Boston Marathon: Local runner finishes race, hears explosions, prays for recovery

Amy Viars heard the first explosion about 30 minutes after she finished the Boston Marathon on Monday.

It struck her as strange. Then, about 10 seconds later, a second explosion. It seemed out of place. Maybe it was a cannon celebrating Patriots Day or a Red Sox win.

“It just got eerily quiet,” said Viars, a Powell resident who works at Oak Ridge Associated Universities. “Everyone just got eerily silent.”

Amy and her husband James, who was there to cheer her on in her first Boston Marathon, decided to leave. About the time they started walking to their car, a quarter-mile away at the Prudential Center, they began hearing sirens.

News started to filter in about what had happened, although details were scarce. Cell phone service was unavailable for about 20 minutes. But an ORAU manager was able to send Amy a text saying Fox News had reported that there had been two explosions.

“Our main concern was to get out of Boston as quickly as possible,” Viars said.

As it turned out, the Viars were about a block-and-a-half away from the blasts, but a tall building was between them and the bombs.

They are okay.

So are at least two other local athletes who ran in the marathon Monday: Mark Cristy and Tara Stockton. Cristy is retired from Oak Ridge National Laboratory and a former volunteer at the Oak Ridge Convention and Visitors Bureau, while Stockton is the wife of Roane County Sheriff Jack Stockton.

It was also the first time either of them had competed in the race, the Holy Grail of marathons.

Roane County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Tim Phillips said Tara Stockton was at the 25.5-mile mark—within 0.7 miles of the finish line—when the bombs exploded.

The sheriff was less than a block away and heard and felt them, Phillips said.

“He heard a loud explosion, felt the ground shake,” Phillips said.

Cristy said he had some abdominal pain at about mile 15 that slowed him way down. He was about 1.5 miles from the finish line when the bombs exploded. He estimates he missed the blasts by about 15 minutes.

But Cristy didn’t see or hear the explosions, and he continued running—until he met runners stopped about 0.6 miles from the finish line. Word was circulating that there had been explosions.

Runners were confused, unsure if the race would start again or what they were supposed to do. They didn’t hear about the injuries until later.

Cristy said people have asked him if he is disappointed he wasn’t able to finish the race, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for many runners.

“I don’t really feel the right to be disappointed that I didn’t finish,” Cristy said. “I just feel numb.”

The explosions killed three people and injured 176. Authorities believe they most likely used some kind of “pressure-cooker” devices that sent sharp bits of shrapnel flying into victims in the vicinity of the blast, The New York Times reported. The FBI is investigating the attack as an act of terrorism, but it’s not clear yet who carried it out.

It was another stunning attack in an unexpected place in a nation still reeling from other recent attacks—mostly shootings—in schools, churches, and shopping centers. Those attacks have already shocked the nation. And now this.

“It’s unfortunate that someone would target races,“ Viars said.

She and Cristy couldn’t help but consider some “what-ifs”—”What if I had been 15 minutes ahead?” or “What if I had been 30 minutes behind?”

“We’re very blessed to not have been at the finish line when this happened,” Viars said. “The aches and pains that I have from running a marathon are nothing compared to what others are going to have to live with the rest of their lives.”

She and James are praying for those affected, Viars said, praying for a quick recovery.