Runners Reclaim Boston Marathon

Tracy Collyer was legging out the Boston Marathon finish when the bombs exploded. Abruptly stopped at about 25 and a half miles, her thoughts raced to her husband and son in the crowd. Where were they? Were they safe?

Collyer learned – amid the panic and confusion April 15, 2013 – that they were fine. The ghastly scene on Boylston Street soon unwound for everyone. And suddenly the goal of striding over that golden unicorn on the Boston Athletic Association logo at 26.2 miles faded away. The race was canceled for those still out on the course.

Runners' hearts went out to the survivors, while their minds in the weeks ahead circled back to the hard road miles logged. For Collyer, there was no doubt: She'd be back in 2014.

"We have unfinished business," she said in an interview. "It's pretty emotional."

Collyer, principal of Salem High School, is among 573 New Hampshire runners on the official entry list for the 118th Boston Marathon on April 21. She joins a number of local marathoners who never got to finish what they started last year.

Tracy Carracedo of Windham summed it up when interviewed by Patch last April. He said, "My immediate thought process is that I can't go out like this. I have to go out in the traditional way, which is crossing the finish line."

Paul Joyce of Milford is also registered to run again in 2014. As he said last spring, there was never any doubt. "It absolutely won’t deter me. They don’t get to win," he said.

An Exeter runner who said she was "grateful to be alive" after the bombing is likewise entered to participate in another Marathon Monday.

It's all very personal and very much public.

Collyer, who lives in Derry, has absorbed the media coverage leading up to the anniversary. The Boston Marathon means so much for participants who will run for family, friends, charitable causes and the survivors. She knows it will mean the world for Boston, too.

Collyer is part of a team raising money for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. She is running for her nephew Patrick, who has Type 1 diabetes. This will be her third Boston, but this time is also unique in that she is running with her brother, David, and her daughter Jessica. Together, and with more than 30,000 other runners, they are reclaiming the Boston Marathon from a tragic episode a year ago today.

Some strides are longer than others.

"There's a lot that goes through your mind," Collyer says. "It's overwhelming, anyway, when you run down Boylston."