Marathon Miracles

Matt ran in the 2013 Boston Marathon with a non profit group called Griffin's Friends.  We were so excited to be a part of this amazing race and so proud of him for his hard work.  Weeks before the race, he asked me if I would run the last 7 miles with him.  I made plans for a friend to watch my kids at the race, but the plans fell through.  We decided that it may not be such a good idea for me to jump in and run.  We (me and my kids) planned to meet some friends at mile 19 to cheer him on.  We discussed that the absolute earliest he would be there would be 1:00 but more likely closer to 2:00 because he didn't know what time he would actually get to start.  I had the wrong address, traffic was crazy, all the streets were closed, and my car was overheating so I didn't make it to the point we had agreed upon to meet.  I parked the car as soon as I could find a parking spot and we started walking.  As soon as we reached the race, there was a gap in the line of spectators so we popped our heads out to watch the race.  I looked up at the sea of runners and there was MATT!!!  Out of 30,000 runners he was right in front of me the second we got to the race.  I got very emotional as I realized this was NOT a coincidence.  He stopped gave us all hugs and we took a picture.

I told him we would be at the finish line or that we would meet him at the Griffin's Friends bus in Boston. He kept running, only 7 more miles to go.  I can't tell you how proud of him we felt.

I told the kids that we would have to hurry to get to the finish.  They dawdled back to the car.  We passed a beautiful pond with ducks.  I had the feeling to stop and enjoy the beautiful day, so we did.  Looking back on this decision, I am so thankful that I followed that prompting.

When we finally made it to the car I had to get directions.  A kind lady told me to follow her.  I have never driven in a big city and I was terrified.  We followed her into the city, traffic was CRAZY, she did an illegal turn so I stopped following her.  I realized that I had no clue where I was or where to ask Siri to take me.  As we sat in traffic we discussed the fun restaurants and shops we saw.  I called Matt at 2:39 to tell him we would be there as soon as we could.  We were inching along in traffic, so I finally told my kids we might not even get to see Daddy.  We decided to head home.  At that moment I looked up and saw the sign that said Mass Pike West, that was the only road I needed to get home, SCORE!!  I got through traffic and hopped on the Pike.  I was so relieved to be out of the crazy traffic on our way home.  I realized how blessed I was to be at the right place at the right time. 

We passed Fenway Stadium and my phone rang at 2:56.  Luckily I heard it, Matt often wonders why I have a phone because I never answer it.  It was a New Hampshire number that I didn't recognize.  On the other end Matt was frantically pleading, "Please tell me you are not at the finish line!!" over and over.  I told him where I was and was very concerned that he was so upset.  He told me that there had been 2 explosions and to get out of the city as soon as possible.  He told me he was safe and that he would call back when he could.  I was picturing car fires at this point.  I am so thankful his call came through because I couldn't get a hold of him for hours.  As soon as we hung up I asked Ruby to look on CNN to see what was going on.  My phone went crazy from all the calls and texts we started getting from worried family and friends.  We watched a flood of police cars head the opposite direction into the city.

When we got home I checked the news and realized that the explosions were not an accident.  I had it together until this point.  I was horrified.  Why would someone do that???  I was finally able to get a hold of Matt.  He was just about to turn his last corner onto Boylston Street when he felt and heard the explosions.  The crowd was cheering wildly, BOOM, silence, wild cheering, BOOM, silence.  He turned the corner and was 2 blocks from the 2nd explosion. He was exhausted, freezing, and just wanted to run the 1/4 of a mile he had to get to the finish line.  The race was stopped and the police got all the runners off the course.  Matt described the mess and confusion he saw. People were frantic.   As he told me where he was at the time, it hit me that the 2 minutes he stopped to talk to us at mile 19 was not a coincidence.  I can not begin to tell you how blessed I felt.  It was almost like we were pawns in a game being set in the right places at the right times.  I know that God lives and that he listened to our family prayer for safety that morning.  He loves us and is aware of our individual needs.  All of these little tender mercies of the Lord that occurred that day leave me feeling very blessed. I know that He was watching out for us that day and continues to do so.

Matt is a finisher.  I am so proud of him.  I am so thankful he was safe.  I felt honored to rub his sore feet when he got home that night.

The next day, I decided to Google some of the places we had passed just to figure out where we were.  I had no clue if we were minutes away from the race or miles away.  I was sickened when I saw where we were. If you look at the map (click on it to see a larger image) the orange dots are the 2 explosions, Matt is the runner.  The purple path is where we were driving.  The bottom right is where we were at 2:39 and the end of the of the path on the left is where we were at 2:56 when he called.  The first bomb went off at 2:50, the second about 10 seconds later.  The path shows 17 minutes of us driving.  I am guessing we were underground getting on the freeway when everything happened. 

I wanted to thank the kind person who let Matt borrow their phone.  It hit me I could!!  This was my text.