At about the same time that police believe Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev were planting their pressure-cooker bombs in the crowd at last year's Boston Marathon, Prince George runner Tanya Carter was crossing the finish line.
Five minutes later, Carter heard what she thought was a celebratory cannon charge going off and looked back to see smoke billowing over Boylston Street. Thirteen seconds later, a second explosion further up the street shot a deadly concoction of nails and metal ball bearings into the crowd.
Carter will never forget the feeling of panic as people rushed from the bomb sites. Somewhere in that mayhem was Steve Martin, a Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers co-worker of Carter's, who had finished 40 minutes ahead of her. When the bombs were detonated, Martin walked to the family meeting area in Boston Common and waited anxiously with his wife Lucy and Carter's husband Kevin, not knowing Carter's fate until she arrived.
"We were all shuffling forward as a group of runners trying to stay calm, trying not to cause a stampede and we could barely move because we'd been running for four hours," said Carter, 46. "We didn't believe what was happening. We weren't sure it was a bomb until we saw the helicopters and government cars and police going around us. We weren't really aware of the magnitude of it until we got to our hotel. We just wanted to get the heck out of there."
Carter was the last of three Prince George runners to finish the race, in a time of 4:04:16. Dennis Straussfogel clocked 3:37:07, while Martin was in at 3:24:56. The time on the race clock when the first bomb exploded was 4:09:43.
Carter and Martin vowed that night they would return to Boston for this year's race on Monday, April 21 to pay tribute to the three people who died and the 264 injured by the bombs.
"I never expected to go back, I thought Boston would be a one-time thing because most runners, that's what we aim for and then tick it off our list," said Carter. "But especially after being present for the bombing, we decided we would try to come back for this race for the people who were injured and lost loved ones or lost their lives.
"They were there cheering on their family members, they weren't doing anything wrong, and we want to go back as one strong running community to support them. A lot of people thought it would scare us off, but it made us more determined to come back."
Martin did qualify but won't make the trip this year.
The two suspects in the bombing, 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, and his then 19-year-old brother Dzhokhar were tracked down by Boston police four days after the race. Tamerlan was killed in a shootout with police, while Dzhokhar was found hours after his brother's death, hiding under a boat cover in a yard. He's pleaded not guilty to 30 charges and faces the death penalty as he awaits his trial in November.
The heightened profile of the race is expected to attract one million spectators, double that of previous years. Security has also been doubled, with more than 3,500 Boston police officers on patrol.
Race qualifiers have to meet certain time restrictions and in some cases have to win their age categories in sanctioned races. Carter ended up running three more marathons in 2013 to make her 3:55 qualifying time for this year and finished in 3:48 in Regina. Her 3:46 time in Sacramento qualified her for Boston in 2015.
"Thank God I didn't see any of the big disaster at the finish line," said Carter. "I'd be lying if I didn't think it was the back of my mind somewhere but I'm not afraid, tragedy can strike anywhere,.
"I believe it's gong to be a race filled with some sorrow, some memories, but also just a joyful celebration. They put on a wonderful marathon and the people of Boston are amazing. Not one spot on the whole 42.2 kilometres or 26.2 mile is empty, the whole way is filled with people cheering people. It's so fun, in a painful sort of way, and it will be even more so this year."
With 9,000 more runners entered than last year, bringing the total to about 36,000, hotel rooms anywhere close to the city on race weekend will be at a premium. Carter will be staying with a Boston family she's never met before. A friend of a friend put her in touch with the family and they've offered to provide her accommodations and have promised to take her to a Red Sox baseball game.
Straussfogel, 57, plans to run his fourth Boston Marathon along with his girlfriend, Suzanne LeBlanc, 50, a first-time qualifier. Other Prince George runners who have qualified are: Helen McMillan, 56; Jim Van Bakel, 39; Jacqui Benson, 31; and Michelle Morris, 30.
"I am sick of running on snow and as always I'm undertrained, but I'm looking forward to it," said Straussfogel. "After what occurred last year, I don't really think of it much, even though a big deal is being made of it outside the running community.
"It was just one of those freaky things, kind of like the Atlanta Olympics bombing. The next Olympics wasn't like anything different from all the Olympics before. In this case it was a couple random loons trying to cause mayhem. It's always special to go to Boston and the big thing is my partner [LeBlanc] is also going for the first time and I'm more excited for her because I remember how big of a deal it was for me the first time I ran it."
LeBlanc, on leave from her administrative position at Northwest Community College in Terrace, has been training all winter with Straussfogel . This will be her 12th marathon. She nailed down her qualifying time last July when she broke four hours for the first time at the Totem to Totem race on Haida Gwaii.
"I went to the Vancouver Marathon last year just shortly after [the Boston race] and there was this heightened concern about something happening and people were worried about copycats but I can't imagine anything happening this year," said LeBlanc.
"I'm thinking more about race strategy and how not to die before Heartbreak Hill. There's a book out that does the Boston Marathon, mile-by-mile, and I've been reading it so I'll know the landmarks and what to look for. It's almost like an adventure as opposed to a race."
With just two marathons under his belt, Van Bakel is another Boston neophyte. He met the tough standard in his first-ever marathon last year in Abbotsford with a time of 2:55. Van Bakel is from Edmonton, where he used to run sprints around a track with a masters group. He took up distance running when he moved to Prince George and discovered the Road Runners club nearly three years ago.
"I swore I would never run more than 10 kilometres in my life but then we moved here and that was my only option," laughed Van Bakel.
"I didn't realize I'd qualified until a friend of mine told me and said we should register because you don't know how often you're going to get that chance. Now that I hear more about it, it just sounds like more of a big deal. It's going to be pretty cool."
