Finally today (May 1) I find the time to sit and type up a report. It's been over 2 weeks since that eventful day. My emotions were too raw, too much to process at the time. This 117th Boston was to be my 6th and last Boston for the next 3-4 years because I will temporarily retire from marathon running to serve a 3 year mission for my church. Of all the marathons I've run, Boston is my husband's favorite. He loves Boston, the seafood, the people, family and friends. My son, Eric, a podiatrist in his 2nd year of residency at the Cleveland Clinic volunteered again as a medic; and like last year he was assigned to the finish-line med tent. My daughter, Larissa, and her friends, Beth & Julianne, decided at the last min to fly into Boston (after running their Blue Belle 10K in TX on Sat.) to cheer me and play tourists here and New York. I was so looking forward to seeing them and also going to visit Eric's family (my grand babies) the very next morning after the race. I seriously had not given much thought to the race. I just wanted to enjoy the whole run and soak in all the things that make Boston Marathon SO special, wonderful, magnificent, to savor the time spent with my family and friends.
Woke up still sleepy but feeling pretty good on race morning. After hubby gave me a blessing of a safe and joyful run, I went down to breakfast as planned at 6:15. A few min. later RAD came down. She is SO ready to have a race of her life, her very first Boston. Am so excited for her. :) Then came TJ and this was to be his last and final marathon. It made me kinda sad to think that he won't be running any more marathons with me. Finally Lowell came down with only his running clothes on, no jacket, no bag...he was locked out of his room...silly boy! So, RAD and I decided to leave the boys and walked to catch the T to Boston Common for the bus ride to Hopkinton. I have never seen such long lines, like a maze, RAD and I could not find the end of any of the lines. Finally we merged into one with friendly people to chat with. I think our bus driver was slow because I do not remember the ride being this long and we were dropped off way at the back of the school. But it was fun visiting with our seat mates, Martin, the Irish gentleman and a first time Boston girl. As a 5 yr Boston veteran, I knew where the shortest pop line is. It always brings back memory of when Teena and I were there years ago and accidentally opened a "vacant" door only to find a surprised occupant inside! Hehe! :) With one pop visit out of the way, we made our way to the designated meeting place, the "It All Starts Here" sign. Amidst the huge huge crowd in this nosy excited athlete village, we stood and paused for a moment of silence for the victims of Sandy Hooks. 
Donna Pizza is a cousin of Karen Beeston (my running partner and friend back home). I hardly remember what she looks like; but she found us. So, after RAD met up with Paul, we bid them good luck and goodbye, Donna and I decided to stay together since we're in the same corral and wave. Donna and I sat waiting at the village. We wish KarenB was with us. We missed her. We stood in the slowest pop line ever, seriously for 45 min. we did not
move. Finally when the MC announced, "Wave 3 people need to make their way
to baggage drop off now!", everyone scattered, there was no wait, no
line, no toilet papers! :) With the crowd gone, I saw Lowell, TJ and
Lowell's niece Karen Tree a few feet away shedding their clothes. I
took Donna over there to introduce them. (KarenT is Lowell's niece. I ran with her and Lowell last year 'till mile 17 on that historically hot day). Then after a few more kodak
moments, we finally left the deserted village to drop off our bags.
KarenT, me, DonnaP on our way to drop off our bags and the happy march to our corral. The five of us started together and did a pretty good job keeping track of each other. With Lowell's silly shinanagan, we soon lost him and TJ around mile 5. I originally wanted to stay with TJ, this being his last marathon, especially with his heart issue; but soon found myself having so much fun with Donna and Karen that I just let them dictate the pace. I did not look at the watch once, only the clock as we crossed each timing mat.
Donna and Karen are so much fun! :) We lost Donna around mile 12. So it's just Karen and I, looking for her family who were cheering along the route. We'd stop and take pictures just like last year.  At Wellsley, I ran along the barricade, slapping hands with the girls, reading their clever signs, feeding off their incredible energy. At the end of the "kiss alley". I saw a little boy about 8 yrs of age standing stalwartly next to his parent, I went over and kissed him on his forehead. I could hear: "Oh, how cute!" uttered from behind. :)
What a perfect day, cool temp, partly sunny sky, slight breeze which turned into a bit of cold headwind during the last half. I was having a great run. We took a swig of gatorade/water at every station. I gu'd at mile 7, 13, 18 and 23. Everything was clicking along smoothly. I didn't walk one single step on the Newton hills. In fact, I lost track of Heartbreak until I saw the big 'ole balloon arch announcing Heartbreak Is Over! :) I did stop a couple times to take pictures for Karen and her family and jogged to wait for her when she stopped to use the pop. I did not care for time or pace! :) We leap-frog'd with a guy dressed as a chicken. When people cheered: "GO! chicken!" I'd yelled back: "He's a rooster!" We finally passed him for good after Heartbreak.
