Community Corner

'You Look at the World Differently After Something Like This'

Paul Moyse of Monroe participated in the Boston Marathon and was talking to a woman on the street when the first bomb exploded.

Paul Moyse of Monroe finished running the Boston Marathon on Monday, had left the medical tent after being treated for dehydration and cramps, then asked a woman on a street corner for directions to his hotel as her daughter searched for the Back Bay Hotel on her iPhone ... that's when the first bomb exploded a block away.

"The ground shakes," Moyse said Tuesday. "It wasn't a pop. It was an earth shattering noise. I hadn't experienced anything like that before.

"I said to the woman, 'Isn't it strange to think in this day and age what your first thought is when you hear that noise?' She said, 'Yeah.' Then boom — a second explosion."

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Moyse said people tried to dismiss the first blast as a gas explosion before the second one hit, then they feared the worst.

"Everyone had a little different demeanor," he said. "Then everybody was on their cell phones looking to where they had to go."

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The Hartford Track bus had brought runners to the Back Bay Hotel before the race, but Moyse said it couldn't get any closer than a mile to hotel to take them home because the finish line at Boyleston Street was immediately sealed off as a crime scene. So runners staggered the mile on tired legs.

There was also a lockdown at the hotel.

The bus driver waited for people to shower and pack their bags. Moyse immediately picked up the phone in his room to call his wife, Katie, but he said all outgoing calls were blocked and a recorded message told him the phones were for emergency use only.

A friend of Moyse's had a cell phone that worked, and Moyse said he called his wife and told her to call their two grown children, Celine and Christopher, right away and tell them he's okay.

Moyse said his stunned wife didn't know about the bombings until he called her.

He later spoke to his son.

"I was talking to my son and he said, 'Dad, I don't care what you do, just get out of Boston,'" Moyse said of the frantic call.

For three hours after the first bomb exploded, Moyse said he could hear sirens and saw the flashing lights of five police cars leading an armored vehicle to the center of the crime scene, as people made their way out of there.

Moyse said there was a brief scare when a woman in their party had not arrived at the hotel with everyone else for an hour-and-a-half.

"We feared the worst," he said. "We were all nervous about that one. There was a lockdown in the hotel, if you left, you couldn't come back. The police chief looked for her."

Later, when the people in Moyse's group took the elevator down to get something to eat, he said the doors opened and they saw her standing there.

"We all hugged her," he said.

Safe at Home

Moyse said Monday began as a beautiful day to run.

"I wasn't trained well going into the race," he recalled. "Because I knew my time would be slower, I high fived a lot of kids among the cheering crowds along the streets. The little guys, they get so excited. Then I heard one of the fatalities was an 8-year-old after seeing so many smiling faces. It just kills you. And his little sister was hurt too."

Moyse said he came home to about 50 emails and 35 phone messages Monday of friends and family checking to see if he was okay.

Celine lives in London, England, and is upset about what happened and concerned about her father.

"She has a small office. Today her boss gave her a plane ticket and told her to spend time with her family," Moyse said, adding his daughter will be staying at he and his wife's Monroe home over the weekend.

The Moyses' son Christopher lives in Nashville, Tenn.

"I'm sure he's wishing he was here too," Moyse said. "He's upset."

Moyse, who is a chiropracter in town, decided to work today, but his wife, Katie, is staying in constant contact.

"She's called a couple times today to check on me," Moyse said. "Everybody at work is asking her how she is the entire day."

Of working at his Main Street office today, he said, "I'm where I need to be."

'An Uncomfortable Feeling'

Moyse said his thoughts are with those who were injured and of their families and the families of those who were killed.

"I just feel bad for the people who were right there at the finish line," he said. "A lot of people are injured and why? There just is not a reason for it. I felt lucky."

On Monday, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino spoke on live TV saying some hotels were on lockdown and that the large area by the marathon finish line was still a crime scene.

Moyse said an area recently filled with large cheering crowds appeared nearly empty with only people walking to their bus.

"It was an eery feeling," he said. "In the car on way out, I heard news about the bombing at the finish line of the Boston Marathon and it kind of hit home at that point."

"What should be a fun time ... we should be talking about running times, conditions and experiences out there," Moyse said. "Such misery, this should be a positive experience."

Monday marked the 11th time Moyse ran in the Boston Marathon and he said it was his 34th marathon in a 20-year-span. "And I'll be back at some time in the future," he said.

He said terrorism is meant to cause immediate fear. "You try not to let them win," he added.

Of the security, Moyse said an event such as the Boston Marathon is a difficult thing to control, with 26 miles to secure and everyone walking around with a gym bag.

Rather than feeling angry over the attack right now, Moyse says he is left with "an uncomfortable feeling."

"I'm more in shock now," he said. "It's amazing what we have to be aware of to protect ourselves. You look at the world differently after something like this. It opens your eyes."


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