I'm a runner and I'm originally from Boston ), the bombing of the marathon hit close to home, literally and figuratively. My wife and daughter have waited for me at the finish line of every race I have ran. It shakes me to the bone to think they would have been at the finish line Monday had I been running. To see this happen in my home city is surreal. Marathon Monday, or Patriots Day is a holiday that is only celebrated in MA. Schools are closed and most people get the day off of work. People with no connection to the runners come to give words of encouragement to those pounding the way through the newton hills, to reach the finish. It's truly an awesome show of humanity in a city where people are often brash at best and flip each other off in traffic. This cowardly act put a scar on such a pure event. The Sox are religion, and so it's great they are leading the rally cry. Next year the marathon will be bigger and better. Boston Strong!