Woodbridge Runner Saw 'Black Backpacks Galore' at Boston Marathon

It's only when you start really noticing that you realize how many black backpacks there are in the world, or just how many there were in Boston over the weekend.

Dr. Robert Boyd, a Woodbridge physician who ran in the Boston Marathon on April 15, was at the event early. He came to Boston with his wife Lauren, and on Sunday, the day before the marathon, they did what a lot of runners do: they went to the finish line to have Dr. Boyd's picture taken.

In one of Dr. Boyd's pictures, the smiling doctor is dressed in his running gear. To the left is a couple doing what he's doing, posing for a picture.

To the right is a man, dressed in black and his back to the camera, holding a cell phone and a small brown shopping bag. He has a black backpack, apparently full, over both shoulders.

In another of the pictures is yet another, different man with a black backpack. 

The FBI believes that the bomb that killed three people and maimed scores of others Monday near the finish line was a pressure cooker studded with BBs, nails, ball bearings, and an explosive mechanism, and carried in a black backpack, a Huffington Post story said.

Taking no chances, Dr. Boyd sent his pictures to the FBI.

"It makes sense for people to take a look at all their pictures, not just the ones taken on the day of the race," Boyd said. "These pictures were taken the day befoe the race."

Like the 9/11 terrorist attacks almost 12 years ago, Dr. Boyd recalled that the terrorists had done a lot of dry runs with airports and airplane flights before they launched their deadly plan.

"You can't be too careful," he said.

Boyd, a family practice physician, didn't finish the race because of the explosion. At age 65, the trim doctor says he is probably the oldest Boston Marathon runner in Middlesex County.

He's been running in the marathon for 14 years, on and off, starting in 1969. "Back then, they didn't allow women into it," he recalled.

Boyd said he and the other runners who were diverted after the explosions happened were treated well by marathon officials. They were taken to the basement of a nearby church, fed and checked to see that they were in good shape.

Boyd thought something had happened to get officials to stop the race. He was about five miles from the finish line when the blast went off.

His wife, Lauren, had been at the finish line about 10 minutes before the first explosion. "She went across the street to a shopping mall, and the building shook when the bomb went off," Boyd said. "She asked a guard, who pointed to an exit away from the blast. 

"Some of the shoppers didn't listen and instead went to exits that were right across from the blast site."

He couldn't reach his wife for several hours because cell phone service had been cut off. The couple finally reached one another at the hotel where they were staying, and both were relieved to discover they were alright.

Lauren, though, "was totally shaken up. She's still crying," her husband said.

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