Boston Strong: Mark Your Calendar for the 2014 Marathon

Make a Statement in 2014

If the cowards behind the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings believed they would forever strike terror in the hearts of Americans…then they picked the wrong country, the wrong city and the wrong sport to make their point.

The wrong country? Americans don’t back down from threats. As Afghan Taliban fighters learned the hard way, America’s armed forces “run toward our bullets.”

The wrong city? Hardscrabble Boston has kept the spirit of the American Revolution alive for nearly 250 years. There’s a reason why Boston can look New York City in the eye without blinking. Boston is a seasoned street-fighter.

The wrong sport? Distance runners fear nothing. They take on cars, dogs, darkness, cold, heat, physical pain and public ridicule. And they keep coming back for more.

Here’s what we might hope to see at the 2014 Boston Marathon as a result of this terrorist’s triple miscalculation: at least half a million people from around the nation and the world, running, walking, on bikes, in baby strollers and wheelchairs – most of them unregistered to run the race officially – who will clog the streets from Hopkinton to Boston not for hours, but for days.

Those 2014 Boston Marathon participants will be there next year to make a singular statement to all those who seek to hide behind violence:

“We are not afraid. Your cowardice only makes us stronger.”

Join me in Boston in April 2014. Let’s make a statement together.