Lipscomb assistant track and cross country coach Jenny Randolph was one of the many who was in the Boston area during last week’s tragic bombings during the Boston Marathon.
Both Randolph and her longtime friend and running partner Caitlin Anderson had finished the race about 30 minutes before they felt the explosions from a couple blocks away.
“The explosions happened, and I looked at Caitlin because you could both hear it and feel it in the sidewalk,” Randolph said. “We both looked in the direction of the explosion and were listening for screaming and looking for people running hysterically, but we didn’t see any of that, so it think that helped us to remain calm.”
Once they realized what had happened, they found Randolph’s sister in order to start their journey back home.
As they walked the hour back to the campus of MIT where they were staying, Randolph describes the scene as frantic and hurried, but never too out of control.
“It wasn’t complete pandemonium,” Randolph said. “It was never complete pandemonium from what I saw.”
Looking back at video from the scene of the explosions, Randolph says that it’s obvious that people were working very quickly to help others. She feels everyone there did a good job in reacting to the situation.
After rushing to pack up their things, the group made their way to the airport they were able to start their flight home. With just one hiccup in a missed connection in Washington D.C., Randolph arrived home safely and at that point was able to reflect on the day’s events.
“It’s much scarier to think about now,” Randolph said. “In the moment, it was like something bad, something very serious is happening. What do we need to do right now to get safe?”
While she’s glad that they made it home safe, Randolph says it’ll take a while for the impact of the event to really set in.
Photo courtesy of Lipscomb Athletics