On Monday, about 100 runners participated in #BostonStrongarParis, part of a worldwide event to show our solidarity a week after the Boston Marathon bombings. There were Americans living in Paris, French people who have run the Boston Marathon, visitors from Boston who heard about the event, a French charity group Jogg.in that works with runners, serious runners, casual runners, and even non-runners who joined in the casual 5k along the Seine from Bastille to the Tuileries Gardens to show their support.
When Bryan found out about the international event, he emailed me to ask if I thought anyone would show up, especially on a Monday. We both figured we’d get a dozen if we were lucky, and he planned a route that wouldn’t interefere too much with pedestrians or cross too many intersections. When dozens, then over 100 people RSVP’d, we were all surprized and thrilled.
As people arrived on Monday evening, meeting each other and swapping stories, Bryan handed out blue and yellow ribbons to pin to our shirts or tie to our running shoes. Some people made their own signs. I wore my cowboy hat with the American flag (which was part of my cowgirl costume for my first marathon). We were a little nervous the cops would shut us down for not having a permit to assemble such a large group, but we had no problems in the end.
The weather gods were smiling on us (for once!) and we had a lovely run along the Seine, with a lot of cheering and even a few runners who joined in along the way. We had a photo stop at the Pont des Arts, then gathered by the Orangerie in the Tuileries for a moment of silence. After more group photos, we all got to enjoy fresh juice donated kindly by Bob’s Juice Bar.
It was such a great event, and brought together a wonderful group of people, old friends and new. Lindsey Kent came along to photograph the event (all of these pics are hers), but many, many more pics are on the FB event page, and Pavement Runner will soon have a compilation of all the #BostonStrong runs on his website. You can also watch the Jogg.in video below with me in my silly hat:
#BostonStrongParis – Run for Boston’s Tragedy par flomotionprod
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