<p>I had a friend at the race, just found out he is okay. I am wishing he was just about anywhere else in the world right now.</p>
<p>Hi all. Just want to chime in and say try to relax. For those of you who don’t know me, I am a H freshman. There have been reports all around H Square and I am nervous. Got through to family by calling once, we have been texting approx every 5 min to keep an update. Going to withdraw money from ATM just in case. I knew people who were there. Thank goodness all are safe (that we know of for now). </p>
<p>Most people seem generally shaken but OK. But I am from CT and am still shaken up by Sandy Hook, and each mile was dedicated to one of the victims, which hurts me even more.</p>
<p>Trying to stay safe and calm amidst sirens and threats near campus.</p>
<p>Oh, no! One of the dead is an 8-yo child.</p>
<p>CNN reports one of the killed was 8 years old…</p>
<p>I think Obama meant it when he said “We WILL find out who did this.”</p>
<p>I believe him and take some comfort in it.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>No, there was actually a joke or two (I can’t believe we were saying this now) about how it must not have been a very big explosion. But it was a bar, people were being loud and celebratory. The mood shifted almost immediately.</p>
<p>I can’t believe an eight-year-old was killed. This whole thing just makes me so sick.</p>
<p>The whole walk through downtown Boston, people just looked so deflated and horrified (and these poor out of town runners that were trying to figure out how to get back to their hotels – what a way to completely ruin an experience like that) and we were just hearing sirens wailing non-stop.</p>
<p>I was ok, ok, ok until I heard it was an 8 year old. Now, not so OK.</p>
<p>We were there, but left about an hour before anything happened.</p>
<p>We were cheering on my brother-in-law. Lucky for us he’s a fast runner and finished in 3 hours, which means he crossed the finish line at 1 pm. We met him a few blocks behind the finish line in the family meeting area, got some food a block or two away and headed for home.</p>
<p>From what I’ve seen on TV and what I saw when I was there, no runners were hurt. (At least not seriously). The injuries were to spectators and pedestrians on the sidewalk on the side of the street across the street from the VIP stands. </p>
<p>If you are worried about someone who was there, please know that hundreds of thousands of people came to cheer 27,000+ runners - and VERY few of them were near the finish line when this happened. Most were spread along miles and miles of race route. If you can’t reach people, please know that cell phone service in the area has been temporarily been shut off.</p>
<p>It was a beautiful day with so many happy people. Such a cheerful, fun, exciting and wholesome event. Before this happened, we were on a crowded subway with people from all over the US and other countries - swapping information about the marathon and stories of our loved ones who were running. Such supportive fans, such a positive event. </p>
<p>It is so surreal to see all of this on the TV - looking at places where we were this morning and yesterday (we scoped out the finish line when BIL went to pick up his bib yesterday).</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Probably waiting to cheer on Mom or Dad at the finish line. </p>
<p>Just heartbreaking.</p>
<p>We had a friend in the race and saw him at the finish on TV! He was OK, whew.</p>
<p>Someone put it together as … Boston, famous place to protest taxes and April 15th .??? maybe. Still how very horrible.</p>
<p>I am having an almost physical reaction as when the daycare center was blown apart in Oklahoma City. Absolutely sickening. </p>
<p>It’s Patriots Day in Massachusetts, commemorating the start of the American Revolution. I don’t want to offend anyone and it will take time for the answers to come out but this hideous act feels home grown.</p>
<p>One of my nieces was there supporting a friend who apparently finished just before 4 hrs. They are all okay, reported in via FB. Other runner friends have reported that they are okay, also via FB.</p>
<p>Patriot’s Day is a special day in Boston. Wellesley College is at the halfway point of the marathon, and every year we would go out and line the road and cheer the runners on. I remember the first year that women were allowed to run, 1972. When the first female runner reached the edge of campus, you could hear this huge building roar as more and more of us saw her. It still brings a tear to my eye to remember it. It was always a spring festival. The reenactors who participate at Concord and Lexington get up in the middle of the night in towns like Acton and march to the battle, just like the Minutemen in 1776.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I hadn’t thought of that. I don’t know what would be worse.</p>
<p>Friend whose apartment is just a few blocks away from explosion site downtown texted me a little bit ago and said she heard explosions…she said it was the loudest thing she has ever heard in her life. She’s a grad student at Northeastern.</p>
<p>D1, who lives in Boston was home for a long weekend, and we learned about the bombings about 30 minutes before we were supposed to leave for O’Hare for her return home tonight.</p>
<p>When we got to the departure area, it was obvious that security had already been stepped up - police everywhere with bomb-sniffing dogs. Her last tweet before she got on the plane was that they were going to take off as planned, but every single person and bag was being sniffed by these dogs before heading down the jetway for this flight. Since I kept hearing that there was a ground halt in Boston, I assumed she might not leave, but I guess she did.</p>
<p>DS was there, about 2 blocks away, heading away from race. Said he heard the explosion and saw the smoke. Didn’t mention feeling the blast. Everybody he knows is accounted for, thankfully. His group has decided to leave the area rather than spend the night in Boston. Scary, scary.</p>
<p>Consolation, it still gives me chills to remember the roar that went up when Joan Benoit (from my state and in Boston today for the race) ran into the stadium alone in the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, the first woman to win a gold medal in the marathon.</p>
<p>Friend in DC says that, within moments, police presence everywhere. Also, they’re saying the bomb itself was small, but the many buildings magnified the noise. So sad. This thread, fb, etc, are bringing home what a diverse crowd was gathered- kids, families, college students, international visitors.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>My feelings as well. Just a feeling due to the size of the explosion and the bombs were reported as home-made/amateur.</p>
<p>CBS is reporting that a Saudi is in custody. nBC is reporting a person on a visa. But we shall see. Major Hassan was homegrown.</p>
<p>anonymous tweeted the picture of the arrest.</p>
<p>Hope everyone is safe and unshaken. 1moremom, wow. That must have been a scary moment for you! Glad your husband made it across.</p>
<p>My D the marathoner deferred her Boston entry until 2014 earlier this year. She is very shaken up by “what might have been.” The members of her large running group are asking people to wear blue and yellow (the marathon colors) tomorrow to remember and honor the victims of this tragedy.</p>