'This May Make (the Running Community) Even Stronger'

Dozens of runners, from seasoned racers to social joggers, gathered at Nashua High School South for the first Gate City Striders track practice of 2013.

Before practice, an email was sent to runners encouraging them to stand together in solidarity, wearing any Boston Marathon attire they might have in their collection.

For those who didn't have anything, Dave Salvas, who was at the finish line of the marathon on Monday when the bomb went off, brought about a dozen marathon jackets that he's collected over the years.

All around the track, runners represented Boston in their attire, silently paying tribute to the three spectators killed and the dozens wounded in Monday's bombing.

Some wore black race-style bibs handed out before practice, printed with Monday's date above a white image of the city skyline and the words "Runners United to Remember."

Aline Kenney of Nashua and Genia Sanborn of Milford were among runners wearing the bibs. Both ran Boston in 1998. Sanborn said she's not running marathons any more, but Kenney said she would definitely run Boston again, and she's even toying with trying to get a coveted spot in the race in 2014.

Before practice, Club President Oliver McMahon said he was stunned by the news that emerged from Boston on Monday. Not a marathoner himself, though he has completed the Bay State marathon, McMahon said he was watching happily at home all morning before the news emerged mid-afternoon that something had gone horribly wrong.

Given the limited information available at this time about what happened Monday, McMahon said he didn't think it was so much the target of runners per se, as it was the convenience of a large crowd gathered together.

"There's nothing that makes it a better target than some other large gathering," McMahon said.

He said he wouldn't let it deter him from going to Boston to watch or volunteer at the marathon.

"The risk of something like this happening is really small," McMahon said. "It's more likely that a bus could drive off the road and hit a group of pedestrians."

Being the first practice of the year, regular attendees of the program embraced each other as they gathered for the start of  the two-and-a-half to three-mile workout. People spoke in hushed tones of what they witnessed on Monday, before club President Oliver McMahon called everyone together for some words of reflection and a moment of silence for Monday's victims. He expressed gratitude that none of the club's few dozen runners or volunteers was injured in the explosions.

One of those volunteers was Linda Sirois of Bedford.

Sirois and friends had spent the morning volunteering in Athlete's Village at the starting line. She described a perfect morning of excitement among volunteers and runners as those traveling to Boston on foot got on their way.

Looking forward to spending the day in Boston in a jovial atmosphere, Sirois and her friends drove from Hopkinton into the city and were pleased to be able to park at the Prudential Center. They watched the elite runners cross the finish line and hung around there for about 45 minute before setting off to find some food.

Sirois said they landed at Remy's in Fenway, which is where they were when the news broke. Sirois' mom called her, but being in a noisy bar, she looked at her ringing phone and passed on answering the call.

Then a man in the bar showed her the news alert he'd just received.

"You saw this chaos of everyone trying to call friends and family," she said.

She and her friends watched the news unfold for a bit before deciding to see if they could retrieve their car and get out of Boston.

By this point the chaos in the streets was at a high.

"You would just pass people standing on the side of the road crying," Sirois said. "It was awful."

But she also spoke of the sense of community that enveloped the streets around the marathon as people offered blankets, water, a place to charge cell phones.

Sirois said they made it back to the Prudential Center and were told they could go in to charge their phones in their cars, but they couldn't leave. Then the chaos mounted. A loud speaker announcement demanded evacuation of the building.

"We just ran."

Sirois said what followed was even more confusion as police officers told them to get out of the area, that another bomb may have been found.

"There was so much misinformation that day, that's what made it so chaotic," Sirois said. "But it wasn't anyone's fault, no one knew what was happening."

Sirois said they finally were picked up by a friend around 9 p.m. in front of Mass General Hospital. By the time she got home she was so emotionally and physically tired, she went to bed.

When morning came, that's when the enormity of the day hit.

"(Tuesday) was the first time I really saw it on the news, what happened. I couldn't stop the tears."

But by Wednesday, Sirois said being amongst the running community was making it better. Sirois has not run a marathon – she's done 6 half marathons – and was considering Boston before this happened. She said she will still consider Boston, but she's not sure how she would feel approaching the finish line, if there would be fear.

She does know, however, that this event will not push the running community down.

"The running community has always been really supportive and tight," Sirois said. "This may make it even stronger."

Thirty-two members of the Gate City Striders ran in the marathon Monday, seven of them were not allowed to finish.

Arnold, Paul – 3:05:15
Brown, Jeffrey – Not allowed to finish
Burnett, Jim – 3:54:59
Cantara, Thomas – 3:18:22
Chorney, Yuki – 3:17:34 – Fastest GCS Female
Cleaver, Skip – Not allowed to finish
Contrada, Dave – Not allowed to finish
Crane, Brian – 3:14:20
Earley, Erin - Not allowed to finish
Earley, Gregory – 3:47:39
Foster, David – 3:07:59
Gagnon, Ron - Not allowed to finish
Goodin, Ken – 3:55:55
Hallerman, Gregory – 3:21:36
Jafferji, Moiz – 3:01:59 – Fastest GCS Male
Jakib, Azeddine - Not allowed to finish
Joy, Traci - 3:29:30
Joyce, Paul - Not allowed to finish
Kadish, Rebecca – 3:54:00
King, Kristen – 3:44:20
Knight, Robert – 3:53:29
Lawrence, Lisa – 3:35:36
Merryfield, Kelly – 3:56:47
Morasse, Joe – 3:04:34
Murphy, Colleen – 3:59:13
Naro, Brandyn – 3:52:11
Olsen, Kelly - 4:09:27
Raymond, Michael – 3:22:58
Snow, Ken – 3:24:36
Triest-Hallahan, Pam – 3:51:30
Von Pichl, Karalyn - 3:46:12
Wright, Michael – 3:17:23

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