Community Corner

Chatham Man: Marathon 'Turned to Horror in a Heartbeat'

Now safely back home, Denny Moynihan shares his experience at the Boston Marathon.

Dennis "Denny" Moynihan didn't know there had been an explosion, let alone two, near the finish line of the Boston Marathon.

The Chatham Township resident, 49, finished the world's oldest marathon 3 hours and 39 minutes after it started Monday. After he crossed the finish line, he met his mother and sister and went with them both to a pharmacy to pick up snacks, then back to his sister's home about a mile from Copley Square.

"As soon as we got home we turned on the TV and saw what happened," Moynihan said. "Remarkably we didn’t hear the explosion. We just started getting some texts and phone calls and turned on the TV."

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The two explosions went off 4 hours and nine minutes, only half an hour, after Moynihan finished the race. He spent the rest of Tuesday with his mother and sister, watching coverage of the events unfold.

Moynihan grew up in Springfield, Mass. His sister moved to Boston about 10 years ago when Moynihan was in the middle of his 26-year career with the U.S. Navy. In September 2012 he retired from the navy and took a job in New Jersey, relocating to Chatham Township with his family.

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His two children had school Monday and stayed in Chatham with their mother while Moynihan went to run in the marathon. "You never know what stays in the minds if little kids, but it was sure good to Facetime them last night," he said.

Like others who run in the Boston Marathon, Moynihan spent months training and preparing. He described early morning runs, watching everything he ate, enduring aches and pains and preparing himself for the 26.2-mile ordeal.

"That's why the scene there was so special for everybody. It's such a celebration to run in the Boston Marathon. You have to qualify for it, or you have to run for a charity. So when you start the race, it's the most incredible feeling in the world," he said.

Which is part of what makes Monday's attacks so difficult to witness.

"So many of the people that are injured are just people that love the people who are running. They were just trying to support them and do the best they could by their loved ones. That’s what makes it really hard," Moynihan said. "The day was such an incredible celebration, it was such a joyous day and it obviously turned to horror in a heartbeat."

Moynihan drove home to Chatham from Boston Tuesday morning and arrived at about 1 p.m. Since getting home, he said it was difficult not to follow coverage of the bombings.

"I feel very fortunate, a little tired but very fortunate," Moynihan said. "But there were thousands of families that were impacted, and it's hard not to think about them constantly. Boston is a tough town, though, with strong and resilient people. It's hard times, but I know they'll get through it."

He, too, plans to get through it, to process the events of Monday with however he can. He's going to start, he said, by hugging his children when they get off the school bus at 4 p.m. Tuesday.

The next step, he said, is to run in the Boston Marathon again, which he said he plans to do.

"I was listening to the Boston radio stations on the way home, and someone said everyone in Boston ought to run that marathon next year. Three million people running 26 miles," he said. "We'll all process it in our own way, but right now I plan to run in it again."

Moynihan said he also intends to donate what he can, and to pray for all those affected by Monday's events, including the emergency responders.

"I tried to describe to you the joy, but I want to tell you about how many people were there to help others. Not just the family members, but the enormous amount of volunteers, medical people, the enormous amount of police lining the whole route, the medical people. Thank God they were there when the explosions happened, because there were people there who really needed their help," he said.

What really stayed in his mind as Tuesday afternoon went on, he said, was the resilience of the people of Boston and those in the race, despite the dozens and dozens still affected. "You know how many people are in the hospital, and you just hope that they pull through. It's hard for that not to leave your thoughts, whatever you're doing," Moynihan said.


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