Everything felt great. No pain, not even a hint of cramp. Having a TERRIFIC run! :)  The backside of Heartbreak is my favorite with the crazy energetic Boston College kids screaming their heads off. One kid slapped my hand so hard that it'd about yank my arm off the socket. My hand hurts from all the high-fiving!! :) The last 5K was AWESOME, I was feeding off the energy of the
spectators. Total strangers cheering SO LOUDLY with enthusiasm and
electrifying energy, reaching out to touch you, like you're a rock
star. I LOVE BOSTON!!!! :)
Running strong and happy with a mile to go! :)  Singing Called To Serve Him in my head, I was running so happy and thought to myself: "I'm gonna to see my hubby and daughter in 5 minutes. They'll be so surprised. I may go over to give hubby a kiss and my daughter and friends a hug!" Such happy thoughts, positive tunes and springy strides all came to a halt at Mass. Ave.  About a half mile after we passed the Citgo Sign, Karen ran up to me and said her husband just called and told her to not finish the race, there's some kind of explosion at the finish. I looked around me, the police did not show any sign of concern, the National Guards marching along in perfect strides, everyone is cheering. I said to her: "It's probably some kind of Patriot Day (or heaven forbid, tax day) celebration or re-enactment of the Revolution War. This is Boston, baby! I'm having the best run ever and nothing is going to stop me from finishing. In less than 5 min. I'll cross the finish.
Then suddenly motorcycle cops sped by, and wham! with less than half mile to go, we were stopped! There was no sign of panic, just confused look, no explanation, just following orders. We just stood there not knowing what to do. I did not stop my watch thinking the cops will re-route us any minute. Karen confirmed that there was an explosion near the finish. I immediately pulled out my cell phone to call hubby, Eric, Larissa only to get busy signals. I started to cry worrying about their safety and wanting to go to them. A kind Japanese lady next to me comforted me saying, "We'll be alright. It's safer to stay together. We can keep each other warm by staying close." Karen noticed her Altra shoes and asked how she likes them. We started to talk about our families. She's from NY and has a daughter in her 3rd yr of med. school, same age as my 3rd yr med school son, David. Then her husband and daughter appeared out of nowhere and they started hugging and crying. The sight of her reuniting with her family intensified my worry and need to find my family. I told Karen we should just get out and go to the finish, we're SO CLOSE, my Garmin read 25.85 miles. We're right there, right on Hereford, then left onto Boylston where you'd find yourself in "runners heaven". As runners, we have only one thing in mind, cross the finish!!!
We sneaked out between the barricades crossing Mass. Ave. but the police stopped us from going onto Boylston. Having stood for I don't know how long, may be 10 or 15 min., our legs froze up, we could not run, so we just walked down Commonwealth (which parallels Boylston) eastward on the tree-lined dirt median. I was freezing, calling on my cell phone continuously. Karen's cell phone died so she used mine. We could only receive text messages but could not reply nor get any calls thru. Then suddenly, a call came in from Ann Takasaki. She's my sister-in-law's sis-in-law from Spanish Fork. She wanted to know if I finished and if I was ok. I asked her to call my husband for and let him know I was ok. Then as quickly as her call came, it was intercepted with numerous text messages all expressing their concerns for me. We finally reached Boston Commons at Arlington where we could turn south. As we crossed Boylston, I could see the clothing bag buses lined along the streets. But there were barricades and cops not letting us through. The cop said the bags would be put in boxes and taken to Boston Commons. I saw no such activity at Boston Commons; in fact, the whole place seemed rather deserted. Karen wanted to go back to her hotel, Westin at Copley Square. So I told her I'd take her there and may be use the bathroom and the phone there to call my family. We didn't make it to Copley Square at all as there were cops blocking every which way. We finally went inside a dark and empty restaurant, the Melting Pot, to use the restroom. This restaurant is across the street from the Paul Revere Hotel (previously the Radisson) where we used to stay for the last 4 years. I felt prompted to walk down Stuart where the family reunion is located (with the first letter of the family name alphabetically posted on lamp posts). Karen followed me to the family letter L at the intersection where barricades again stopped us from crossing. The place is deserted except with a handful of volunteers. This would normally be crowded with families and runners hugging, taking pictures, with happy smiles and joyful exhaustion on their faces. Not today, I stood in the middle of the eerily quiet street shivering, crying, worrying about my family. Some random person gave me his space blanket and a lady urged me to seek warmth inside the building. I just wanted to stand there and wait for my family who would surely show up. The lady said, "this is now a crime scene, everyone is evacuated or ordered out, you'd be safer going inside that "store". So Karen and I went inside, she immediately headed over to the counter to use their phone. Suddenly my phone rang, it was Teena. We both cried. She was relieved