Honor and remember

Yesterday, one of the most horrendous events in recent memory took place.  A 20 year old man killed his mother in their home and then drove to a nearby elementary school and gunned down 20 kindergarten and first-graders and 6 staff members and then turned the gun on himself.  When I heard the news, as a mother and a teacher, my heart broke.  The grief that so many strangers are feeling in the aftermath of this unfathomable tragedy is real and raw.  The feeling of wanting to help ease the pain of those affected is tremendous.  The solace and healing that running has provided for me inspired me to do the only thing I know how to do to cope with this...run.

My plan for this morning was to run 8 miles, head to the gym and spin for an hour, and then do a nice easy swim.  However, as I was getting ready, a little voice started making itself heard in the back of my head.  There were 20 beautiful innocent lives lost yesterday...run a mile for each of them.  Of course, I said to that voice at first....no way.  I haven't run more than 13 miles in over 2 months (not including my marathon).  But that voice just wouldn't go away.  So I made a decision.  I would run those 20 miles in an attitude of prayer and love...and I would finish.  No matter how long it took me, I would finish.  I knew this would be hard, and would probably hurt a lot.  But my pain and discomfort pales in comparison to the 20 families who will never get to hug, kiss, or hold their little angels again.

I found a worship music station on Pandora and set out.  I broke this run up into 4-5 mile runs.  This made it a bit easier mentally.  I spent the entire run focused on praying for each of those lovely children.  There were times I had to wipe away the tears, but I kept putting one foot in front of another. It was important to me to run for each of them today, so not finishing was not an option.  When it got hard at the end, I just kept my focus on asking God to provide healing and comfort for each family.

May God bless each of these precious children that were taken too soon...

Mile 1 - Charlotte Bacon, 6 years old
Mile 2 - Daniel Barden, 7 years old 
Mile 3 - Olivia Engel, 6 years old
Mile 4 - Josephine Gay, 7 years old
Mile 5 - Ana M. Marquez-Greene, 6 years old
Mile 6 - Dylan Hockley, 6 years old
Mile 7 - Madeleine F. Hsu, 6 years old
Mile 8 - Catherine V. Hubbard, 6 years old
Mile 9 - Chase Kowalski, 7 years old
Mile 10 - Jesse Lewis, 6 years old
Mile 11 - James Mattioli , 6 years old
Mile 12 - Grace McDonnell, 7 years old
Mile 13 - Emilie Parker, 6 years old
Mile 14 - Jack Pinto, 6 years old
Mile 15 - Noah Pozner, 6 years old
Mile 16 - Caroline Previdi, 6 years old
Mile 17 - Jessica Rekos, 6 years old
Mile 18 - Avielle Richman, 6 years old
Mile 19 - Benjamin Wheeler, 6 years old
Mile 20 - Allison N. Wyatt, 6 years old

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/15/sandy-hook-shooting-victims-names_n_2307354.html