Boston Marathon runners in the 3:30 finish range wave to the camera at Km30/Mile 18 in Newton on April 15, 2013

I am really grateful to all those who thought to ask how I and my family are doing today, after the horrific and tragic bombings at the Boston Marathon finish line. Here are some answers:

• TERRIFIED: This was an awful flashback to 9/11, the London Tube bombings in 2005 (which I missed by an hour or so), Newtown, and the various other horrors we have faced in the past 12 years. Amy got a text from a friend asking when another friend running the Marathon had finished, and did we hear about explosions at the finish line? The first reports were of multiple devices, severed limbs on Boylston St. and a dozen people killed. It was a terrifying afternoon as the fog of war descended on the race course, far-flung areas of Boston (like the JFK Library) and throughout the area. Amy, my parents and I relived the awful moments of not knowing that we experienced on September 11th.

A Running Burger costume, discarded on Stuart St., is searched as police officers examine every stray article after the bombings. Ms. A. proudly counted a dozen people running in these things, and then they turn into suspicious packages. Photo: Matthew J. Lee/Boston Globe Staff

• INFURIATED: We were out on the course for hours with our kids and many other neighbors cheering on friends from the neighborhood who ran (just to name one example) to save their kid’s vision, or just to stay one step further ahead of encroaching time. It was amazing to see the number of people running for a cause or for an important person in their lives, and inspiring as always to see how dedication to each other has allowed the Hoyts to go so far beyond what their bodies / ages might suggest they’re capable of doing. And there is also the quirky side of the marathon, in which Ms. A. and I saw a dozen people go by with a hamburger outfit (one of which is sadly examined in the photo above as a suspicious package). Any day a terrorist bombs our city is a shocking, horrible tragedy, but to target this day in particular feels like a truly devilish act.
• RESOLVED: The Boston Marathon is not going out of business as a goal that people carry with them throughout their lives, or a thrilling example of competition and loving sacrifice that we who live here are privileged to witness each year. I can only imagine the fear that all of us, running or not, might feel next year along the course or in Back Bay, but I do not think it will turn many away, and many more may stand up in their place.
• RUNNING: I’ve been training for a half-marathon in a few weeks and just yesterday ran the peak pre-race run (12 miles). I’m up tomorrow before dawn to start the taper and to think about those who ran yesterday and those hurt by this brutal and ugly attack–plus my brother, who ran this course. Looking like an all-Fugazi mix. If you are motivated to do the same, you might take a look at #RunForBoston.

Thank you so much to everyone who reached out to us today.

The Green Building at MIT on the evening of April 15, 2013. Credit: Twitter user @tochtli_exe