{"id":281,"date":"2015-04-19T12:33:42","date_gmt":"2015-04-19T16:33:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bunewsservice.com\/Marathon2015\/?p=281"},"modified":"2015-04-20T01:11:20","modified_gmt":"2015-04-20T05:11:20","slug":"boston-strong-co-founder-to-run-marathon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bunewsservice.com\/Marathon2015\/boston-strong-co-founder-to-run-marathon\/","title":{"rendered":"Boston Strong Co-founder to Run Marathon"},"content":{"rendered":"<link href='\/\/cdn.knightlab.com\/libs\/soundcite\/latest\/css\/player.css' rel='stylesheet' type='text\/css'><script type='text\/javascript' src='\/\/cdn.knightlab.com\/libs\/soundcite\/latest\/js\/soundcite.min.js'><\/script>\n<p><strong>By Stacy Schoonover<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>BU News Service <\/em><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_282\" style=\"width: 160px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/bunewsservice.com\/Marathon2015\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/photo.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-282\" class=\"wp-image-282\" src=\"http:\/\/bunewsservice.com\/Marathon2015\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/photo-420x421.jpg\" alt=\"Chris Dobens\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/bunewsservice.com\/Marathon2015\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/photo-420x421.jpg 420w, https:\/\/bunewsservice.com\/Marathon2015\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/photo-32x32.jpg 32w, https:\/\/bunewsservice.com\/Marathon2015\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/photo-64x64.jpg 64w, https:\/\/bunewsservice.com\/Marathon2015\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/photo-96x96.jpg 96w, https:\/\/bunewsservice.com\/Marathon2015\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/photo-128x128.jpg 128w, https:\/\/bunewsservice.com\/Marathon2015\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/photo-400x401.jpg 400w, https:\/\/bunewsservice.com\/Marathon2015\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/photo-200x200.jpg 200w, https:\/\/bunewsservice.com\/Marathon2015\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/photo-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/bunewsservice.com\/Marathon2015\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/photo.jpg 630w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-282\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chris Dobens<\/p><\/div>\n<p>After raising $837,000 within a month of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings and coining a catchphrase that would inspire millions worldwide, Boston Strong Co-Founder Chris Dobens still doesn\u2019t have closure. So he\u2019s running\u00a0this year&#8217;s\u00a0Boston Marathon.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a decision I made because I noticed everyone else was healing in different ways,\u201d said Dobens, a Marketing Communication major at Emerson College. \u201cSome had to run the marathon, some had to go to the spots where the bombs went off to face it. I never got closure from the incident because I immediately jumped to action. So this is my closure,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Within hours of the bombings two years ago, Dobens and his Resident Assistant at Emerson, Nick Reynolds, created the mantra &#8220;Boston Strong&#8221; in an Emerson College common room. Dobens said they wanted to help those affected by the bombing, and decided to create something that allowed people to donate money.<\/p>\n<p>After putting their Boston Strong design on a t-shirt, they started selling them at $20 each with the goal of selling 100 shirts. Within a month, they raised almost $1 million, through printing the catchphrase on shirts, hats, signs, ribbons and advertisements.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"soundcite\" data-url=\"http:\/\/bunewsservice.com\/Marathon2015\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Dobens-VO.mp3\" data-start=\"19000\" data-end=\"158000\" data-plays=\"1\">Working with Nick was amazing because I already looked up to him,\u201d Dobens said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI miss him so much. I really wish I could see him during the marathon because it\u2019s the moment when we came together and did something. It\u2019s something I won\u2019t ever share with anyone else but him,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Since 2013, the pair revamped their shirts for the 2014 Boston Marathon by partnering up with an artist to add a different spin. They also created a Red Sox championship shirt, a New England Patriots championship shirt and a shamrock shirt for St. Patrick\u2019s Day.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA lot of the shirts may not have the same meaning because they symbolize different events, but the idea that Boston is a strong city in itself and that we are very resilient, especially when we are put down, is shown through the shirts,\u201d Dobens said.<\/p>\n<p>Dobens is running this year&#8217;s marathon with two of his Phi Alpha Tau fraternity brothers, but he said training has been emotional.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ll start running and it\u2019s normal and fine, and then there are those few songs on my playlist that come on and remind me of what happened,\u201d Dobens said. \u201cCrossing that finish line is going to be the most emotional part of this race because that will be the full circle for me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Once Dobens gets his closure, he still plans to devote himself to Boston Strong by starting an actual foundation someday. He said meeting survivors of the bombing and sharing stories and experiences with them really inspired him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBoston Strong has created a very positive impact on my life,&#8221; he said. &#8220;It\u2019s made me feel very thankful for what I have, and thankful for the connections that I have. I feel in a very special place because of it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Stacy Schoonover BU News Service After raising $837,000 within a month of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings and coining a catchphrase that would inspire millions worldwide, Boston Strong Co-Founder Chris Dobens still doesn\u2019t have closure. So he\u2019s running\u00a0this year&#8217;s\u00a0Boston Marathon. \u201cIt\u2019s a decision I made because I noticed everyone else was healing in different [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":346,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"coauthors":[14],"class_list":{"0":"post-281","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-thestories","9":"post-with-thumbnail","10":"post-with-thumbnail-large"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bunewsservice.com\/Marathon2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bunewsservice.com\/Marathon2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bunewsservice.com\/Marathon2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bunewsservice.com\/Marathon2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bunewsservice.com\/Marathon2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=281"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/bunewsservice.com\/Marathon2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":433,"href":"https:\/\/bunewsservice.com\/Marathon2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281\/revisions\/433"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bunewsservice.com\/Marathon2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bunewsservice.com\/Marathon2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bunewsservice.com\/Marathon2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bunewsservice.com\/Marathon2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=281"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bunewsservice.com\/Marathon2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}