Q&A with professor who ran during Boston Marathon bombings

Melissa McGrath, a Ball State assistant professor of speech and language pathology, was at mile marker 23 when two pressure-cooker bombs went off at the Boston Marathon. The day was stressful for her family back in Indiana, who had trouble reaching her when they heard what had happened. A year after the event, McGrath reflects on the Boston Marathon and the bombing.


Q: What does today mean to you?

A: You know I think, [today] will be a bittersweet day for sure. It was a good day; I was feeling great up until mile 23, when the bombs went off. I will just be certainly remembering it and thinking about the victims and the city of Boston.

Q: How were you and your family affected by the bombing?

A: It was just kind of a scary evening. If anything, I have seen it affect my children. [My 12-year-old daughter] asked me, ‘You aren’t going back this year are you?’ It really affected my kids, which is bad. My 5-year-old actually said the only place bad guys live is Boston because of what happened. I had to tell him there are bad guys everywhere, but there are way more good people in the world.

Q: Have you run any marathons since the bombing?

A: I actually did a half-marathon in May [after the bombing]. It was certainly on my mind, but I had run it so many times. I wasn’t so concerned about safety. I was also lucky enough to be a part of the Indy 500. [Track officials] allowed us local people who had run in the [Boston] Marathon to take some laps around the track.

Q: How has the running community changed?

A: I think the running community is pretty strong, [we] won’t let one thing get us down — we are all pretty tight-knit. ... So, I think there is a lot of support for big running events like Boston or even the Indy Mini-Marathon. There has been even more attention to them.

Q: Will you be running the Boston Marathon this year?

A: I will be wishing I was there. I just could not commit to run it this year, with three kids I just [couldn’t train for the event]. So you know, it is tough because I really do wish that I could be there this year.

Q: Will this year’s event be different?

A: I think this year is going to be more of a celebration than anything. There are a lot more people running in it this year because of what happened last year.

Comments

More from The Daily






This Week's Digital Issue


Loading Recent Classifieds...