'I Will Run Again, But ... It Will Never Be the Same'

Just after 8 p.m. Marjorie Morse was exhausted and relieved to be nearly home after a surreal Boston Marathon experience.

Morse, 57, of Nashua, planned to run again this year – it would have been her 22nd marathon. But she was sidelined by a stress fracture in her foot while training.

She was in Boston Monday with her husband, Bob, to support her niece, Sheila Walsh, of Malden, Mass., who was running in her fourth marathon.

“We'd spent most of our time at mile 18 waiting for my niece when the explosion happened. We ended up on the ramp waiting to get off at the Prudential Center in Copley, and we just had to keep going. As soon as you got in there were ambulances and fire trucks everywhere. We were able to park at the Prudential Center, but after that, that was it,” said Morse.

People were moved and evacuated, no one quite sure what was happening.

Morse and her husband were evacuated from the Marriott where they were supposed to meet her niece.

“We were never able to get to her. She was bused from the tent at the 20-mile mark to a church at Boston College where they brought all the runners after they stopped the race. They took care of them there, and people just helped one another. Someone got her closer to home and she ended up fine," Morse said

“As it was all happening, people didn't know where it was safe and where it wasn't safe, just the not knowing was so difficult. I spoke with people at the finish line who were clearly in shock. One of the many runners we saw was wandering – no cell phone, no money, no clothes. He couldn't get to any of his stuff. I offered him money but he didn't want to take it,” Morse said.

She was impressed by the way people immediately reached out to one another, offering assistance.

“We have heard that people are offering their homes to runners who are stranded, and people in tough situations," Morse said.

Even if she had been healthy and able to run, she would have likely been back somewhere around mile 20 with her niece when the bomb exploded.

“Luckily, I'm slow,” Morse said. “I know I will run again. I will run again next year, but I also know it will never be the same.”