Boston Learns to Run Again!

This morning when I woke up I turned on the news and I usually do. ABC news is my choice, mostly to catch Good Morning America. This morning I turned on the TV before 7am for local ABC news and was lucky enough to catch this story, a story of inspiration, of strength, bravery, hope and victory for many.

Boston Bombing Victims Learning to Run Again

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. October 6, 2013 (AP)

By JIMMY GOLEN AP Sports Writer.

 Celeste Corcoran, in her yellow "Boston Strong" hat, navigated her way across the artificial turf on her artificial legs, a volunteer on each arm to keep her upright.

One of her assistants had a pair of prosthetics of his own.

"Normally you walk around and you see everybody with two legs. Especially in the summertime — all you see is legs," Corcoran said, pausing to choke back tears. "It's easy to miss yours.

"But when I see everybody here walking and running, it's OK," she said after a running clinic for victims of the Boston Marathon bombing and other amputees. "I just want to be able to do the things that I did before. ... So many people have my back, I feel like I can do it. I'm trying my hardest to enjoy being alive."

Dozens of amputees showed up at the Harvard athletic fields on a rainy Sunday morning along with their family and physical therapists and other volunteers to learn how to run — or run better — with prosthetic legs. Corcoran, who lost both legs in the explosions at the marathon finish line, wasn't much of a runner before, but she said she hopes that she will someday be able to join in a 5K or fun run.

"I've always wanted to be a runner but I used to get shin splints," she said. "I don't have shins anymore, so I'm hoping,"

The joke has apparently been repeated so often that her daughter is ready for it. Sydney Corcoran, 18, is wearing a matching yellow hat along with ankle-length tights that showed the effects of the shrapnel that scarred her legs but did not require amputation. She was on Boylston Street with her mother when the bombs went off, waiting for her aunt to finish the marathon.

Across the field, a boy with two prosthetic legs, no more than 4 years old, was learning to kick a soccer ball with the carbon fiber blades. Two older boys wrestled playfully while the bigger one played keep-away with the younger's prosthesis.

"The most inspiring stories are at the back of the pack," two-time Boston Marathon winner Joan Benoit Samuelson said at the start of the clinic. "Our motto is 'There is no finish line.' There are always more challenges out there. You people who came out today are the spokesmen for those challenges."

 

To read the rest of the article from ABC news, click here

There was a video as well which was more of what I saw, it was short but to the point and just amazing!

Photo courtesy of FOX News

We are Runners. We Are Strong. We are Boston. We are BOSTON STRONG.

 

-Stephanie