requires a huge amount of time, determination, training, effort, good nutrition, sleep, race preparation, anxiety - is that niggle going to become an injury, and so on. Throw in work and a young family and none of the above is possible without the support of family and friends. I am lucky as my husband understands my need to run and puts up with me talking about running all the time and he looks after the kids so that I can train and race. My parents have always been supportive as I have been running and racing since I was a little girl and my Mum even flew over to Brussels to look after the kids when I had a race as part of my preparations. My dear friend Emma even bought me gels and post race goodies over as I couldn't get them here. To think that a little boy was killed, and his family injured, for simply supporting his Dad run sent shivers down my spine.

I was already anxious about running today as it's been over four years since I last ran a full marathon, all 26.2 miles, and my nerves were replaced by a new set of nerves, uncertainty and reluctance to place myself in an environment where a repeat of the events in Boston were a real (albeit very remote) possibility. Security was increased in Antwerp with a strong Police presence felt throughout the course.

I knew that I would still run but I made the decision that I didn't want my family to come and support me today as putting young children in the scenario of a big and potentially panicky crowd of marathon spectators so soon after the events of Boston felt irresponsible. Of course this was a personal decision and I respect all those who decided to have their children at the race today.

I ran because the selfish actions of a twisted individual or group of individuals could not stop me from achieving something significant. I knew it would be an emotionally charged event today but the round of applause after the 30 second silence at the start of the race produced a lump in my throat.
Among the thousands of tweets about the events in Boston, this one really stood out (by Stephen Pelham):

If you're trying to defeat the human spirit, marathoners are the wrong group to target.

Today my thoughts were with all the families of those affected at The Boston Marathon, but particularly Martin Richard, Krystle Campbell and Lu Lingzi. When I struggled I pushed myself just that little bit harder in your honour.

I was overwhelmed with all the support that I received today proving that the spirit of a runner is indomitable and unbreakable.

At the end of the race, as I was walking to collect my bag and have a massage, a tourist came running over to me and asked if she could take my photograph as I was the only female runner that she'd seen. She and her husband were from Boston, here on holiday, and it was important to them to be able to send a photo home of this marathon event. The lump in my throat re-emerged and I struggled to hold back the tears.