DESCRIPTION:
Written 4/15/13 by Kevin Short
Recorded 4/24/13 at Wild Sound Recording Studio in Minneapolis
Music by Pat Donohue available at www.patdonohue.com
Music by Dean Magraw available at www.deanmagraw.com
Assist Boston Marathon bombing victims by donating to www.onefundboston.org
Music by Kevin Short available at www.cotterstunes.com


As a student at Boston College (1971-75) I cheered on the runners of the Boston Marathon from the front gates of BC on Commonwealth Ave. As I recall, BC is the top of Heart Break Hill, about mile 20.
I took up distance running as a Notre Dame Law Student, and went on to run about ten marathons, all in Minnesota, over the next 35 years.
On April 15, 2013, when I saw the elderly runner in the orange singlet fall to the ground from the impact of the blast, I wrote this song. When I wrote the song I believed that the man in the orange singlet must have been seriously injured or killed. I gave him the name Daniel McCann, after my Uncle who died in infancy in 1922 in NYC.

The fictional Dan McCann of my song is a 72 year old man, running his 40th consecutive Boston Marathon, who contemplates his long life and his plans for the rest of it, over the four hour race, not knowing that the finish line of this race, means his life's race is run.

The real man in the orange singlet, is from Washington State, is 78, uninjured, and planning on running again next year. When I found that out, a week or so after the marathon, a friend encouraged me to change the ending of the song. I declined; it's my song and I'm sticking to it. I thank the real man in the orange singlet for his inspiration.

Kevin Short, Mahtomedi, MN 2013