Boston, April 15, 2013 — My first marathon left me with a strange mix of emotions. I have been incredibly moved by the reactions of those around me. While I feel a great sense of accomplishment for the marathon itself, my heart goes out to all who were impacted by the events that followed.

I offer my account in 2 parts here. First I present my impressions and experience from the disaster; then I turn my focus to the highly positive experience that was the marathon itself.

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After the Marathon

I finished the Boston Marathon in 3:52, about 10 minutes before the blasts. My phone died near the finish line before posting my final live mile split to MapMyRun. I continued through the post-finish track, where volunteers handed out food, water, blankets, and medals.

Right after I picked up my baggage, we heard the blasts. Both blasts sounded like metallic clanging (construction noises?) from where we were standing, far enough (and around a corner) that we did not see. I turned to Nancy and Kheng, who had run with me from the 40k mark. Initially, we didn’t know it was anything serious.

We walked all the way to Park Street (Boston Common) before we had any idea. When they would not let us onto the T, I insisted on calling my parents from Nancy’s phone. My mom picked up my call, then quickly hung up, saying that she was going to spread the word that I was ok.
Shortly thereafter, cell phone towers in the city of Boston stopped working, apparently with the fear that someone might detonate another bomb using a cell phone, or due to heavy call volume. Public transit was closed, so we decided that our best option was to walk back to Harvard, about 4 miles.

We walked back along Beacon Street en route to the Mass Ave/MIT bridge. Kathy Ku joined us along the walk, we ran into Zoe at the bridge and talked with various people along the way.

When we got to MIT, Kathy and I decided to take the #1 bus back to Harvard. It was very crowded on that bus, and people were clearly shaken. I talked with a family that had been on the second floor of the same hotel where both blasts had come from the first floor. They had left their car and worked to get as far away as possible.

I stopped by the Harvard Information Center, once I got back to Harvard Square. It was great to see my co-workers and take a few minutes to post on Facebook to spread the word that I was safe (funny what becomes important). I checked that my official marathon time had been posted online, made sure that family & friends were ok, and decided that I would be on my way. I walked back up to the quad with Sebastian and Nina.

I arrived back in my room to find 160 new emails, 56 new txt messages (once I charged my phone), 52 Facebook notifications, 25 private Facebook messages, 8 new voicemails, 20 missed calls….

I found myself overwhelmed (very positively and very negatively so) with the outreach. I felt incredibly loved, incredibly lucky, and incredibly sad for the disaster that had left Boston scared.

After some time responding to all these messages, I thought about my own sociological research, and I thought about the role of mobile connectivity in such a disaster. I started feeling stressed that I needed to write back to people, guilty that I had left so many waiting to hear from me.

Eventually I decided it was time to eat, so I went down to the dining hall. Going down the stairs was painful – my feet hurt. My legs felt ok; it was the bottoms of my feet that were sore and bleeding from the race. When I arrived in the dining hall, I had such a great reception from many people in the Cabot House community. They never fail to put a positive spin on even the worst of days.

It has taken me a long time to catch up with people who wrote to me in the wake of the disaster. I’m very touched at the extensive outreach, and I feel much closer to the running community and the greater Boston area community.

My own feelings toward the Boston Marathon – toward Apr 15, 2013 – are mostly positive. I have been incredibly moved by the reactions from people around me. Moving forward here, I am focused on the very positive experience that was the marathon itself.

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Running the Marathon

At 6am, I was awake.
At 7am, we gathered in Lowell House for breakfast.
At 7:30, we loaded the bus for Hopkinton.
By 9am, we arrived and settled into the athlete’s village.
At 10:40, we started wave 3 of the marathon.
At 2:40pm, I finished.
At 2:50pm, the explosions happened.

There were so many runners, all in great spirits. It was inspirational to look down, from the top of a hill, and see thousands of runners ahead. Spectators lined the route from the beginning, leaving very few stretches without cheering and music. When we had momentary silence, I certainly appreciated it – I was happy to hear the rhythmic patter of feet.

People came from all around the world, in all shapes and sizes. I met a group of runners from Italy and another group from Australia. I met an old man running his 10th marathon (as he flew past me). I met blind athletes with guides, hand-cyclists, and athletes with prosthetic legs. At mile 15, I met an autistic runner with his guide – he flapped his hands and smiled at me as I passed by.

People ran for all kinds of causes. “For mom,” “For dad,” “For other survivors” written across their backs, Sharpie’d on their arms and legs.

Spectators cheered all along the route and held out their hands for high-5s. They handed out water, gatorade, orange wedges, freeze-pops, Twizzlers, beer, power bars, anything you could imagine. They blasted music and played live. They held up signs and showed off their pride for Marathon Monday.

[[ Edit 4/15/14 — To give a sense of what it was really like for us to run, I have included here a video from teammate Mark Jahnke:

/edit]]

We seriously couldn’t have asked for a better crowd. At mile 5 and again at mile 14, I ran by while “Party Rock Anthem” was blasting on speakers. So I shuffled down the street while still running. Lots of runners shouted out back to the crowd and to each other. Through Hopkinton, Ashland, Framingham, Natick, Wellesley, Newton, Brookline, and Boston, they were cheering.

In a few of those brief quiet moments, it was eerie to hear only the other runners. My feet started seriously hurting around mile 10, but my legs felt fine. I kept on running through the scream tunnel at the half, through Heartbreak Hill at mile 21. The first time I stopped to walk was at a water station at mile 23. I stopped to walk and stretch 3 more times before finishing.

Even when I was hurting, I had this recurring thought: “It’s really important that you finish in under 4 hours.” This was the goal I had set for myself, and I worked for it to finish in 3:52. But I had no idea until after I had finished that I would be so lucky. I was lucky enough to have Nancy and Kheng join me for the last couple of miles, to cheer me on even though I was less than talkative by that point. I ran in the company of some truly amazing people.

Originally, I had trained for the NYC Marathon, to take place 11/4/12. Unfortunately that was the weekend after hurricane Sandy. When that one was canceled, I considered running the Philadelphia Marathon, but I did not get in off the lottery (that marathon was also the day after Harvard-Yale weekend). I was then lucky enough to get a spot in this Boston Marathon. I look forward to training for my second, the 2013 NYC Marathon [[ Edit: I did not run NYC 2013. As of 2025, I have run one other full marathon: Philadelphia 2024. /edit]] . This is a difficult year for marathoners.

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I feel incredibly positive about the run itself and moved by the reactions of people around me. My heart goes out to those who were hurt, as we remember the positive experiences from the race.

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Reflection 4/15/2014

One year has passed, and I look back to this marathon with both fondness and sadness. And wow, what a year it has been. I have moved to Toronto and announced my engagement. And today I reflect on those events of the Boston Marathon, the good and the bad of one year ago.

I aim to capture the marathon experience in this piano composition “Boston Strong.” Listen and enjoy.

Boston Strong (4:15)

My commentary on the song: This recording runs 4:15 (for April 15) and includes a dramatic moment at 2:50 (as the explosions happened at approx 2:50pm).

If you have read all the way through this, thank you for taking the time to read about my experience. I’m always happy to hear from you, no matter how long it has been since we last communicated. Be well out there.