It's time that I put my thoughts in writing. I've talked about the event now for over a week non-stop. Everyone wants to know where I was and how I felt then and how I feel now. So I'll start from the last part of my race.
As I came down Boylston I was so excited to see my friends and the finish line. Nothing feels as good as crossing the finish line after putting in that much effort. Since I wore bright pink capri's I was easy to spot (plus they knew when to expect me thanks to at&t's awesome tracking app). I could hear them cheering from the corner so I snapped a pic of them (look for the stripes on the corner). They were a few blocks before the finish line. Look at all the people lining the streets - total excitement and total mayhem. Finding your runner at the end of the race is really hard because it is just so packed.
After the finish line you go right into the finishers area. Again it is huge and packed with runners - once we are covered in our warm blankets we all look exactly the same too. The volunteers take great care of you and just keep funneling you through to the end. Sarah kept mooing since we felt like cattle. I lost track of time and what was going on and just kept putting one foot in front of the other drinking my water and trying not to fall over.
At the very end of the chute the buses are lined up and you pick up your bags. Sherry met me inside and got my bag for me. The girls were all right outside of the bus and somehow finding each other wasn't really a task at all. They helped me get out of my wet clothes and into something warm and then minutes after we took this picture the first bomb went off. It sounded like a cannon going off to us and since we were in Boston on a huge holiday and had no idea of what time of the day it really was at this point I didn't really think much of it until the second blast went off. This is when the sirens started and police ran past us and we heard them say there had been an explosion.
We knew our families would be afraid so started sending texts to let our hubbies know we were safe and together. None of them had any idea what we were talking about because the news hadn't caught up yet. My phone was dead so Jill was texting Todd for me until I could get back to the hotel and charge my phone. The subway was closed down so we walked about a mile back to the hotel. Once we got to the hotel and turned on the news we saw so much more about what was going on. When I plugged in my phone I had almost 30 text messages and tons of facebook messages.
Watching the coverage changed things quite a bit and it all became more surreal. I kept seeing this picture that showed 4:09 on the clock and it took me a while to figure out how that was possible since the clock when I crossed said 4:02. Was I really only 7 minutes past? As I've looked back they must have changed the clock from the 10:20 start time to the 10:40 wave which would mean 27 minutes past my finish. Still a little close for comfort
Sarah's husband took this picture of us as we were coming to the finish line. He is standing right where the first bomb went off.
Then he posted this picture that was on the news - he is in the black visor. WAY TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT!
I'm not a "what if" girl. It causes extra stress and it doesn't help me deal at all. So I haven't spent anytime dwelling on what if situations. I am so grateful that everyone I was at the race with was next to me or back at the hotel and that I knew where they were when the bombs went off. I am so glad that I finished before the bombs went off so that I didn't have friends and family worried about my safety. I hate what happened and I hate that someone would hurt innocent people. I want to help and be apart of helping those affected. And more than anything I want to keep running and go back to Boston because I love that city more than ever. They are strong amazing people and I have no doubt that they will bounce back stronger than ever.
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