An Upton Boston Strong Story

One year ago today, my husband and I were a couple hundred yards short of the finish line of the Boston marathon hustling to see our 12-year-old cross. He had run with a group from Heartbreak Hill on in…7.5 miles…and was 75 yards from the first… blast with a second blast a couple of hundred yards behind him. A quick call let us know he was okay, then cell phone silence and over 5 hours before we could make contact again and coordinate being reunited with him. We are grateful the group he was with stayed strong, didn’t panic, and was ultimately safe. At his age, what he was doing would have been a great accomplishment. But, with the new security measures, he will not be able to do the same thing this year. In my book, that means the terrorists achieved a small victory. So many will get to run and claim they are Boston Strong next week and that’s fine. But most will not have gone through what we did that day, when being strong simply meant doing what you had to do and enduring what you had to endure. Now 13, he has asked if he will be able to run again this year and we have sadly explained that he will not. So come Monday, we will go fishing and not discuss what we are missing.

Andrew at mile 20

If you look closely you can see Andrew in the group in the back