How About Checking In Here?

I'm in one piece, as are my friends who ran in the race. Eeka? Swirly? Scratchie? Kaz? Where you at?

due to the state holiday (and this is the last year I'll gripe about having to take Patriot's Day off instead of having a flex day instead). My office isn't too close to Copley Square, so chances are I wouldn't have been directly affected.

However, had I gone into the office today, it's likely I would still be trying to get home, despite the fact the Orange Line was never completely shut down.

I was again a volunteer, giving out food two blocks past the finish line, near the building that formerly housed Borders and Filene's Basement. We heard the blasts and saw the smoke rise from the finish line. But to be honest, it did not sink in right away that it was a bomb, as we were far enough away that we did not see any bloodshed.

People were calm right after. I suppose that the majority of the people there had just run 26 miles had something to do with that. A few minutes later came cries of "Run, Run!", and people darted away from the finish line. Moments later the first ambulance made its way through. I don't know if the cries to run were to make way for the ambulance or because people feared a third bomb.

It was only after an hour or so when my friends and I regrouped in the Public Garden and we watched the news that the gravity of the situation set in.

My thoughts to the families of all victims.

I took the day off today or I would have been in work nowhere near downtown. I went down to Cleveland Circle earlier to see the elites run by. Got some lunch and headed home to do my taxes and things.

I don't usually like to go down to Copley on race day because it's just a bit crazy normally. A friend had just posted on Facebook about hearing bombs and seeing smoke from where she was near the finish line. So, I started watching from then on to see what was going on and touching base with family and friends.

Didn't know anything happened until I got an e-mail from my boss. All in our household are fine (other than disrupted travel home).

I didn't go into town this year. Hope everyone else is, too. Thanks for asking Sull.

WBZ just announced one of the victims was an 8 year old boy who died.

I'm ok...and I think this thread is a great idea.

There was something that sounded like artillery going off all at once and my office shook. I'm right down the way from the finish line, and my heart dropped into my stomach cause I knew something very bad just happened to someone.

Home now and have been in contact with friends and family and everyone is safe. Thinking of the victims and the first responders. Seeing video of people running towards the chaos reminds me that we're better than them, whoever them is. And we have a lot more on our side.

Just as the first tweets were coming through, and I was still in the "what the heck is going on down there?" mode I heard a lot of sirens headed downtown on Commonwealth Avenue.

They were setting up jersey barricades around the USS Constitution as I left work today. I'm not looking forward to tomorrow.

About 2.5 blocks away from the finish line as an EMT by St. James and Clarendon. I'm alright, didn't treat anyone directly involved. My job quickly turned from medic into crowd control and traffic as st james was being used as the main artery for emergency vehicles right after to access the scene and we essentially had to clear a street that was previously wall to wall people into a clear path.

I learned about the bombing when I was reading Deadspin (sports website) and reloaded the page. The fact that it popped up like that was so surreal that it didn't seem true.

Thanks for starting this thread, Suldog; it creates a nice sense of community at a time like this.

I worked the floater holiday today (in your neck of the woods, Suldog) and I heard the news around 2:30 or so. I left work around 5:30 and was planning on taking the 6:25 back home but there was a 20 minute delay at Harvard. I got to South Station around 6:30, got something to eat, and then boarded the 7:10. I got home at my usual time of 7:40.

Was at work. I was just txting a friend congrats on her finish when the first bomb went off a few hundred feet behind her. She is shaken but fine.

I don't post very often here, but…safe and sound in Malden. Waiting to go into labor with my first baby, actually, and quite happy that she's decided to stay put for another day. Not the time to be drawing hospital resources if I can help it.

From about 11:30 to 2:30 I was in the Coolidge Corner area, either watching the runners on Beacon Street, or in a nearby coffee shop and apartment. I took my time cycling home, and did not learn what had happen until hours later, when I logged into Facebook and found wall posts and private messages asking if I was OK.

Heard the explosions, and started moving home quickly. I'm sad this happened.

Thankfully, my branch of the Fenway neighborhood grapevine doesn't report anyone local having been near the blasts.

I'm fine here in JP - had the day off work. Was first alerted to "explosions downtown" through text from my university employer's emergency alert system.

Some folks who post here might know me IRL or from else-space. I'm OK, was nowhere near the Marathon today.

My office until recently was on Dartmouth next to Back Bay. If I hadn't started working from home, i would have been waiting at the finish line for a friend right when the bombs went off. She had just reached the 40 K mark when it happened so she's fine.

I had the day off and was in Quincy all day. I was cleaning out my garage and got a tweet from Rob Gronkowski of all people sending prayers. Went upstairs and turned on the news.

Every T rider should download the See something, Say something app today.

A friend and I were sitting outside at La Verdad after an exciting finish to the Patriots Day game when a friend who was caught up in the immediate area (and fine) texted the news. Within seconds the mood changed and helicopters began flying overhead. Getting my friend back to her apartment in Beacon Hill was interesting, and we heard the third (controlled) detonation from the Comm Ave mall. More sirens than I've ever heard, constantly, and at one point we saw what seemed like 40 state troopers mass on the Common. Strange day.

Witticism in abeyance

... was nowhere near boston, but my heart goes out to those that were. nice idea, sul :)

I spent 14 years working on Boylston Street across from the Pru - before they moved the finish line down into Copley Square proper, it was right outside our windows. We were always open for business during the Marathon, and it was always insane. As a result, now that I'm no longer required by my job to be there, you couldn't get me into the Back Bay on Marathon Monday under any circumstances whatsoever.

(Unfortunately, after a few years respite, I once again work someplace that does not actually give Patriots Day as a holiday. But at least it's not in the Back Bay.)

Got around to seeing this, obviously I'm OK, I was at work near the North End and found out from Twitter right after it happened, went home and worked the rest of the day from there. I wanted to get out of the city as quickly as possible, family and friends are all ok.

I took Greta to the North End in the morning to watch Paul Revere take off on his ride, wandered around the North End for awhile, grabbed some lunch at Faneuil Hall, then got on the Orange Line home - where I briefly thought of asking her if she wanted to get off at Back Bay to see the marathon.

It was, in short, a fun excursion. Got home, had just finished processing and posting a couple of photos, when I saw a tweet from somebody on Boylston about two explosions.

And damn, damn, damn, you know the rest.

As some of you may have noticed, the site lapsed in and out of consciousness yesterday. I tried to pare the load (ditched most of the ads and sidebar stuff, like the "recent comments" box), but it wasn't helping. Turned out it wasn't the software (for a change), it was the site just getting hammered with requests - like six or seven times the heaviest volume of incoming requests the site normally gets on a busy weekday. Web host said there wasn't anything they could do, so I guess I need to start looking for hosts that offer "virtual" hosting that can be ramped up quickly for the (fortunately) rare times like these.

Glad to see everyone checking in.

Here and OK. I actually went to visit some friends in Clinton, MA yesterday and didn't know what happened until my boyfriend texted me. We put on the news when we got back to their apartment last night and I still don't have words to express how I feel after watching all the coverage, pictures, videos etc.

I ended up driving back home to Everett this afternoon. There were lots of police on the road...more than I think I've ever seen midday on a Tuesday. And that was as far as Marlboro, as I came up 495N and 93N. Definitely a noticeable show of law enforcement.