Northville Resident, Boston Marathoner Finishes Race Safely

People around the country scrambled to hear from relatives and friends who were running in the Boston Marathon Monday.

Nine people from Northville were registered to run in the marathon, according to the Boston Athletic Association website. Leslie Handyside was one of those runners.

"It was a dream of a run; my heart is broken by the attack," she posted on her Facebook page.

A couple of Patch readers posted on Northville Patch's Facebook page that Handyside finished the race unscathed from the explosions. 

Handyside said her family and support crew are "safe and sound." More than 100 people liked her Facebook status update and expressed relief and joy at hearing she was all right.

Handyside and Plymouth resident Melissa Knutsen both qualified for the marathon in Detroit in 2011. Knutsen said the planning leading up to the event was exciting and fun.

She said less than an hour after crossing the finish line two explosions devastated the area, causing three deaths and more than 140 injuries. 

"Leslie and I went into a restaurant to warm up and we heard a loud boom," Knutsen said. "We were trying to figure out if it was thunder and what could it possibly be. Slowly but surely, we started to see people go running by. Minutes later, the TV in the restaurant reported that it had been an explosion."

The two tried to locate their families, she said.

"It was absolute craziness," she said. "With the phones, we couldn't seem to text or call anyone. I couldn't find my parents. Thankfully, I found out they were in a cab. For those people who couldn't get through and find their people I can't imagine what it must have been like. It was crazy enough for us."

Knutsen said the whole thing was a shock and she kept hoping that it had been something less sinister that caused the explosions, like a generator or gas line. 

"We went back to our hotel, and everyone was just lingering in the lobby," Knutsen said. "We had a ton of runners stay at our hotel and everyone was just shell-shocked, crying and watching the news, trying to make sense of it all. This is supposed to be this euphoric, happy moment where you're celebrating, and instead it was just sad and shocking."

The other Northville entrants in the Boston Marathon, according to the Boston Athletic Association website are:

• Timothy Ashley
• James Austin
• Mark Bentley
• Kevin Florey 
• Holly Peters 
• Peter W. Richter, Sr.
• Jessica L. Shehab 
• John Tarkowski

If you know these Northville residents are safe, please let us know by emailing aysha.jamali@patch.com.