The finish line at the 117th Boston Marathon was filled with horror Monday instead of celebration. (Getty Images)
Two New Yorkers who were at the Boston Marathon shared their shock that a beloved race could turn so bloody.
Steve Lastoe, founder of NYC Runs, was at the Boston Marathon today, along with at least 50 people he said he knew running the race.
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Just yesterday, he said, he spent hours helping out at the finish line. He left the course today shortly before the bombing.
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“We were just kind of shocked,” he said. “We’d left the course 20 minutes before, so when it was an otherwise wonderful, beautiful Boston marathon.”
Nearly everyone they know has been safely accounted for, he said.
David Alm, the group’s communications director, has run the race six times, and came this year for the first time solely as a spectator.
“I have a very deep connection to the race,” he said. “It’s my favorite marathon in the country, in terms of its course and its history.”
He has crossed the finish line where the bombing occurred half a dozen times.
“I can put myself in the position of those runners very easily, and I can’t even begin to fathom the terror that they experienced,” Alm said.
Both said the Boston marathon is a favorite for the New York City running community.
“This is a race that people pilgrimage to as runners,” Lastoe said.
As far as New York races, he said organizers of large races might begin to reconsider bag checks.
But ultimately, he said, “I don’t think it’s going to change dramatically other than it’s a part of our shared history now.”
