<p>The Boston Marathon is SUCH an iconic event for Boston. We live in the shadow of our bully-ish big brother, NYC, but the Marathon is the one thing Boston truly does better than anyone. It’s the oldest continual marathon in the world, steeped in tradition. Patriots’ Day/Marathon Monday is a state and school holiday. It’s the beginning of spring (and lord knows Boston’s seen some long, nasty winters). There are so many traditions associated with it. And it’s a friendly, supportive atmosphere. Bostonians may not be friendly in general, but we love the runners who come for the marathon. And since it’s been so long since a local had a real shot at winning, we cheer for everyone. There’s no real “factions” who are rooting for someone to lose so a different person can win - we just love them all. People along the route and on the subway are swapping stories of their loved ones who are running, other places they’ve attended marathons… on the subway yesterday a woman from Berlin looked up my BIL’s bib number to see how he was doing (her app had more detail than the AT&T text alerts we had signed up for) while another woman from Maryland regaled my husband with stories of how she and her marathon-running daughter had climbed Mt Kilamanjaro together. Last year we met folks from Colorado and Austria on the subway. It’s just a fantastic day in so many ways. Runners will tell you Boston is the best-organized event around. </p>
<p>And now it will be scarred and forever known for this terror and bloodshed. It’s heartbreaking. But I’m positive they WILL run it again next year. Runners will come and fans will cheer.</p>
<p>lje62—reading Sarah’s text made me cry, something about the kindness of strangers, her desire to share that she was okay. and so ironic that your daughter has the same name.</p>
<p>What a nice girl! Re the little boy: First they were saying his father was in the race, then he wasn’t. First he was running to see his father, then he wasn’t. I think there has been a lot of myth-making going on. (Just like all of the false stories about Sandy Hook attendees.)</p>
<p>@lindz126…I have been crying off and on all day and I suspect I will for some time. I think that because they have the same name that is how the call got to the wrong recipient. @LafAlum84…I have been there in Boston during the marathon for the last two years because of an event for my daughter’s university . I grew up in Mass and love the atmosphere for the marathon and also that I can walk around the city in running shoes and not look like a fashion failure during marathon weekend I love that dirty water</p>
<p>I may be wrong, but at this point, I have no doubt they will catch who did this. If nothing else, the people responsible will talk about it to someone. Overseas groups do not always take credit right away so not hearing anything yet probably doesn’t go towards ruling them out.</p>
<p>Got a text from yD that she was so devastated by the news that she cried almost all day at work and was not able to concentrate (and her boss, aka the Devil Wears D&G, scolded her for that!). Boston is D’s second home town, the marathon was one of the biggest celebrations at her college (scream tunnel), and she probably had many friends in the crowd of spectators - of course she was completely in shock! Her heartless boss could probably never understand that.</p>
<p>lje, thank you for sharing Sarah’s text. She sounds like a very caring, kind person.</p>
<p>cartera, I too have hopes that the terrorist(s) will be found. As for police asking for video and photo evidence, I think it is a pretty much an SOP in this type of an event and by no means a sign that the authorities are grasping at straws.</p>
<p>of course there is no reason to connect these two events at this moment, but this is eerily reminiscent of 911, and the anthrax threats that followed.</p>
<p>Romany, American Airlines was down after their reservations system computers crashed. They couldn’t board anybody because they couldn’t pull up the passenger lists. Fixed now and they’re trying to catch up. Two co-workers have AA pilot spouses who were stuck sitting on the ground somewhere all afternoon.<br>
No relationship to the horror in Boston, thank heavens.</p>
<p>dragon, thanks :). I get the little alerts on my phone so all that came across was that they were grounded. When I clicked for more info, it took me to a completely different story (CNN’s app is almost as bad as CC’s :p).</p>
<p>Romani…the CC iPad app isn’t working at ALL right now!</p>
<p>I do think they will find the horrible person responsible for this. They want every bit of evidence possible…thus the requests for anything folks have.</p>
<p>My prayers to the families affected by this…and to those in Boston.</p>
<p>The Unabomber revealed a lot about himself by sending out the manifesto. And it took years to catch him, with a lot more evidence than the police seem to have in this case. Even if they find photos of the culprit, it’s a long way from a blurry photo of a guy in a hoodie to an identification.</p>
<p>Like MOWC, I am pessimistic for the first time. The more I read about the victims, the more upset I get at the thought that the person might not be caught.</p>
<p>Because no one has claimed “credit”, it is unlikely to be one of the well-known groups.</p>
<p>The fact that they are offering a reward does make it seem like they don’t have an imminent arrest. With all the leads (pressure cooker purchases, camera angles, probably some advancing casing of the location to pick) I’d imagine this wont go too many weeks, hopefully. </p>
<p>I’d tend to agree that its a lone wolf type (unless AQ is getting better at their PsyOps) although I just read that there was a giant bombing of La Guardia back in 1975 and no group ever claimed responsibility for that, so it does happen. 15 people killed and 75 wounded.</p>
<p>There were military people in uniform on the train platform at South Station today at least during both commuting times. The trains were also pretty empty in the morning. I don’t know if people were avoiding the trains or avoiding work altogether. Supposedly Boylston St is closed off as a crime scene from Berkeley St to Mass Ave with no access to buildings (includes Copley Square and the Prudential Center).</p>
<p>The mood in my office was very somber today. I think people really just wanted to be home with their loved ones. I put off some calls as well because I did not want to call people today for trivial reasons.</p>
I love that dirty water</p>