Winchester Runner Narrowly Escapes Boston Marathon Bombings

Winchester runner Frank Fantasia finished his 11th consecutive Boston Marathon just a few minutes before bombs exploded near the finish line.

Fantasia, 64, a Somerville native, completed his 13th Boston Marathon on Monday. Fantasia, who raised about $15,000 for Boston Children's Hospital, was one of roughly 200 runners on the "Miles for Miracles" team.

Recalling the Race

Fantasia said things started off well except for the fact that he ran too fast in the early stages of the marathon and "I knew I would pay the price in the hills which I did do."

He later met up with his wife and three of his five grandchildren just before Wellesley Center, which they do every year to root him on. 

"I had to walk the hills a bit in Newton, and I had to get to the top of Heartbreak Hill over toward the entrance to Boston College and from that point on it is kind of downhill and flat and things were going really well," Fantasia said. "The temperature was dropping as they said it would, and I was feeling good but started cramping up a little bit in my feet but that didn't stop me and made it to Kenmore Square where the crowds were just phenomal as they are every year."

Race Comes to an End

Thousands cheered for Fantasia and the other runners coming down the home stretch of the course. However, the cheering came to an abrupt end minutes later. 

"I actually crossed the finish line at 2:48 p.m. just prior to the first explosion," he said. "I was walking down Boylston Street and I was somewhere in the vicinity of the main medical tent and that is when the first explosion went off. All of us runners turned around and looked down Boylston Street and I could see a white cloud of smoke so at that point I maybe was 100 to 125 yards from the point of impact.

"And then 10 to 15 seconds later we saw the second explosion and cloud of white smoke so we knew that was not good."

When he saw the first blast, Fantasia said his initial thought was perhaps it was a gas explosion, but when the second blast showed white smoke again he knew it was not a gas explosion because there was no sign of black smoke.

Confusion Sets In

Fantasia said he was not in direct view of any of the people injured in the blasts. The bombings claimed the lives of three people and injured more than 100.

"Everyone was obviously stunned and there was uncertainty and you did not know whether to stand still or keep moving," Fantasia said. "After a few seconds the Boston Athletic Association (B.A.A) volunteers started getting runners to continue walking down Boylston Street. There was a lot of confusion and we started hearing sirens and a lot of activity. I did notice a lot of people running toward the impact area (including) police, volunteers and medical personnel."

A Silent Suite

When Fantasia eventually made it to the suite on the seventh floor of The Westin Copley Boston Hotel, there were not a lot of runners there because "most of them never made it to the finish line because they stopped the runners from going down Hereford and Boylston Streets," he said.

Of the roughly 200 runners on the Miles for Miracles team, only 12 to 15 were at the hotel, according to Fantasia. At that point, people's cell phones were not working so it was difficult to get ahold of family members, said Fantasia.

"There were some family members waiting for the runners and they did not know where they were and they just had to kind of wait it out," he said.

Reconnecting with Loved Ones

Fantasia said he received a massage from a massage therapist at the hotel before receiving a call from his son in California who had been monitoring the situation via televised news reports.

"I did not have my cell phone with me while I was running so I could not get to my cell phone until I got back to the Copley Hotel suite," Fantasia said. "My son had been following it on CNN and he was the first one to get through on the phone to me, and then I called my wife to let her know I was OK."

By about 4:30 p.m., Fantasia said he had spoken to both his sons and his wife, who did not know anything had happened during the race until one of her son's contacted her while she was out having lunch and shopping with three of her grandchildren. 

A Ride Home

"By then I had to think about transportation because typically my wife drives into town to pick me up, but that was not going to be possible," he said. "Fortunately, I have a friend whose office is on Summer Street over by South Station. He texted me and it just so happened he had his car in town that day and he offered to pick me up and drive me home, but I said 'that won't work because you will never get near here' so I walked over to South Station and Summer Street and was able to bum a ride with him."

Coping After Tragedy

Since Monday, Fantasia said he has felt a range of emotions from sadness to anger to disbelief.

"I think in some respects I am probably still trying to process it," he said. "Although I was there and witnessed (the bombings), it almost seems like (it) really did not happen. What I went through was certainly nothing compared to the real victims of this."

Fantasia, a 30-year Army veteran who currently works for Hopkinton-based EMC, a high-tech firm, said he has wondered what could have happened to him had he done things a bit differently during the race.

"What if I had stayed in Wellesley with my grandchildren for two more minutes? What if there were periods where I had to walk for a bit? What if I had stopped to walk one more time?" he said. "I could have been right in line with the blast there."

When asked if he intends to run the 2014 Boston Marathon, Fantasia replied, "(The bombings) won't deter me. It just makes me more determined."

Fantasia will look to raise even more money for Boston Children's Hospital, which he has raised about $165,000 for over the years.