Kids & Family

Local Runner: 'The Cowards Who Did This Will Not Win'

Stan Mickus said one act of evil won't stop the invincible spirit of marathon runners.

Days after the Boston Marathon tragedy, one local runner is still reeling from the explosions.

Stan Mickus, director of marketing and public affairs for the Cross Sound Ferry, brought his family to Boston for the marathon. This year marked his sixth time running in the event.

"The whole thing still seems surreal to me," Mickus said Thursday. "I really didn’t look at any photos of the aftermath until last night, and that’s when the enormity of the event really started to sink in, on how fortunate my family, friends and I were to have been out of that area before the bombings."

Mickus had finished the race well before two explosions at the finish line killed three and injured scores of other individuals.

"My heart goes out to all of the victims and their families," Mickus said. "What is always a festive and positive day in Boston turned into a tragedy."

Reflecting on Boston after the tragedy, Mickus said residents came together. "We spent the entire next day in Boston and it definitely had a post-September 11 feel about it," he said. "There wasn’t that fast-paced sense and it was more somber and congenial. People smiled at one another, held doors, yielded the way on crowded sidewalks and generally seemed to care about how one another felt.  For me, I was just glad to be with my family."

Monday's act of violence, Mickus said, will not cast a pall over future Boston Marathons. "The cowards who did this will not win," he vowed. "The Boston Marathon will continue to be the world’s most prestigious road race, and next year will be better than ever. It’s the greatest single running event in the world."

Event organizers, Mickus believes, will learn from the experience and make things safer for the spectators and runners. 

"Runners, like the people of Boston, have great resolve and they will not be deterred or made to be afraid to enjoy this day because of what happened on Monday," he said.

While he did qualify for next year's race, Mickus said he is not sure yet if he will participate. "If I choose not to run, it will definitely not be because of what happened on Monday; it will be because of other commitments or lack of time to train properly. I ran in the 2001 NY City Marathon, just two months removed from the September 11 terrorist attacks and one week after a threat on U.S. bridges -- the race starts on the Verrazano Narrows Bridge."

He added, "We can’t live in fear.  The event will go on, the City of Boston will be stronger --21 and so will its people."



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