What is your Boston?

   Today marks the one year anniversary of the Boston Bombings. I was watching the race and "after coverage" live while chatting with my running friends on Facebook when the bombs went off. Transfixed, I stared at my computer screen. How could this happen? Why do people do this sort of thing?
   Over the past year I have read numerous blog posts, articles, and stories about people's Boston experience. I never ceased to be amazed by the determination each of these people have to keep going. Keep running. Keep trying. To return again to Boston. To prove that they were not scared away from what they loved most. All of their hard work will pay off next Monday when 9,000 runners will once again run Beantown. For some, it will be to finish what they couldn't last year. For others, it will be to prove that nothing will stop Boston. I think there is a live lesson there.
   For runners, Boston is the end all beat all. That is the race for the best of the best. I know a lot of running friends chasing a chance to qualify for Boston. They do grueling speed training, climb insane hills, and Plow through extremely long and sometimes painful long runs. All this so that one day they too can run Boston. The bombings didn't stop their desire to qualify. In fact, for some, the blasts only intensified their desire to run. However, not all of us will go to Boston.
   I will never be fast enough to qualify. I could do all the insane training I wanted, but my body just isn't built to be speedy. And I am okay with that. But I am still chasing my own Boston. I am still trying to get faster race times. I am still trying to build better endurance. But most of all, I am trying to prove that despite my lack of speed, I can do great things anyway.
   My husband and I are the only two people in our families to have ran a half marathon (although my brother is joining our ranks this May and I am so excited for him!). It has changed us. Made us better. Made us realize that with enough work and determination, we could do anything we set our mind too.  Currently, we are training for a marathon. That goal to us, right now, is our Boston.
   What is your Boston? Are you trying to qualify to run in Beantown? Are you training for a different race? Are you trying to quit a bad habit? Lose weight?  I would love to hear what your goals are and how you are trying to reach them.