Relentless

Bill Rodgers Wins 1979 Boston Marathon



It's been 34 years, almost half my life, since I visited Boston, the site of yesterday's terrorist attack near the finish line of the Boston Marathon.  The Boston Marathon had taken place just prior to our 1979 visit.  31-year-old Bill Rodgers, same age as me at the time, had set a new record of 2:09:27 for the 26.2 mile race.  Age was not the only similarity I shared with Bill Rodgers.  Running times were another.  He finished the LAST TWO MILES of the 1979 marathon in 9 minutes and 20 seconds, the EXACT SAME TIME it took me to run ONE MILE at the time. 

 

The most surprising thing about Boston for my wife and me was that we loved it.  Prior to our trip I visualized Boston as a large eastern metropolis full of stereotypically gruff easterners with little patience for visitors from an overgrown cow town like Kansas City.  Nothing could have been further from the truth (except for taxi drivers).  We found Bostonians to be friendly, helpful and patient (except for taxi drivers). 

 

My favorite memories include:

 

1.  Faneuil Hall, a market/dining/meeting place in Boston since 1742.

2.  Being introduced to spinach salads and popovers.

3.  Following the Freedom Trail, a yellow line on the sidewalk to guide able-bodied tourists on a walking tour of Boston's history.

4.  Visiting Bill Rodgers' Running Center.

5.  Taking day trips north to Salem's House of the Seven Gables and south to Plymouth Village and Cape Cod's Hyannis Port, site of the Kennedy Compound.

 

My least favorite memories include:

 

1.  Paying as much to park my rental car as it cost to rent it.

2.  Navigating the narrow streets of Boston by car in pre-GPS days.

3.  Looking in the rear view mirror and seeing a taxi and another vehicle actively engaged in road rage trying to run each other off the road near Boston Commons.

4.  Returning to Boston from Salem at rush hour, waiting in a traffic jam to take the tunnel under the Boston Harbor, making it through after 45 minutes, and then finding myself in the wrong lane and being funneled back through the tunnel in the direction I had just come from and having to wait in the same traffic jam all over again.

 

Fortunately, my memories of Boston do not include bombs and shrapnel and bloodied spectators and missing limbs like those who were in Boston for the 2013 Marathon.  In 1979, Boston Marathon winner Bill Rodgers said "If you want to win a race you have to go a little berserk".  In 2013, a revision is in order:  "If you want to win (or attend) a race you've got to watch out for people who are berserk".

 

In 1979 it was Bill Rodgers who was described as "relentless". 

 

In 2013, I hope that will describe those responsible for finding and bringing to justice the person or persons responsible for the blood that was shed on Boylston Street at the 2013 Boston Marathon.

My prayers go out to those who are suffering as a result of the Boston Marathon bombing.  And my sympathy goes out to Lelisa Desisa.  He trained hard, traveled from Ethiopia and won the 2013 Boston Marathon - the only Boston Marathon in 117 years that will be remembered for what was lost instead of who won.