Summary: I had just landed on a flight home from Miami from a relaxing long weekend with my wife to celebrate her 30th birthday when I turned on my phone and received an e-mail from a podcast listener asking if I was ok. At first I wasn't sure what was meant by the message. Moments later as we deplaned and went into the terminal I saw the first images of the explosions at the Boston Marathon on CNN which had happened just moments earlier. More e-mails, tweets and texts started rolling in. My first thought was, is this for real? My wife said to me that could have been us there today. The sad realization then set in and I told her this could be us at any marathon or large sporting event - not just Boston. Upon returning home and continuing to follow the developments, reading the outpouring on Twitter and verifying the safety of those I knew of attending or running the race I made the decision to withhold the podcast episode originally scheduled for today. In the following hours it became apparent to me that temporarily withholding the episode out of respect for those in Boston was not enough. This is not a time to be silent, but rather to comfort, encourage and inspire us all to remain resilient and not let this deter us from running or taking part in our favorite races. This morning I was at a loss at what to say. What can you say about this tragedy? I reached out to Kathrine Switzer asking if she could spend a few minutes with us today to share her story and reflections. She understandably was unable to do so with her travel arrangements and other speaking engagements today. However, she suggested I share with you all her remarks given earlier today. In this special podcast episode, I offer some reflections on the events at The Boston Marathon and also share reflections that were offered by Kathrine Switzer earlier today in a recorded interview with WIXY radio in Champaign, IL. Next Tuesday, we'll move forward with the podcast that was originally scheduled for today. But for now we offer our condolences to the victims, thoughts to the families of the wounded and to the people of Boston. I encourage you to share your stories and thoughts in the comments below.
