Monday's bomb attacks have prompted running legend and four-time Boston Marathon winner Bill Rodgers, who hasn't run the Hub race since 2009, to start lacing up for next year's 26.2-mile race.
"It gives me a reason to run. I wouldn't run a marathon just for the heck of it. I don't feel the need to do it," Rodgers, 65, said. "There's a reason to do it now."
Though he's put 170,000 miles of running on his body over the course of more than 1,000 races over five decades, the Boxboro resident told the Herald today he didn't think twice about the decision.
Rodgers last ran the Boston Marathon in 2009 after a 10-year hiatus. The local racing superstar claimed Marathon victories in 1975, 1978, 1979 and 1980.
Speaking with the Herald before departing for Roanoke, Va., to run this year's Blue Ridge Marathon on Saturday, Rodgers said the tragic attacks have done the "exact opposite" of what the terrorists intended and have united 45 countries in solidarity.
"I think these terrorists want to strike fear into people and hurt and they did that to a degree, but not to a degree that I think they believed they were going to do," he said. "I think the attitude will be untouched (at next year's Marathon), but they will have to do more security because we got to keep our eyes open real good. I'm for that because we want to catch these people."
Rodgers, who just released a memoir called "Marathon Man: My 26.2-Mile Journey from Unknown Grad Student to the Top of the Running World," said his older brother, Charlie, is thinking of running in the Marathon next Patriots Day even though he's never run a marathon.
"When you see the Marathon, it's incredibly inspiring. It's one of the most overused words out there but in this case, it's completely right on," he said. "We have something special here in Boston. We won't let some punks hurt it."
"I only know that all the runners I talk to feel the same — nothing's going to stop them and they want to be here on the next Patriots Day," he added. "They support the B.A.A. and they want to make a statement as American citizens as well."
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