This week's news and senseless killings have made it difficult to express one's thoughts. To take an annual celebration of Patriot's Day, our oldest and grandest marathon, in one of our country's oldest cities and turn it into bloodshed and horror, is unthinkable. So we endure these horrific and cowardly acts. But what comes out of them is nothing short of miraculous.

The skills learned through athletics were front and center. Cooperation, teamwork, communication. Ordinary individuals doing extraordinary things to help fellow competitors and complete strangers.

We all know how driven runners are to complete their workout, improve their time, set a PR, etc. But these goals were immediately discarded to help someone who was injured. To do the right thing. Over and over again, courageous runners coming to the aid of those in need, complete strangers bound together by the bond of running.

The human spirit, the indomitable spirit, the unrelenting will to overcome great odds is started with lessons learned in the athletic arena. Marathoners are not born, they are made. By regular persons choosing to set an unthinkable goal to run 26 miles and achieve it, is goal setting at the highest level. It's what we do as athletes. It is a way of life.

So as we remember the victims, keep their families in our thoughts. We make the commitment to be aware of our surroundings to keep ourselves and others safe and above all, continue to live our lives with great zest. To quote Abraham Lincoln, "It's not the years in your life that count, it's the life in your years".

May we never forget; may we never be deterred; may we always overcome.

Interscholastic athletics; The foundation of doing the right thing, every time, all the time.