Three long-distance runners with ties to Lincoln County competed in the 2013 Boston Marathon. Two finished, including former Waldoboro man Robert Gomez, of Saco and 2005 Wiscasset High School graduate Maryellen Buck, and one Dr. Stephen Reed of Wiscasset, was trying to finish his 24th straight Boston Marathon, before being stopped.
Bryan Buck, of Wiscasset, was at the finish line, standing on the very spot where the first bomb went off, just a few minutes before the blast.
“I was standing right there, where the bomb went off. I had just moved 15 to 20 minutes before. I was right across from the Boston Public Library where the flags were, in the very same spot,” Bryan Buck said.
His daughter, Maryellen, “cramped up at mile 18 and was hurting.” After she crossed the finish line, “I gave her a hug. She burst into tears like she always does at big races. I told her, ‘I’ll meet you at the family meeting place.’ I was one and a half blocks away and heard the two explosions. Provenance told me we should get the hell out of there. I was pretty lucky, very lucky,” Bryan Buck said.
“I’m a Vietnam veteran and my instincts said to get out of there. It was a little surreal. There were a lot of ambulances, fire trucks and police. It was not until later [that] I learned people were killed,” Bryan Buck said.
Maryellen Buck was the 19th woman from Maine to cross the finish line, and was 7376th overall. It was her fourth marathon and second Boston. Her time of 3:26.03 was her personal best. “Ironically, I felt the worst,” she said.
“After I crossed the finish line I went to the medical tent. I felt worse than I have ever felt,” Maryellen said.
She then met her father in the family meeting area and headed back toward the start line. “I was heading back to the start line because I had not picked up my packet. My Dad was literally right there. My family keeps saying, ‘Thank God you are a fast runner.'”
“As soon as I got my packet I knew I had to get out of there. It was loud. It sounded like a canon. Someone said two manhole covers blew. No one knew how horrible it was,” she said.
Maryellen estimates she and her father had to walk about two miles to find a subway that was running, then after getting off in Cambridge they had to walk an additional mile to their vehicle.
“I am glad it is over and grateful we are okay. It is a shame such a great day and great event turned out so horrible. It is such a strong tradition – I think it will go on. It would be a travesty to cancel it next year. It would be like they won,” Maryellen said.
The race runs through Boston University, where Maryellen attended college. “It is such a great event. The citizens of Boston and everyone is cheering everyone on. There is no conflict, it just about cheering everyone on. It’s such a great event. It is so sad.”
“It happens everyday, elsewhere” in the world, she said. “We are extremely lucky in that sense. It will change the way they bring people together for functions.”
“I was looking at pictures my Dad took yesterday. He was on the right hand side, right behind the flags. What if I had been slower?” Maryellen said, her voice trailing off.
“I’m really grateful to those who checked in with us; were looking out for us and worried about us,” Maryellen said.
Dr. Stephen Reed, 65, of Wiscasset, was running in his 24th consecutive Boston Marathon.
He was having a tough day with arthritis in his hip acting up. He was hoping to finish in under four hours when he started, and as the race progressed, he was hoping just to be able to finish. He had qualified for Boston at the Maine Marathon last fall and was looking forward to running his 25th race in 2014.
“What a horror show yesterday,” Reed said.
While running up heartbreak hill, he heard a woman on a cell phone say there was a bomb, but thought his mind or ears were too tired or disoriented to hear her correctly. At mile 22, while running through Boston College, he was stopped. “They stopped all the runners. We ended up in a church until they figured out what they were going to do with us,” Reed said.
“My only focus was to finish and make it 24 in a row. I wasn’t having a good day out there. Consequently, I could have been at the finish line” at the time of the explosions.
“I was initially bummed out by them stopping us, but I could have been right there if it wasn’t for this damn hip thing. I have osteoarthritis in my left hip. It was giving me fits. It has been awful. I was hoping for under four [hours],” Reed said of missing his target time, and being grateful for it.
“I was interviewed by Insider News Network. It was quite a day. I think they will count it though so I will be able to continue the streak,” Reed said of his 24th marathon run. “I want the 25th in a row and that may be it. If I get 25, I will not have to qualify anymore,” Reed added.
“It’s a long ways. I think you appreciate more when you can’t run as fast,” Reed said of his marathon struggle.
“It is unbelievable. It would have been the last thing on my mind. With all the security, the bad guys are going to find a way to screw things up. It’s almost like you can’t believe it’s happening. A friend of mine was at the finish line. It was quite an experience for them.”
Reed’s other running streak, of running at least three miles a day, every day will reach 37 years in June. “My first priority is to keep that going. I’m just going to keep paddling along. It’s an effort,” he added.