to know I'm okay. I was so so glad to hear her voice. She asked me if I knew what happened. I really didn't know any details. Someone tapped me on my shoulder and had me turn around (I was facing the door, looking out in the street to make sure I won't miss seeing my family if they come). Then I realized I was in a bar and there were TV sets on the wall. There were people sitting at the bar but no one was talking, all glued to the TV. I saw the headline streaming across the screen: 2 explosions, 2 dead, 63 injured. I told Teena we had to hang up so I could call Larry. As soon as she hang up, I heard Larry's voice, he kept saying hello hello hello but could not hear me. So I hang up and dialed him and this time my call connected. I was SO happy to hear his voice. I kept telling him: "Don't hang up! Don't hang up! Stay on the line! Stay on the line!" while I told him exactly where I was. Turned out he and the rest of the family were standing at the traffic "island" on Stuart/Arlington, not too far from me. I told him I would walk towards the Revere Hotel and kept describing what I just walked past. In the excitement of connecting with him, I forgot to say goodbye to Karen. I figured she would call her husband from the bar and get back to her hotel. I was so so so relieved to see everyone safe and sound. Eric has blood stain on his clothes. We hugged and cried. Larissa gave me her hoodie, Beth gave me her scarf to keep me warm. They texted RAD to tell her where we would meet up, back to Boston Commons at the corner of Arlington/Boylston. Hubby tried again to retrieve my bag as we saw throngs of runners exiting the barricades with their bags; but again denied entry by the police. While waiting for RAD, suddenly Lowell and TJ showed up on their way to McDonalds (a post-race ritual of Lowell's). You have no idea how happy I was that everyone in our party is safe and reunited. I have lost track of time. In fact I had no idea when the bombs went off and when we finally reunited. Later on from looking at the times of my cell phone calls, I realized it took us till near 6pm (over 2 hours) to reunite. When I later saw the clock time at 4:09:43, I shuddered to think that would've been my BQ time and had I not been staying with Karen taking picture, goofing off, I'd be tempted to run a BQ time today! Hubby, daughter and friends were standing outside Prudential Center (where he always waits, cheers because it's right outside the mall where he could grab a bite to eat after watching the Elites come in). They saw the explosions across the street. Eric saw and treated the wounded in the med. tent which immediately turned into a triage unit. Again so grateful we were all safe!!!
We got separated again when everyone went different ways, Lowell to McDonald, me and TJ to Four Season to use the bathroom (but was denied entry, as well as at Park Plaza, guess all the hotels were under locked down), hubby to clothing bus, Eric being interviewed. I went back to where we last saw each other finding myself alone again and just started to cry. A local TV station (abc) camera man and reporter interviewed me. I don't think they aired the interview because I was kinda mad at Four Seasons for turning away a distraught, cold, little lady runner seeking only to use their restroom, all in the name of "protecting their registered guests." C'mon, this is Boston, strangers would give the shirts off their back to help you; but apparently not the ritzy Four Seasons! I won't be staying there anytime in the near future, ha! :) Larissa came back to find me and we walked to McDonald's, the only place not under locked down. Teena called and told me that they're releasing runner's bags at Berkely. So we sent hubby to get mine, Eric to get Lowell's and TJ's. I did not realize I had not eaten since breakfast and the last Gu at mile 23 until Beth bought me a burger and milk (with chocolate syrup, they ran out of chocolate milk). Finally we were able to get on the T outbound to our hotel. The hotel staff had pizza and salad for us in the lobby/lounge. For the first time I saw on the hotel TV, images of the bombings and victims rushed to the med. tent and I just broke down. I did not want to look at those images, I did not want to eat. I just wanted to go up to the room. I took a warm shower and the first call came from Gary, my bro-in-law, from Hong Kong. He was supposed to be running this Boston but didn't due to work. We talked to Gary, still not believing what had happened. We sat down and numbly watched the day's event unfold on TV, so surreal. It broke my heart to hear of those killed and severely injured. RAD came with a bag of chips and salsa and we sat numbly. I had bazillion text messages and missed calls and voice messages from friends and family expressing their love and concern. I just want to thank everyone here on the blog and all our friends and families all over the country and across the seas for your many kindness, love, thoughts and prayers. It has sustained me over these last 15 days. I will never understand such evil acts of violence to destroy innocent lives. My heart goes out to the victims and their families. I pray for them as well as for the perpetrators' families. How great the loneliness, hurt and hate they must've felt to cause others such devastating injuries and loss. If only each of us know that we are all God's children, that we ARE family. If only we would treat each other as sons and daughters of God who loves us. If only...
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