2013 Tragedy Impetus for Running to Help Others

Rachel Blauner (COM’17), a former captain of the BU women’s soccer team, will be competing in her first 26.2-mile race when she runs the 121st Boston Marathon Monday. Blauner is running to raise funds for the Boston Bruins Foundation. Photo by Jackie Ricciardi

Four years ago, Rachel Blauner was watching the Boston Marathon near Fenway Park, surrounded by her teammates on the BU women’s soccer team. Matthew O’Connor had just returned to his dorm on Bay State Road and was unwinding from a long day outside.

Then it happened.

Two explosions went off at the finish line of the 117th Boston Marathon, sending Blauner (COM’17), O’Connor (SAR’16,’18), and the rest of the city into a state of confusion and panic, injuring more than 300 and killing 3, one a BU student from China, Lu Lingzi (GRS’13).

“Cops pulled in front of the runners and stopped them from going farther, then told everyone to evacuate the street,” Blauner recalls. “We ran up to our friend’s apartment and turned on the news to see what had happened, and phone lines were off, so I couldn’t call my parents. Then our coach picked us up and brought us to campus to be safe.”

In the days and weeks that followed, the Boston community came together in an outpouring of support for the victims, galvanized by the slogan “Boston Strong.” From the city’s recovery, a dream was born for both students, who were freshmen at the time.

“Seeing how the city came together after with so much pride and so much love for each other, I really wanted to run,” says Blauner, a South Shore native who will be running her first marathon. “I wanted to run it for Boston.”

For O’Connor, who grew up in rural New York, the city’s resilience confirmed for him that Boston was home.

“I didn’t feel the city was really my home in the first semester of college, and even in the spring I was struggling,” O’Connor says. “After I saw the intense unity created by the entire city in support of everybody who had been hurt and in light of all the bad things that had happened, I was in. It made sense for me to be here, and it felt like every time I came back, I was coming back home.”

Motivated by the 2013 bombings and its aftermath, Blauner and O’Connor will each run in the 121st Boston Marathon on Monday. Blauner is running for the Boston Bruins Foundation, O’Connor for Morgan Memorial Goodwill Industries Running for Great Kids team. The Bruins foundation supports local charities that benefit children, and the Goodwill team is raising money to support Goodwill’s Youth Initiative.

O’Connor, a member of the BU Triathlon Team, ran his first marathon, in Philadelphia, in November. Last year, he worked at the Boston Marathon finish line, helping runners who needed medical attention get to the medical tent.

“It was exhausting. It was a long day, but it was a ton of fun,” he says. “I was happy to give back a little bit. Even now, it feels like small act, but I ended up connecting with a lot of individual runners who had just finished the race.”

O’Connor was disappointed in his finish at the Philadelphia Marathon, but says that his continued training has prepared him well for his second attempt. “I think I have a lot more in me to offer, and I’m grateful to get a second chance in what I think is going to be the coolest race of my entire life,” he says.

Blauner says she’s so eager for Monday’s race that she’s going to have to be careful to pace herself.

“From the sense of being there in 2013 and having so much support from my friends and family the last couple of months, I think it’s going to be really emotional,” she says. “I think I’m going to be really excited from the start, which I have to be aware of so I don’t sprint the first couple of miles.”

A marathon like Boston, one of the largest in the world (with an estimated 30,000 runners this year), requires runners to either make the qualifying time cutoff or earn a place on a charitable organization’s team; there are 32 such teams running this year.

O’Connor was familiar with the coach of the Goodwill team, so he had a good feeling about his chances to land with them. For Blauner, who wanted to run for a charity involving children and sports, the application process was a little more wait-and-see.

“I think I applied to three or four teams,” she says. “The Bruins’ application process was basically just what your experience was as a runner and why it’s important for you to run for charity. I coached kids growing up and have gone through youth athletics, and we do a lot of community service through soccer here at BU. I thought, having all of that stuff, I would hopefully be a good candidate. I was so excited when I heard back.”

O’Connor too is excited about his choice. “I pass a Goodwill store on my walk to and from class every single day,” he says. “Goodwill does a lot for the city of Boston, and their big thing is representing underserved populations.…It’s been an honor to raise money on their behalf, and I’m pumped to run with the blue Goodwill emblem on.”

Both Blauner and O’Connor say that Monday will be about celebrating the city they’ve come to love, not about running times.

“This city does such an amazing job of bringing everybody together and making it a citywide holiday, where we’re celebrating Boston,” Blauner says. “I just can’t wait to see my family and friends at the end at the spot where the bombings happened and see all the other runners finish. I think it’s going to be an unbelievable day.”

Other BU students running for Goodwill’s Running for Great Kids team at this year’s marathon are Hannah Libby (COM’18), Nicole Strauss (Questrom’17), Ameera Hammouda (SHA’18, Questrom’18), and Maura Feltault (SHA’17).

The 121st Boston Marathon, on Monday, April 17, begins in Hopkinton, Mass. The prime viewing is along Beacon Street from East Campus through Brookline. The first runners should hit that area sometime after 11:30 a.m. The finish line is in front of the Boston Public Library on Boylston Street. Check out this online map to track the marathon.

Find Blauner’s fundraising page here, and O’Connor’s here.

Taylor Raglin can be reached at traglin@bu.edu.