Redmond ‘Marathon Mom’ finishes just before blast

Among the thousands of runners in Monday’s Boston Marathon, 13 were from Bend, two from Redmond and one from Madras.

We talked Monday night with Jennifer Myers, the “Marathon Mom” from Redmond who crossed the finish line only about five minutes before the blast.

Her words capture some of the confusion, terror and panic following the explosions.

“Run Like a Mother,” it said on her racing shirt, with signs of support for “Team Jen,” and “Hot Mama.”

But a day of joyous triumph soon turned frightening.

“The first (blast) went off,” she recalled, “and we all kind of looked at each other, and it was kind of like, ‘No, it couldn’t be — and then we heard the second one.”

Having reunited with her husband, Stefan, a block away, they hoped it was just noise from construction.

“It wasn’t until we saw the police just start barreling past us that we realized it was something else,” she said.

From the thrill of finishing a life-long goal, to the frightening scenes now familiar from our TV or PC screens.

“We couldn’t get out fast enough,” she said – and yet they couldn’t.

The bridge back to their car was closed. Subways were shut down. And calling for help also was impossible.

“They shut down cell service for a while,” Myers said, “so we couldn’t call out, and we couldn’t get calls.”

But a friend’s relative came and picked them up — their hotel room in Boston empty, their car still there.

Facebook gave them a chance to tell everyone they were lucky … they were safe.

Still, the scenes of the day were now an unsettling memory.

“I had seen all these faces cheering us on, giving us medals, telling us we did a great job,” she said. “And you just think about those people, and you’re wondering if they’re okay.”

Jennifer and her husband say they will be back in Central Oregon late Tuesday night, and they can’t wait to be home to hug their two boys, ages 4 and 2.