Palo Alto Runner: 'I Will Run the Boston Marathon Again'

The day started off beautiful without a cloud in the sky, Lori Shoemaker began.

Shoemaker, a Stanford researcher, was one of 20 from Palo Alto to run the 2013 Boston Marathon. And a little more than a week after two explosions and a manhunt for the suspects claimed the lives of four people and injured 264, the once jovial event was "clouded in this tragedy," she said.

The 45-year-old realized something had happened as she approached the Massachusetts Avenue overpass. One of nearly 27,000 runners, Shoemaker had just passed the 40-kilometer mark—that's 24.85 miles into the 26.2 mile race—when she noticed a lot of people on their cell phones. 

"I didn't expect anything had happened," she told Palo Alto Patch. "I just told myself 'Just finish the run. You just have less than a mile.'"

But then she saw their faces.

At first she didn't what had happened, except that runners began to be detoured and could no longer go down Boylston Street—the site of the first bomb.

Then the cell phone's service crash causing anxiety, she said, since everyone wanted to communicate with their friends and families waiting for them at the finish line. Eventually, she was able to get a text message through on a borrowed phone. 

"It was a bizarre amount of time until we realized what had happened," she said. "People were getting information from a lot of unofficial sources. Eventually we heard about the bomb...It's was all a blur."

Shoemaker praised the quick and efficient response of race officials, who eventually began to hand out water and foil blankets.

"Who would have thought they would have been prepared for this type of thing," she said.

From Boston to Palo Alto and Back to Boston

Shoemaker was not a stranger to Boston. She lived in the Beacon Hill neighborhood from 2007 to 2009 and maintained strong ties with friends and neighbors, the Canadian said. Right before she moved to Palo Alto, she ran the 2009 Boston Marathon for the first time. 

"Boston was always on my list," Shoemaker said, and that year she ran in support of the Boston Esplanade.

Then Shoemaker ran the 2012 Los Angeles Marathon, and in memory of her mom, fund-raised for the American Heart Association.

For the 2013 Boston Marathon, she decided to run for Friends of Public Garden, her first team effort ever. "They were so wonderful in supporting us and they feel horrible with what happened," she said.

According to Shoemaker what sets the Boston Marathon apart and makes it unique is that people cheer on the runners throughout the course, and that's valuable especially along the hills.

"The little kids hand out cups of water and the rowdy groups hand out beer," she said. "It's such a long tradition for that city and it's what people do, they have a marathon party. It's really remarkable."

Bostonians came to the rescue when the marathon was called off, Shoemaker shared. Local residents brought out garbage bags to keep runners warm since they hadn't gotten the foils at the finish lines. It helped many who had reached a standstill and then felt cold and confused, she explained. 

"You are trying to think logically around mile 25, but you are tired and then you hear all this news," she said adding that someone from the group around her started to cry. Shoemaker herself tried to help by getting the group stretching and moving around.

It also helped to finally be able get on a cell phone, and Bostonians helped there too.

"Anyone with one was more than happy to let runners use it to send texts to family and friends," she said. "You can handle almost anything when you know your family isn't panicked about you."

The Road to Recovery

Shoemaker expressed that while the magnitude of the tragedy at the 2013 Boston Marathon "was quiet different" then what occurred on September 11, 2001, "the fundamental feelings are still there."

She returned to Palo Alto the same night after the marathon and she said, "I was not ready to leave. I was still trying to process everything. It was hard because all of my friends are still out there. You feel like you’ve been yanked out of a situation." 

For her, being in Boston the week after the tragedy would have given her the opportunity to grieve, heal and have a support system.

"It's not a part of your everyday out here," Shoemaker said adding that on Monday, the one week anniversary, someone—noting she was a little down—had asked her if she was okay. "I said, well, 'it's one-week since the bombing.'"

"I had friends share photos with me of the banners across the city and little memorials," she said. "It's part of the healing process."

For people in Palo Alto "it’s easier to move on here."

For the other marathon runners from the Bay Area, Shoemaker—who has experience with post-traumatic stress from previous work in conflict zones for the International Committee of the Red Cross—advises that these memories will take time to subside.

"We all had this very traumatic experience," she said. "This is beyond a natural disaster. They need to know that what they feel is normal."

Preparing for the 2014 Boston Marathon

From her team of four none completed the race, and according to Shoemaker, they haven't discussed running as a team in the 2014 Boston Marathon. But she feels hopeful that they will run it again.

"We built a sense of solidarity. It's the first time we met. We are on 'Team Friends,'" she said and the training, running and the events of the day "really cemented our relationship."

"It may involve running together again next year."

There is no doubt, however, for Shoemaker that she'll run again. 

"I have to. It's really important this next year," she said still unsure that the Boston Athletic Association planned to do with the times of the runners who didn't finish.

But it's something bigger than just the BAA. It's about not letting anyone "scare us off."

"And we are stronger than that."

"I think Boston next year will be an unbelievable place," she said sounding hopeful. "It was wonderful before, but next year it will be a little overwhelming."

Related on Palo Alto Patch:

• Palo Alto Resident: Boston Marathon Bombings Were 'Chaotic'
• Talking To Your Kids About Boston Marathon Tragedy
• The Boston Marathon Bombing And The Immigration Connection
• 20 Palo Alto Residents Registered for Boston Maraton

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