West Hartford native Elizabeth Lynch was champing at the bit to compete in her first Boston marathon last year. Ever since she had watched her mother run the race when Lynch was 7, she dreamed of the day she too would run it. At 15, she sprinted Heartbreak Hill with her older brother, as he ran the marathon. Then last year, at age 23, her nearly lifelong dream came true. At the starting line with her mom and brother, she couldn't believe she was finally there.
"My brother met me at the end, but within a few minutes the race was forgotten," Lynch said, as the unfathomable happened—two pressure cooker bombs exploding during the marathon, killing three and injuring approximately 264 others.
She and her brother had arrived at their hotel room right before the bombs went off. Unaware of the terrifying event that just happened, her brother, then 28, went to find their mother to cheer her on to the finish line.
"I can't really articulate how I felt when I realized there had been a bombing," said Lynch. "At first, it didn't seem real because I have never experienced anything that terrible before." Previously, a bombing had always been just a news story from somewhere distant to her.
Recovering in The Aftermath of a Tragic Event
The shock of the bombing left her feeling confused and wary. "I couldn't understand how a bomb could go off at the Boston Marathon," Lynch said. "And as I realized that it was real, I was completely terrified. I was scared of the sheer violence and destruction at such an innocent event, and my own helplessness and inability to protect or help anyone."
When the bombs went off, Lynch was alone. Her brother had gone to find their mother, who was still running on the course with Lynch's best friend. "I was in a complete panic," she said. "Those moments between hearing that a bomb went off and not knowing if my family and friends were safe were the most painful moments of my life."
Lynch's brother found their mother less than a mile from the finish line. Together, they made it back to the hotel. However, Lynch didn't hear from her friend for about three hours. She kept vigil by the television to see if her friend was at the finish line.
"I can't explain how it feels to be looking to see if your best friend was one of the people falling down from the impact of a bomb," she It was the worst feeling."
Eventually, she got in touch and reassured Lynch that she was okay.
After the marathon, Lynch struggled with feeling responsible for putting her cheerleaders in harm's way. "So many friends, family, and strangers in the crowd, were there to cheer me on, to help me get through the race," she said. "I felt so guilty that I had endangered them in a sense, that they had been hurt, or even just in fear, all because they were trying to make the race easier for me by cheering for me. It just seemed so unfair and wrong, and I didn't know how to let go of that guilt."
Though Lynch had finally run her first Boston marathon, she could not feel any of happiness, excitement or satisfaction of fulfilling her dream after the bombing. "It was almost like the race itself, and anything I felt during it, hadn't really happened," she said. "All I could think about or remember was the aftermath."
The Kindness and Solidarity of Strangers
While Lynch was not at the finish line during the panic and confusion of the bomb going off, she felt the solidarity and community among the runners in the hotel, "At that point, being a runner or a spectator didn't even matter – we all just wanted everyone to be all right," she said.
People living along the route on the course began bringing out saltines and water to the dehydrated runners, her mother told her. A stranger gave her shivering cold mom a scarf to wrap up in after the race. Similarly, someone a stranger gave her best friend a bed sheet to wrap herself in as she walked away from the course.
"That is the generosity I was talking about. It is that outpouring of care and kindness after a tragedy like this that shows the goodness in people," she said. "Whether they were runners, spectators or strangers who happened to be there, everyone was looking out for each other, reaching out to help each other."
Eventually after talking about the race, ripples of happy moments from that event began to filter back into her mind. She realized she wanted to celebrate and enjoy the accomplishment of her dream. To do, she mentally separated the whole event into two different days.
Celebrating the Fulfillment of a Childhood Dream
"I just had to think about the race that I ran before the bombs went off as one experience, and everything that happened after as a separate experience," explained Lunch. "It was also great to have my Mom and brother helping me work through it. They helped me to realize that it was ok to feel proud and it was ok to be happy about the race instead of just feeling guilty about it. They helped me draw out the good memories."
While last year's race was not Lynch's first marathon, it was her first Boston Marathon. Ever since she was 7 years old, she watched her mom, then her aunt, then her brother and whomever else they knew running it every year thereafter. After her brother graduated, he began running marathons, participating in his first Boston Marathon when Lynch was in high school.
"I have the most vivid memory of running up Heartbreak Hill with him because that is where we were cheering for him. He was so fast even at mile 18 that he beat me up the hill! And now I am finally following in their footsteps and running the Boston marathon with them," she said.
She and her brother were the little kids on the curb along the marathon route banging pans together and cheering until we were hoarse, she recalled. "To step up to the starting line, to be one of the runners instead of the little kid on the sideline was surreal," Lynch said. "I had become the person I wanted to be. I was a Boston Marathon runner. And to start with my mother, the very person who inspired me the first time I saw Boston was the most beautiful experience."
Lynch says she felt she was running through her hometown during the entire race. People who didn't even know her were excited as she ran by.
"That is what I love most about marathons. For one day, for 30 seconds when I run by a stranger, they cheer for me like I am their sister or cousin," she said. "Every one comes together to support each other. Boston is the epitome of community support. The only feelings I remember during the race were happiness, sheer happiness—and really sore legs at the end."
Lynch, who will be running for Stonyfield Organics' Team Stonyfield this year, has been training for the next Boston Marathon, which takes place this coming Saturday, April 19. She enjoys training in her hometown of West Hartford. Long runs take her by her favorite neighborhoods and all the schools she attended as a child, which makes the run more enjoyable.
"Training this year is a lot different from last year. I have a much greater emotional investment and personal attachment to the Boston Marathon this year than I've ever had to any other race," she said. "That has helped make the training more meaningful and less of a challenge. I am so excited to be running with my Mom and brother again that I feel very motivated."
(Image provided by: Team Stonyfield/Stonyfield Organics)