Running... for 32.

There are some moments in life in which you will neVer forgeT where you were when they happened. 9/11 - I was in French class, freshman year of high school. The day my best friend's dad passed away is another. And of course, April 16, 2007 is one of those days for me. 

I had just finished a 6 mile treadmill run at the gym where I also worked, and I was moving on to the weights portion of my workout when someone announced, "Someone was shot at Virgina Tech." Insert heart in stomach here. Not only does my sweet, sweet mother work at Virginia Tech, I have SO many friends that go there. Part of me thought, "there's no way it was my mom"... or even any of my friends. I continued on with my work out. The death toll went up to 2. 


By the time I left the gym (after calling my mother 4 times at this point and texting countless other family members for updates)... there was footage of bloody bodies being carried out of Norris Hall. Shooter unaccounted for. I was on the verge of freaking out at this point. I drove back to my apartment and sat stunned on the couch with my roommate, Emily. 16 dead. More bodies. More cops. 17 dead. At the end of the day it was 32. (My mother had been at a doctor's appointment and unable to answer her phone. Bless her heart, she scared the crap out of me.)


I actually didn't know anyone that was shot, or killed that day. But the tragedy was still there. It didn't just effect Virginia Tech, it effected the whole community. I not only went to school in that community at neighboring Radford University, but I grew up there. You don't have massacres like that in Southwest Virginia. We farm and drive too fast on back roads. We have field parties and love Hokie football. People don't shoot each other. People only die from old age. Maybe I lived in an alternate reality until that day... and at that point, I saw true evil. 




The pit in my stomach didn't go away for days. My heart ached for the families who lost loved ones. I wanted to hug the students who survived. I wanted the community to be as resilient as they showed they were and to bounce back from such an unimaginable event. Virginia Tech is an amazing place. If you've ever been to a football game there and felt the energy in Lane Stadium, you know what I'm talking about. The people are friendly. When they say "how ya doin?" they genuinely want to know! 


Two years ago, my mom (who still works at Tech) and my boyfriend (who is an alum) did the 3.2 for 32 race. It was a beautiful day to pay tribute to those 32 who left us on April 16, 2007. They will truly never be forgotten. 5 years later, it's still hard to believe that something like that happened in the small town that was named the best place to raise kids by Newsweek. 

Today, we are all Hokies. We are Virginia Tech.