2013 Tragedy Impetus for Running to Help Others

BU Today



BU students to race in 2017 Boston Marathon
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’ ...

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