Returning as a Runner

Arts and Sciences

Jaymi Cohen, A16, is running the Boston Marathon on April 17, but it’s not about striving for a personal best time. Four years ago, she stood with friends from the Tufts women’s lacrosse team near the finish line on Boylston Street. The first bomb went off, and then the second. She was thrown to the ground, her legs lacerated by flying shrapnel.“My main motivation for running [this year] is what happened to me and a lot of people in 2013 with the bombings,” Cohen said.
The emotional toll of the bombing was far worse than the physical injuries, she said. “I was very traumatized, and it is interesting because I studied post-traumatic stress disorder as an undergraduate my first semester, so by the time this happened in my second semester, I knew the signs, symptoms and mechanisms of what this would look like. It is really emotionally scarring and taxing.”
Surviving that horrendous day, Cohen said, gave her strength and a new perspective on life, and for that, she credits the support of the entire Tufts community, along with her family, friends and teammates.
“I think the one thing that really helped was time and having a structured schedule: continuing to go to class and continuing to go to [lacrosse] practice every day, even though I did not practice really the rest of that season,” said Cohen, a four-year standout on the team. “Being able to talk with family and friends about it was the most helpful for me.”
The road to recovery was tough, though. “There are some days now when I do not even think about it, which is something that I never thought would happen,” she said. “It was taking over my thought process and mind.”
When she was younger, she was a volunteer coach for Special Olympics, and the marathon bombing made her want to ...

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