Kimberly Moore was on the streets of Boston Tuesday morning, wearing her Boston Marathon T-shirt.
It’s not uncommon to flaunt a T-shirt after finishing a big race, but in the aftermath of the terrorist attack on the marathon Monday, it meant a lot more, she said.
“It was definitely about a statement,” said Moore, an IT analyst for The Nebraska Medical Center. “A lot of people were wearing racing shirts – even people who didn’t run this year were wearing shirts or medals, just to support Boston.”
Boston was supporting its runners, too. Waiting at a curb this morning, on her way to a coffee shop, Moore was surprised when a motorcade of police motorcycles came to a halt to let her – wearing her marathon T-shirt – cross in front of them. They then asked her how she was doing.
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“It’s so emotional,” Moore said.
Moore was on the site where two bombs detonated Monday at the finish line of the Boston Marathon. She had just received her finisher’s medal when the first blast sounded.
“When it first went off, I had no idea what was happening,” she said.
“It’s something I’ll never, ever forget,” said Moore, who recounted the events for The Omaha World-Herald. The newspaper also interviewed Joseph Townley, M.D., an adjunct assistant professor in ophthalmology/visual sciences for the College of Medicine.
Moore said that about four hours before the blast, she and the marathon’s 27,000 other runners had observed a moment of silence for the victims of the Sandy Hook shooting.
“And four hours later . . .” she said.
Ellen Duysen of the College of Public Health was in Boston to see her husband run, but she never went to the finish line.
Duysen and her husband were already walking back to their hotel when she got a phone call from Omaha asking her if they were all right. It was the first they’d learned that something had happened.
Jack Duysen had finished about 20 minutes before the explosion, and he and Ellen never even heard the blast, she said.
“We feel very grateful, although of course we’re grieving,” Duysen said. “This is Jack’s second Boston marathon, and one thing we’ve learned about Boston is they’re pretty tough folks.”
Duysen said she wouldn’t cross Boston off her husband’s race calendar, either.
“We’ll go back in a heartbeat,” she said.
Moore agreed.
“I re-qualified for next year,” she said. “I don’t want this to stop me.”