FREEDOM!!!!!!

Running is a great exercise.  It's a very underrated activity.  We can do it from the moment when we first gain our balance.  Some of us can go fast and some of us can go for miles.  Even as the years increase and the wear & tear persists, we can still do it.  The weather can't stop us, nor the occurrence of a natural disaster.  You can always find another field or road to run.

I've always preferred a sprint to the marathon.  A sprint takes 10 seconds.  The marathon takes 5 hours, or maybe 10.  The latest Boston Marathon has made
me question my preference for the short route.  I've had asthma since I was a kid so long distance traversing wreaks havoc on my lungs.  I'd love to run in a future event for a charity and to honor the victims of the bombs. 

The Marathon is the ultimate test of endurance for a runner.  26.2 miles.  It's really a test of will for athletes accustomed to putting their bodies through rigorous training.  Most of us do an hour in the gym then go home.  Marathon runners do hours of painstaking steps for miles.  I do my running in fields of soft grass to be kind to my joints.  Marathoners usually stick to the streets and tracks.

The people of the 2013 Boston Marathon have inspired me to dream.  They had to endure more than the course.  It's a shame the tragedy they've experienced.
The cowardly, barbaric acts of two thugs I won't dare call human, ruined what should have been a perfect Patriot's Day.  This was once again an attack on Freedom.  The uneducated, uninformed and indoctrinated extremists around the world are misled about America.  They know nothing of our history and culture.  To them we are money, sex, women-empowering, gay and hedonistic people.  Extremists can be found in any country or culture, but their is a common link to them all; Religion.

Amazing how choice and the ability to live life how every individual sees fit can create such hate.  We are free to choose the way we live, but we still have rules.  We still have ethics and morals.  Extremists are never about the truth though.  The facts are irrelevant to terrorists.  The World is vast and everyone cannot be educated.  But Freedom & Kindness travel well.  It's not that simple though.  Changing minds and perceptions takes time.

Running is a symbol of freedom.  Maybe a United Nations Marathon would be a good idea.  I'd run it.