EDMONTON – Pat and Corrine Gable are not Boston Marathon novices, but this year’s race was frighteningly different from previous years.
“We heard the first of the two explosions,” recalls Pat Gable, “and then a second one within about ten seconds. My first thoughts were the most negative, thinking that something terrible had happened. Because it wasn’t fireworks for Patriot’s Day… it was definitely something more significant than that.”
Gable and his wife had just finished the marathon and were getting ready to board a bus to pick up their bags when they heard the first blast.
“I responded to the first explosion: ‘Oh my god, oh my god,’ definitely knowing or feeling that something very bad was going on.”
“The immediate response was that of fear, and dismay. People around were all of a sudden taken aback, their jaws dropped, the worry was there almost immediately.”
Gable estimates they were about 500 metres away when the first explosion happened. He explains how he and Corrine were part of crowds of people leaving the area.
“You could see that everybody … attempting to find out what was going on… but nobody knew a thing.”
“As we proceeded to the park, there was emergency vehicle after vehicle with sirens blaring converging on the area from all directions.”.
Gable says the enormity of the damage was still evident hours later.
“It was like a war zone down there. There were SWAT vehicles, army vehicles, emergency medical vehicles, choppers; it was definitely a war zone there.”
“They’ve got the area of Newberry Street and Boylston in pretty much a lockdown.”
The Gables, who are originally from Edmonton but now live in Kelowna, say everyone in their running group has been accounted for. However, Pat shares it took some time to get a hold of one of their friends.
“It wasn’t until an hour to two hours after that we finally accounted for one individual that we were getting a bit worried about.”
“Not being a pessimist or anything, but definitely your worst fears come to mind and you pray for them, especially when early reports were that spectators were injured. This individual had his wife in the region watching from the sidelines.”
As the Gables were confirming all their friends were safe, they were also communicating back and forth with loved ones in Canada who had heard about the attack.
“Our time since the completion of the event and returning to the hotel room has been constant communication with both family and friends back home, reaffirming that we’re ok,” says Pat.
He shares the whole situation has really impacted his wife.
“She felt like it was 9-11…Definitely terrorism is the first thing that comes to mind.”
Still, Pat doesn’t feel as though he or his wife is in danger now.
“There’s a tremendous amount of representation from all sources of police services and national state patrol, army,” he explains.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s the Boston Marathon or anything else. You have to continue to live life. Life has to go on.”
Edmonton runner Deveda Mah arrived home from Boston Tuesday afternoon. This was her fifth time running the marathon there.
“I usually am slower than I am and I decided for whatever reason to try to quicken my pace. So I got to the finish line, and got about no more than 25-50 feet… and the first explosion happened. It was a big ka-boom and it felt like an earthquake. The ground literally shook.”
“Where I was supposed to be was actually two minutes later than where I was,” she adds. “So, a bit of ‘why me, why was I able to make it across and why not others?’ I feel so badly for the folks, for the spectators, because they were the ones who got most of it.”
Mah says the moments following the explosion were filled with confusion.
“There was a second loud crash, and again, the ground shook, and then by that time everybody was screaming and yelling. I could hear police officers running down, ‘Run! Run!’ “
At first, Mah – and many of the other runners – didn’t even know what caused the blast.
“It was so loud, when I first heard it I thought, ‘was that a cannon… a celebration type cannon?”
“I’ve never heard so many sirens in my whole life,” she shares.
“It was really challenging because 95 percent of us running around were all from outside Boston. We couldn’t even find a resident to say ‘where are we and how do we get out of the downtown area?’”
Mah says a group of runners were “walking back and forth aimlessly until we found somebody that could give us some sort of direction.”
“I had to walk about 30 blocks just to get out of that area, and other folks that lived in the downtown area were locked out of their hotels because there was a lockdown.”
However, despite the horrifying ordeal, Mah says she’d like to run the marathon again.
“I don’t think I want the terrorist – or fear – to hold any of us back from anything we want to do in life.”
There are several events planned in Edmonton, and across Canada, to acknowledge the attack in Boston and show support to those affected.
The Running Room is planning a moment of silence to be observed at Running Room Run Clubs on Wednesday, April 17th at 6pm.
“The Running Room, like the rest of the world, is shocked and saddened by yesterday’s events at the Boston Marathon,” said the company in a post on its website.
“This Wednesday evening, April 17th at the Running Room Run Clubs, we would like to show our support of Boston by having a minute of silence before we proceed with our run to remember those affected by such a senseless tragedy. The running community is strong. Let us show our support.”
A candle light vigil to remember those injured and killed in the blast is also being organized in Edmonton.
Alberta’s capital city has a large running community, and was the founding place of the Running Room.
The vigil is scheduled to take place on Friday, April 19th at 2:45 pm in Churchill Square.
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