Mudlatte

I went for a run this morning. While I was running, I thought of early race mornings, cold and clear. I didn’t run The Boston Marathon this year, but I will be running for Boston tonight along with runners across the country honoring the city and the victims of last week’s bombings. Here’s a few reasons why I run for Boston:

I remember a running friend in Seattle in 2006 pointing out that my goal marathon time of 3:45 was only five minutes slower than the BQ for my age group. At the time I was only training for my third marathon ever. Now I’m training for my 16th.

My loving family and husband have spent hours of their own mapping out cheering stations and chasing me around races. My favorite to date: my husband yelling down to me hundreds of feet below the Burrard bridge as I passed underneath it on mile 24 of the Vancouver Marathon.

My brother has run up Heartbreak Hill backwards teasing me while my husband videotaped me huffing along.

My five month-old son has already “run” a marathon, as I ran Boston 2012 two-months pregnant.

During a lot of runs, I throw my hands out like a gospel singer and give God so much thanks that I can do what I do so often.

I run for the friendships and the sisterhoods (you know who you are divas) that have been forged on the road training for races. You people know my pet peeves, my desires and my bowels better than any group might want to know.

I run for those who can’t run and those who run in their honor. The Team Hoyt, Team in Training, Wounded Warrior Project kind of folks. Your care and love for others is never in vain.

I run for those who can’t run because self-doubt sits on their chests like an 800-pound gorilla. If you need help disposing of a gorilla, give me a call and we’ll go for a run.

For two years Boston was not only a race to me, but also where I lived and trained. For all those who ran hills with me in Newton and Summit Ave in Brookline, thank you.

I run because I can’t wait to get back to Boston, to choke up as I hear the roar from Wellesley (it gets me EVERY time), as I pass the CITGO sign, as I pat a Marine running in full gear on the back, and as I make airplane arms rounding the corners at Hereford and Boylston to finish strong.

Boston Strong.

With the introduction of Facebook’s new Graph Search feature, announced yesterday, it’s become more clear that explorers, in person and on the Web, fall into two camps. The self discoverers who go out, dig around, document what they have found; and the sourced discoverers, who research what their broader friend base and the public have to say about their experiences. While there are crossovers between camps, usually people fall into one or the other. Where do you place yourself? And what networks do you use to either share your discoveries or source new ones? What are your discovery habits?